Hi Andrew,
> Is there some way to force a standard epoch for perturbed orbit
> solutions? When I compute orbits for the MPC, I need to use the current
> default date. I tried to add an "EPOCH=2455600.5" into the ENVIRON.DAT
> file, but that didn't work.
Seems like a good idea. I've added it. Go to
http://home.gwi.net/~pluto/devel/find_orb.htm
It's not listed on the Web page yet, but if you download the current
Find_Orb from there, you'll see that your "EPOCH=2455600.5" in 'environ.dat'
will result in all orbits being computed for that epoch.
"EPOCH=2011 feb 8" would also work, or "EPOCH=mjd 55600". As with
entering the epoch in the edit box (and entering the starting time for
ephemerides), there is a lot of flexibility in how you input the date,
as described at
http://www.projectpluto.com/update8d.htm#time_entry
Essentially, if you can figure out the date you've input, Find_Orb
will probably figure it out.
-- Bill