C-extension in Python -- returning results

[Keith Farmer]

A word on the original function.  One of the reasons this function is
able to be approximated by the polynomial is that given a reasonably
short period of time (a year for the outer planets, weeks for the
inner), the path described is very roughly a straight line (<70deg
arc), which with only a few minute's calculation (a thousand or two
samples) I can get accuracies to within 0.001%.

The choice of polynomial was based on the prior existance of these
datasets.  It provides a convenient way to check the method, if
nothing else.