Celestine

Astrology and astronomy engine in TypeScript for charts, houses, aspects, transits, stations, progressions, and events. MIT licensed, with zero runtime dependencies and the same calculation results in browsers and Node.

Used by Cosmolytic.

Precision

The accuracy page lists residuals against Horizons, the NASA eclipse canon, ERFA and USNO, regenerated on every docs deploy by npm run bench:accuracy.

Measured against committed JPL Horizons fixtures using node --import tsx scripts/horizons/measure.ts. Values below are sampled maximum absolute errors, rounded to milliarcseconds, not guarantees between samples. Longitude differences wrap at the circle boundary. Coordinates are geocentric, mean ecliptic/equinox of date; input times are TT.

Body	Fixture dates (TT)	Samples	Max longitude / latitude error (″)	CI longitude / latitude limit (″)
Sun	1800-01-01 – 2200-01-01	123	0.305 / 0.148	0.4 / 0.2
Moon	1900-01-01 – 2100-01-01	123	7.583 / 1.285	8 / 1.6
Mercury	1800-01-01 – 2200-01-01	176	1.119 / 0.722	1.4 / 0.9
Venus	1800-01-01 – 2200-01-01	148	0.579 / 0.439	0.7 / 0.55
Mars	1800-01-01 – 2200-01-01	148	1.173 / 0.682	1.4 / 0.85
Jupiter	1800-01-01 – 2200-01-01	123	1.357 / 0.636	1.7 / 0.8
Saturn	1800-01-01 – 2200-01-01	123	1.658 / 1.033	2 / 1.3
Uranus	1800-01-01 – 2200-01-01	123	3.342 / 0.662	4 / 0.8
Neptune	1800-01-02 – 2199-12-29	123	4.643 / 0.359	5.6 / 0.45
Pluto	1885-01-01 – 2099-01-01	91	3.162 / 0.350	3.8 / 0.45
Chiron	1950-01-01 – 2050-01-01	123	19805.700 / 2201.199	24000 / 2700

CI enforces the separate bounds in budgets.json → precision, including minimum sample counts equal to those shown here. The precision test also retains an independent frame cross-check. These fixtures do not cover every body or feature.

Default Chiron uses a Keplerian model: its measured maximum longitude error is 19805.700″ (about 5.50°) on the dates above. Use celestine/precise for arcsecond work over 1800–2200. Default asteroids also use Keplerian approximations with degree-level errors; planetary precision figures do not apply to them. celestine/events uses the shared precise Chiron model within that range (with a 0.001-day speed margin), falling back to root Chiron outside. On 189 independent Horizons observer samples in 1900–2100, event Chiron longitude differs by at most 0.60″; root is unchanged.

Installation

npm install celestine

Quick start

import { calculateChart, ephemeris, time, zodiac } from 'celestine';

const birth = {
  year: 2000, month: 1, day: 1, hour: 12, minute: 0, second: 0,
  timezone: 0, latitude: 51.5074, longitude: -0.1278,
};
const jdUT = time.toJulianDate(birth);
const sun = ephemeris.getSunPosition(time.toTT(jdUT));
console.log(jdUT); // 2451545
console.log(zodiac.eclipticToZodiac(sun.longitude).signName); // Capricorn
const chart = calculateChart(birth, { houseSystem: 'placidus' });
console.log(chart.planets.find((planet) => planet.name === 'Sun')?.signName); // Capricorn

Eclipses

Next/previous searches and local circumstances are exported from celestine/events. Longitudes include sign indices (Aries=0) and names. Instants carry TT jd and model-derived UT jdUT.

import { findNextEclipse, getSolarEclipseLocal } from 'celestine/events';
const eclipse = findNextEclipse(2461041.5, { kinds: ['solar'] }); // TT
if (eclipse.kind === 'solar') {
  const local = getSolarEclipseLocal(eclipse, { latitude: 64.1466, longitude: -21.9426 });
  console.log(local.localType, local.maximum.jdUT, local.maximum.obscuration);
}

Local solar contacts use WGS84, geometric Sun centre altitude and north=0°, east=90° azimuth. No refraction, terrain or lunar limb profile is included. The NASA validation fixtures cover all 14 eclipses of 2026–2028; measured errors are on the accuracy page.

