Sources and how to read them
A short explanation can make a new idea approachable. When you want to go further, the source should match the question: a coordinate reference explains geometry, a tradition’s rulebook explains an astrological convention, and a product survey explains the feature names used in that survey.
The references below provide those different routes into the subject.
- US Naval Observatory: sidereal time develops the relationship between Earth’s rotation, the meridian, the celestial equator and the ecliptic. It is a useful continuation of sky and clock.
- US Naval Observatory: Julian-date conversion turns the continuous-day idea into a numerical calendar conversion. It helps connect the noon boundary to an actual date and time.
- Swiss Ephemeris general documentation explores house constructions, coordinate options, sidereal modes and orbital points. Use it when a measuring rule, rather than just a term’s meaning, is the next step.
- Swiss Ephemeris programmer’s manual describes library calls, flags and supported calculations. It connects the concepts to the engine interface.
- Composer convention register records the project’s selected Jyotish rules and unresolved questions, with links to domain designs. Varga mappings, year lengths and matching exceptions are examples of choices that need a named convention.
- Feature matrix supplies the original vocabulary inventory and product context.
A source’s purpose limits what it establishes. Engine documentation can describe an option without proving that this application exposes it. A product survey records a research date, rather than guaranteeing current availability or licensing. Neither establishes the efficacy of astrological predictions.
Word origins are included to make the terminology easier to remember. They are brief linguistic or conventional explanations, rather than an attempt to settle every disputed historical origin. Where a product label lacks one standard method, such as life time arcs, the guide keeps that ambiguity visible.