Fundamental ephemeris

A fundamental ephemeris of the Solar System is a model of the objects of the system in space, with all of their positions and motions accurately represented. It is intended to be a high-precision primary reference for prediction and observation of those positions and motions, and which provides a basis for further refinement of the model. It is generally not intended to cover the entire life of the Solar System; usually a short-duration time span, perhaps a few centuries, is represented to high accuracy. Some long ephemerides cover several millennia to medium accuracy.

They are published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as Development Ephemeris. The latest releases include DE430 which covers planetary and lunar ephemeris from Dec 21, 1549 to Jan 25, 2650 with high precision and is intended for general use for modern time periods . DE431 was created to cover a longer time period Aug 15, -13200 to March 15, 17191 with slightly less precision for use with historic observations and far reaching forecasted positions. DE432 was released as a minor update to DE430 with improvements to the Pluto barycenter in support of the New Horizons mission.[1]

  1. ^ Folkner (April 30, 2014). "JPL Memo IOM 392R-14-003" (PDF).