How do you calculate Local Sidereal Time from Universal Time?

You use the formula:


LST = K + 1.0027379 x t + 0.06570982 x D - Longitude/15.

where, t, is the Universal Time in decimal hours, D ,is the number of days since December 31 of the previous year, and, Longitude, is the west longitude of your location. The constant, k, has to be looked up in the U.S. Nautical Almanac and is the Sidereal Time at 0h Universal Time for December 31. This quantity cannot be easily derived with any accuracy and requires a detailed dynamical model of the Earth-Moon-Sun system. The table below gives recent values in decimal hours:
Year.............K......
1994        17.371435
1995        17.387349
1996        17.403263
1997        17.353468
1998        17.369382
1999        17.385297
2000        17.401211
........................

Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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