[ Source layer // celestial-facts/0.1 ]

Coordinates before conclusions.

The Celestial Fact Layer records what was calculated, for which instant and observer, in which frame, using which authority and corrections. It is deliberately incapable of explaining the universe or interpreting a chart.

Open machine-readable schema →Inspect source authorities ↓

Layer status: foundational

7 registered authority contracts

UTC, TAI, TT, TDB and UT1 preserved

Topocentric and origin-aware records

Interpretation fields: prohibited

Astronomy knowledge layer: live and separate

Reproducibility pipeline

01

Resolve civil time

Preserve the entered local time, IANA zone, database release, selected UTC offset, daylight-saving fold decision, and resolved UTC instant.

02

Fix the observer

Record WGS 84 latitude and longitude, elevation reference, units, and location uncertainty. A city name is not a computational location.

03

Name the ephemeris

Retain the authority, service or kernel release, object identifier, observing center, exact request parameters, retrieval time, and raw-response digest.

04

Declare the reference

State origin, frame, epoch, equinox, time scale, coordinate representation, position type, and every applied or omitted correction.

05

Freeze the fact

Store values with units, precision and uncertainty; preserve limitations; canonicalize the bundle so an independent system can reproduce and compare it.

Record contract

Nothing important is implicit.

Time identity

UTC instant · ephemeris time scale · civil-time provenance · leap-second source · Earth-orientation source

Observer identity

Latitude · longitude · horizontal CRS · elevation · elevation reference · horizontal and vertical uncertainty

Target identity

Human-readable name plus an authority identifier such as a JPL/NAIF object code

Reference contract

Origin · frame · epoch · equinox · representation · geometric/astrometric/apparent position type

Corrections

Light time · stellar aberration · gravitational deflection · atmospheric refraction

Provenance

Provider source · request URL and parameters · response SHA-256 · retrieval timestamp · software version · limitations

Hard boundary

What this release refuses to do.

  • No physical explanation, object biography, cosmology, or stellar evolution is stored inside a fact bundle; those belong to the separate Astronomy layer.
  • No zodiac, house, aspect, dignity, rulership, ayanamsa, or interpretive rule is part of this schema.
  • No generated celestial position is published unless it preserves an authoritative provider response and reproducible calculation contract.
  • No accuracy is inferred from decimal places. Precision, uncertainty, provider limitations, and transformation choices remain separate fields.

Future compatibility

Astronomy and any later interpretive tradition may reference an immutable fact bundle. Neither layer may rewrite its time resolution, observer, coordinate frame, correction choices, or provider provenance.

Explore 23 Astronomy explainers →

Authority registry

Every source has a job—and a boundary.

Verified 2026-08-15
ephemeris4.98d (2025-11-21)

NASA/JPL Solar System Dynamics · Horizons System Manual ↗

Solar-system object identifiers, observing centers, time inputs, reference frames, corrections, output quantities, and stated ephemeris limitations.

Boundary: Horizons output is authoritative only with the complete query contract preserved; transformed or rounded values require their own provenance record.

civil time2026c

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority · Time Zone Database ↗

Versioned civil-time-zone identifiers, UTC offsets, daylight-saving transitions, and historical rules for representative locations.

Boundary: The database records civil-time practice and can contain historical uncertainty; it does not supply leap seconds or astronomical time scales.