DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gxd2547v5
title: Ephemeris data for: "Planet activeness: a new concept to enhance the accuracy of Astromet weather forecast"

description: Background: Astrometeorology is an ancient science, that addresses the
 relationship between planet position and weather events. Several Indian
 studies proved that astrometeorology could be a complementary method to
 improve numerical weather forecast accuracy. Since 2011, Tamil Nadu
 Agricultural University is involved in astrometeorological research and
 devised a novel concept "Planet Activeness Chart". The principle
 is that “planets’ influence on a location’s weather varies throughout the
 day and may be negative, inactive, active, highly active and rule
 depending on their angle to that location”. Most existing
 astrometeorological studies used planetary position to predict the
 occurrence of weather events (yes/no) but failed to capture the intensity
 of such events. The “Planet Activeness Concept” could address this
 limitation and enhance forecast usability. Methods: A study was carried
 out from 2018 to 2021 with six years of data (2011-16) to verify the
 “planet activeness” on hourly rainfall and wind speed events in Tamil
 Nadu. The frequency of planet activeness for a weather event was
 calculated by dividing the number of times a planet was in the selected
 activeness during a specific event category by the total number of events.
 Results: The results indicated that the negative state of the Sun, and the
 active status of Saturn, Uranus, Venus, and Moon were positively
 associated with rainfall intensity. The windy planets Mercury and Neptune
 being in active states, the Sun and Saturn in rule states, Venus and
 Uranus in negative states, and Jupiter at a highly active state all had a
 significant influence on the increased wind speed. Conclusion: Applying
 the planet activeness concept with azimuth could enhance the accuracy and
 usability of Astrometeorological forecasts. This study establishes a
 mathematical relationship between planet activeness and weather as a first
 step to understanding the science behind this relationship. It is
 suggested to study different combinations of planets' activeness
 during a weather event for more insights.
description: Dataset developed by running ephemeris calculator.
description: # Ephemeris data for: "Planet activeness: a new concept to enhance
 the accuracy of Astromet weather forecast"
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gxd2547v5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gxd2547v5) ## Description of the data and file structure Azimuth is the angle formed between a reference direction (north) and a line from the observer to a point of interest projected on the same plane as the reference direction, orthogonal to the zenith. The ephemeris is continuous time series values of planets’ azimuth and hourly scale was used in this study. The Azimuth and ephemeris of nine planets viz., Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune during the weather event happening hours at each selected location of 31 districts in Tamil Nadu were calculated for the period of six years from 1.1.2011 to 31.12.2016 and stored here as “xls” format. Alcyone Ephemeris 4.3v calculator, which is simple and fast astronomical position calculation software was used in this study. Each location's hourly data is placed in a separate folder and all folders are compressed as a single zip file. Each file is named with "**district name"*"location name""period""year"****. (Example: Ariyalur_*AndimadamJD11.xls) Period JJ = January to June. JD=June to December Year 11=2011, 12=2012, 13=2013, 14=2014, 15=2015, 16=2016 Metadata of the ephemeris file can be seen in the first 9 rows of each file, which include the following (example for one location): Alcyone Ephemeris Ephemeris type: observer table (apparent positions) Coordinate center: observer's location (topocentric data) - AWS-Andimadam (India) (11° 17' 30'' N, 79° 24' 00'' W) Plane of reference: observer's local horizon (horizon coordinates) Coordinates corrected for refraction (T=20 °C, p=1010 hPa) Azimuth measurement: from south Time scale: UT-5h 17m 36s Step size: 1:00:00 The column of the file contains Date and time (UTC 5.30), Julian Day(JD), azimuth, and altitude of nine planets in order (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) We have used ephemeris data alone for this article.