The selenographic coordinate system is based on the equatorial plane of the moon. The origin of this system is referenced to the mean center of the apparent lunar disk. This is the point of the surface of the moon intersected by the lunar radius directed towards the center of the earth when the moon is at its mean ascending node. Selenographic longitudes are measured positive in the direction towards Mare Crisium from the lunar meridian passing through the origin. Selenographic latitudes are measured positive towards the northern hemisphere containing Mare Serenitatis, from the lunar equator. The selenographic co-longitude is obtained by subtracting the selenographic longitude from either 90 or 450 degrees.

SUNTRACKER performs two main operations. The first handles the Julian and calendar date calculations. The second operation calculates the right ascension and declination of the sun and moon on the Earth's equatorial coordinate system from the adjusted Julian date. These coordinates are then transferred into the ecliptic coordinate system. From here the moon's position is configured to the heliocentric ecliptic coordinate system. It is from this system that the sun's selenographic position is determined. Algorithms are then used to compute both the physical and optical librations of the moon's motion.

The limitations, restrictions and assumptions for SUNTRACKER are as follows:

1. The orbital elements used in this program do not account for nutation, aberration and precession.

2. The selenographic coordinates computed by this program are based on the 1961 Astronomical Ephemeris algorithms. In 1981, a new analytic theory on the librations of the moon was adopted by The Astronomical Almanac. This improved the method of calculating selenographic coordinates. The selenographic coordinates computed by SUNTRACKER are identical to the pre-1981 Astronomical Almanac values. A comparison between the program's values and the 1993 Astronomical Almanac's values found the maximum deviations in longitude and latitude to be .030 deg. and .034 deg. respectively. The average deviations were.013 deg. in selenographic co-longitude and .017 deg. in selenographic latitude.