Raghunathan wrote:
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What is Epoch date ? Though I know its kind of a refernce date, would be nice to hear more from a the expert on the subject.

Hi Ragu,

The "Epoch date" is the date used to base astronometric calculations. As the Earth's axis wobbles about, due to precessional effects, as the stars move due to their "proper motions", the co-ordinates that locate the stars move too. The Epoch date helps fix in 4 dimensions all astronomical positions. In other words, if I used Epoch 1980 data now, things wouldn't be where the ephemrides say they are.....

Steve