New SOFA software release includes geodetic/geocentric transformations

20 January 2010

SOFA (Standards of Fundamental Astronomy) is an IAU Service that operates under Division 1 (Fundamental Astronomy).  It has developed a set of software routines that implement official IAU algorithms for fundamental-astronomy computations. A new release of the software was made on 2009 December 31.  The total number of routines is 165, comprising 113 astronomy routines supported by 52 vector/matrix routines. The release incorporates the new IAU precession model
that came into force at the start of 2009. There is a "cookbook" that introduces the SOFA routines associated with precession-nutation and Earth rotation.

The most significant change since the previous release is the introduction of five new routines (available in both Fortran and C) to support transformations between geodetic and geocentric coordinates.

The Web address of the SOFA home page has changed, and is now: http://www.iausofa.org/

Further information on the new release is available at: http://www.iausofa.org/2009_1231.html