Planetary positions
Positions of twelve bodies at the moment of birth: the path from local time and place to longitudes on the ecliptic. This is the astronomical foundation of the family — signs, houses and aspects stand on it, as do the derived systems.
Input
The moment and place of birth. First the time atlas: local time is converted to UTC by the historical rules of time zones — daylight and decree time, boundary shifts — with honest flags when the moment is ambiguous. Then UTC becomes the input of the ephemeris. Type of origin: computed from the moment of birth.
Rule
Swiss Ephemeris with real ephemeris files (range 1200–2399; the source of the files is pinned and checked by checksum when the server is built). For every body — ecliptic longitude and speed; negative speed means retrogradation. The computation answers only from the precise backend: if the ephemeris files are unavailable, the server refuses honestly instead of silently substituting a simplified computation.
Output
Longitudes of 12 bodies — from the Sun and Moon to Pluto and the nodes — to arcsecond precision, with speeds and a retrogradation flag. Numbers without interpretation: positions assigns no sign, house or meaning.
Verification
Verified against swetest (the reference tool of the same library) on 12 bodies in two epochs, including dates before the Gregorian calendar transition. Every computation carries provenance: the engine version, the ephemeris files and their source.
Limits of honesty
Houses and cusps are not yet served by the engine — the Houses and cusps method is being prepared separately. Birth years are limited to the range of the ephemeris files (1200–2399) — beyond it the server answers with a refusal and an explanation, not an approximate computation. A reference from the same library verifies the integration; cross-verification against an independent implementation lies ahead.