Transparency is the Primary Metric of Accuracy

Every Calculation
is Benchmarked

Moira validates every subsystem against physical oracles — JPL Horizons, IAU ERFA/SOFA, Swiss Ephemeris, AAVSO, and canonical doctrine tables. Residuals are documented, not hidden.

0.029″
Historical Mars receipt vs JPL Horizons
3
Validation domains
10
Declared reduction stages
6+
Independent oracles

Three Validation Domains

Each domain uses independent physical oracles appropriate to its subject matter.

Validation Report — Astronomy

External-reference evidence for Moira's IAU, JPL, time-scale, eclipse, occultation, and observational astronomy surfaces.

Oracles
IAU ERFA/SOFAJPL HorizonsNASA
0.029″
Historical 4.0.0 Mars receipt; current report below
View full report →

Validation Report — Astrology

Bounded external comparisons, doctrine checks, invariants, and explicit non-oracle cases for astrological convention layers.

Oracles
Swiss EphemerisAstro.comCanonical doctrine tables
Sub-arcsecond
House cusps, ayanamshas, and predictive cycles
View full report →

Validation Report — Experimental

Validation and partial-closure records for experimental, modernized, or mixed-oracle computation surfaces.

Oracles
SOFA/ERFASwiss swetestAAVSOGCVSBinary orbit ephemerides
Milliarcsecond
Variable stars and multiple star systems
View full report →

Mars at J2000.0 — Full Pipeline Trace

The current declared reduction stages are shown first. The table is an immutable 4.0.0 evidence receipt for Mars at J2000.0 — JD 2451545.0 TT — with a 0.029″ geocentric longitude residual against JPL Horizons. It is historical evidence, not a claim about the currently deployed runtime.

Stage 01
Geometric geocentric state
Subtract Earth's barycentric state from the target at reception epoch.
Geocentric state vector
Stage 02
Reception light-time
Iterate the target at its retarded emission epoch to convergence.
Retarded target position
Stage 03
Gravitational deflection
Apply the admitted Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn point-mass deflectors.
Deflected direction
Stage 04
Annual aberration
Use Earth's reception-epoch barycentric velocity.
Aberrated direction
Stage 05
IAU 2006 frame bias
Rotate ICRF into the dynamical mean J2000 frame.
Mean J2000 vector
Stage 06
IAU 2006 precession
Apply the P03 Fukushima-Williams construction.
Mean equator of date
Stage 07
IAU 2000A nutation
Rotate to the true equator of date when enabled.
True equator of date
Stage 08
Topocentric parallax
Translate by the WGS-84 observer position when supplied.
Observer-centred vector
Stage 09
Diurnal aberration
Apply rotational observer velocity for a topocentric observer.
Topocentric direction
Stage 10
Output projection
Project into the requested ecliptic or Cartesian frame.
Longitude, latitude, distance
Historical reduction trace — Mars at J2000.0 (JD 2451545.0 TT · 2000-01-01T11:58:55.816Z)
OperationValueNote
Geometric geocentricλ₀ = 327.974879°SSB to body minus SSB to Earth
Light-time iterationΔλ = −15.762352″tau = 0.010683 d; 15.383 min
Gravitational deflectionΔλ = −0.003057″Sun, Jupiter, Saturn
Annual aberrationΔλ = −14.069111″Earth barycentric velocity; relativistic
IAU 2006 frame biasΔλ = +0.000300″ICRF to dynamical mean J2000
IAU 2006 precessionΔλ = +0.006469″P03 polynomial; mean equator of date
IAU 2000A nutationΔλ = −13.932010″dpsi -13.932010 arcsec; deps -5.769398 arcsec
Topocentric parallaxdisabledWGS-84; disabled (geocentric run)
Apparent ecliptic longitudeλ = 327.962724°Geocentric, ecliptic of date
JPL Horizons API referenceλ = 327.962716°31 (ObsEcLon / ObsEcLat, apparent, ecliptic of date)
Residual0.029″ in λ · 0.014″ in βmoira-astro 4.0.0 vs JPL Horizons API

Immutable historical receipt generated from moira-astro 4.0.0 on 2026-07-10 — Mars, geocentric apparent, at exact J2000.0: JDTT 2451545.0 (2000-01-01T11:58:55.816Z · JDUT 2451544.999257 · ΔT 63.808 s · TT−UTC 64.184 s · ε 23.437677°), kernel pool de441.bsp + de440.bsp. Reference: JPL Horizons API (31 (ObsEcLon / ObsEcLat, apparent, ecliptic of date)), same instant. Download the raw trace (JSON) — it includes both queries verbatim so the numbers can be reproduced end to end.

Validation Cases

Specific validation programs with full methodology and results.

Rose of Venus (2026–2032)
A bounded Sun–Venus conjunction sequence compared with JPL Horizons under declared apparent-geocentric semantics.
Read the full case →
Eclipse Canon Comparison
Readable solar and lunar eclipse catalog comparisons with explicit NASA, Swiss, and model-basis boundaries.
Read the full case →
Killer Validation Index
An index of adversarial, authority, parity, and invariant evidence across Moira's protected computation zones.
Read the full case →
Polar House External Reference
High-latitude house behavior compared with a cached Swiss reference under explicit fallback and availability semantics.
Read the full case →
Ancient Occultation Program
The separate validation program for ancient occultations, source uncertainty, time models, and archaeological records.
Read the full case →
Adversarial Stress Tests
Coordinate seams, polar singularities, degenerate geometry, and fail-visible defect records.
Read the full case →
Gauquelin g5 Historical Validation
A corpus-bounded validation of Gauquelin sector computation, plus-zone policy, and cached method-0 comparison.
Read the full case →
Moira 5.1–5.2 Release Evidence
A status-explicit index of the validation and documented evidence added from Moira 5.1.0 through 5.2.3.
Read the full case →

The Light Box Doctrine

"Transparency is the Primary Metric of Accuracy."

Moira is designed so that every calculation stage is inspectable, every reduction step is documented, and every residual is explained. A black box that gives the right answer is less valuable than a transparent system that shows you why.

Read the Doctrine →