Black Moon Lilith

Mean and true (perturbed apogee) Black Moon Lilith are available as separate getters.

import { getMeanLilith, getTrueLilith } from 'celestine/ephemeris';
const jd = 2461041.5; // TT
console.log(getMeanLilith(jd).longitude, getTrueLilith(jd).longitude);

See the module guide, comparison, and API documentation. Runnable integrations: Node CLI, browser natal chart, and Cloudflare Worker.

Entry points

ESM and CommonJS exports include TypeScript declarations. Import individual modules through subpaths for smaller bundles. With esbuild, root namespace member access can retain the whole module; other bundlers may shake it differently.

Entry point	Contents	Minified bytes	Gzip bytes
celestine	Root modules (excludes events, precise, and retrograde)	173,189	59,008
celestine/ephemeris	Positions, nodes, Lilith, lots, small bodies	61,935	24,623
celestine/time	Julian dates, ΔT, sidereal time	5,502	2,571
celestine/zodiac	Signs, dignities, formatting	5,877	2,218
celestine/aspects	Aspect detection and patterns	12,089	3,900
celestine/houses	House systems and angles	9,171	3,616
celestine/chart	Birth charts	96,130	35,946
celestine/transits	Transits, ingresses, stations	78,441	30,466
celestine/progressions	Progressions and solar arc	71,088	28,993
celestine/events	Event searches	60,136	24,546
celestine/precise	Opt-in small-body models	43,517	30,715
celestine/retrograde	Retrograde progress helper	56,264	23,199

Measured after npm run build with esbuild using the neutral-platform, minified ESM options in the size guard, exporting every symbol from each listed entry point. Gzip uses fflate at level 9. Actual applications retain different exports; node scripts/guard/size.mjs checks representative consumer bundles against budgets, rather than these whole-module exports.

Precise small bodies

celestine/precise supplies opt-in Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta getters with the same signatures and return shapes as their default counterparts. Its Chebyshev tables are separate from root imports.

The held-out tests check apparent angular error below 1″ against Horizons at 400 epochs over 1800–2200, with additional sets of 100 epochs over 2000–2050 and 60 over 2020–2030, per body. They also check the heliocentric model against held-out vectors, speed consistency, segment continuity, and range errors. These are sampled checks, not a continuous accuracy guarantee. Inputs outside the supported range throw RangeError.

See precise usage.

Time scales and frames

time.toJulianDate returns UT. Ephemeris getters and event searches take TT: use time.toTT(jdUT) and convert results back with time.toUT(jdTT). The default position frame is mean ecliptic/equinox of date; includeNutation: true selects true equinox of date.

Charts accept civil birth times, apply ΔT to body positions by default, and keep houses, angles, and sidereal time on UT. The deltaT chart option accepts seconds or a function of UT JD; deltaT: 0 restores the earlier UT-as-ephemeris-time behavior. See the chart time-scale tests.

The built-in ΔT model uses historical observations and extrapolation; future values carry uncertainty. See the ΔT reference notes. Match time scale, frame, observer settings, and apparent/geometric conventions before comparing with another ephemeris.

Swiss Ephemeris, astro.com and almanacs use the true equinox: pass includeNutation: true to match them (Sun ingresses otherwise differ by a few minutes). findVoidOfCourseMoon defaults to the traditional partners Sun through Saturn; pass { bodies: [...] } with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto for the modern convention most apps use. More in the guide's pitfalls.

Contributing and security

See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup and regression checks, SECURITY.md for private vulnerability reporting, and AGENTS.md for the regression contract.

MIT license · Sponsor development