C/C++ Interactive Guide/c-cplusplus-interactive-guide.iso/c_ref/csource1/ast40dos/update.txt

Text File | 1994-01-17 | 60KB | 1,040 lines

 #####################  ASTROLOG 4.00 UPDATE FILE  #####################

      Happy New Year everyone! 1994 promises to be a exciting year,
 with the last Saturn Pluto Square being exact after the very first
 day, and the great seven planet Stellium in Capricorn soon after on
 1-11. In honor of these great times and great events (and my Pluto
 over Sun transit that just happened), allow the next big release of
 our Astrolog astrology calculation program to be presented: version 4.00!

      More than just your ordinary upgrade, Astrolog 4.00 features
 some major new enhancements:
 * A new set of formulas for the planets whose accuracy rivals if not
   exceeds those of all major commercial products.
 * PostScript file representations for all of Astrolog's graphics
   charts.
 * Windows metafile picture file options which allow graphics charts
   to be easily inserted into documents or modified in picture editors.
 * Many other new useful features such as labeled cusps for graphics
   charts, along with a standard batch of bug fixes and improvements.

      This release posting consists of the following files, each
 posted as a separate article:
 1. A text Update file describing new features and changes to Astrolog
    4.00 made over the previous version, 3.10 (what you're reading now).
 2. A uuencoded, compressed, shell archive of the source code, config
    file, and makefile.
 3. A uuencoded, zip archive containing the source code, config file,
    makefile, icon file, and two ephemeris files.
 4. A uuencoded DOS executable ready to run on PC's.
 5. A History file as a uuencoded, compressed, straight text file
    describing the changes made to each version of the program since its
    beginning (not necessary unless you are upgrading from several
    versions ago).

      The "source code" consists of 15 files (13 C program files and
 two header include files). The "config file" is the astrolog.dat
 default parameter file (not necessary to have to run but useful). The
 "makefile" is a standard compilation Makefile in the shell archive,
 and a different Microsoft nmakefile in the zip archive. The "icon
 file" is a Microsoft Windows icon to use if invoking Astrolog from
 Windows. The "ephemeris files" are used for the accurate calculation
 of the planetary positions (see later).

      Some of these files are posted in more than one part in multiple
 articles, due to newsreader size restrictions. For these files,
 extract each part in turn to a separate file, go into a text editor
 and strip off the header and trailing text, and concatenate them
 together.

      All the files described above have been uploaded to Michael
 Bulmer's alt.astrology anon ftp site at hilbert.maths.utas.edu.au in
 the directory /incoming/astrolog. (The ephemeris files are in the
 subdirectory /incoming/astrolog/ephem.) They should be moved to the
 standard /pub/astrology/Astrolog directory there soon. Fellow
 employees at Microsoft connected to its network can get a copy of
 this version out of my public share in the directory
 \\myemailname\public\astrolog.

      If you have used or are familiar with the previous versions of
 the program, you may want to first read the section on changes to old
 features made in this release. In addition, if you aren't familiar
 with any previous versions of the program at all, you will want to
 read the comprehensive Helpfile for version 3.10, so you know what
 the version 4.00 feature enhancements are referring to. This
 documentation Helpfile for the previous version describes all its
 features together in order, and is available at the hilbert ftp site.
 I intend to create and post one for version 4.00 containing this
 Update information in it sometime soon.


 #####################  ASTROLOG 4.00 MAIN FEATURES  #####################

 NEW FORMULAS:

      -b switch: Astrolog 4.00 has a new set of calculation routines
 which are much more accurate than the Matrix software routines that
 have always been used before! The old routines are still there,
 except that one may now choose between the old and new calculation
 methods with the new -b switch. With -b, Sun through Pluto, the North
 Node, and Chiron will be computed more accurately (although slower).
 The other asteroids, uranians, stars, and house cusps are always
 generated with the Matrix routines.

      The new calculation uses ephemeris files for some planets which
 must be in a directory specified at compile time in order to work.
 The new routines are valid based on how many of the ephemeris files
 one has. With all of them, the formulas will cover and deliver
 accurate positions for nearly 8500 years from December -5260 BC
 through March 3237 AD! There are 62 ephemeris files total. Each file
 covers a range of 100,000 days, or about 273 years. Altogether they
 take up 2.8 megabytes of disk space, but each segment of 273 years
 only takes up 90K. For each time segment, there is an ephemeris file
 named "LRZ5_n" containing the positions of Jupiter through Pluto (at
 80 day increments) and a file "CHI_n" containing the positions of
 Chiron. The 'n' refers to span of Julian Days covered by it (divided
 by 100000). For example, Julian Days 1,200,000 through 1,300,000 are
 in the files "LRZ5_12" and "CHI_12" (the 'm' character in some files
 refers to negative Julian Days). You don't need all the files to use
 -b, just those that cover the dates you want to use. If you try to
 use -b with a date not covered by an available ephemeris file, an
 error message will be printed and the Matrix positions will be used.
 The files "LRZ5_24" and "CHI_24" cover the years 1859 through 2131
 AD, which is good for most purposes and only takes up 90K. These two
 files are included in the posted zip archive. For Unix users who want
 any ephemeris files, and PC users who want to cover more years, the
 complete set of files is at the hilbert ftp site.

      Astrolog uses the formulas from the "Placalc" program package to
 generate its precise positions. Placalc's accuracy is about the same
 as the "CCRS" routines, and those used in Nova (it even fixes some
 accuracy problems Nova has, in some of its earlier versions at
 least). Placalc's integrated outer planet positions represent the
 standard of the Nautical Almanac, the international astronomical
 standard, as published in the Astronomical Almanac, for its
 computations as computed before 1984. (Since 1984 the standard has
 been the DE200 integrations by JPL.) The Sun's position implements
 the Newcomb theory for all terms > 0.01", the positions of Mercury
 through Mars are done to all terms > 0.05", while "Brown's improved
 lunar ephemeris" is used such that the Moon is within 3" of DE200.
 Placalc's fraction of second precision, is of course much more
 accurate when compared to the old Matrix positions, which were only
 accurate to about one minute (and several degrees for Chiron) for
 this century only. For example, at 1800 AD, the Matrix positions for
 the outer planets are off by 2 degrees, and about 1 degree for 2100;
 by 1500 AD, Matrix is off by 14 degrees for Pluto while Chiron is
 barely in the right hemisphere anymore.

      There is a new flag to "Use ephemeris files" in the astrolog.dat
 file, which when set, will always use the Placalc routines and is the
 same as just including -b all the time, in which case -b will toggle
 them back off. There is a compile time option #define PLACALC in the
 astrolog.h which can be commented out to disable the -b switch and
 the new formulas.

      Note that this calculation method won't allow the -v0 switch to
 express planetary velocities relative to average speed work with it,
 and nor will central planetary bodies other than the Sun or Earth
 (standard Geo and Helio centric charts) via -h work. It will however
 display velocities for the Moon and the Node, which aren't available
 with the Matrix routines.

      Very important: For Unix users only, there is a rare possibility
 that the program will hang when you try to use the -b s