Guest guest Posted March 22, 2001 Report Share Posted March 22, 2001 Hi All! Bugs may be rare, but they are there until detected, mostly by chance. I always test every chart cast in one programme with another programme. Solar Fire is great - if you use the old ACS PC ATLAS, but it is expensive. I would recommend Pullen´s "Astrolog" for a quick and reliable check. It is a bit limited in its functions as far as jyothish is concerned, for it only gives Fagan´s ayanamsa. But by adding 53 minutes you ger Lahiri (adding 1 degree and subtracting 7 minutes!). By reading the included manual you can adjust the ayanamsa, but it will be linear (I think). Anywaythe tropical will be a correct check. This programme is FREE and can be downloaded from http://www.magitech.com/~cruiser1/astrolog.htm The advantage is that it asks for input bit by bit: day, month, year etc. and makes no assumptions. No atlas. So you can be sure of what you put in. It casts the chart in a jiffy and gives all the positions. The posizions agree with the Swiss and NASA ephemerides. The downloaded programme accepts only dates from 1860 to 2130. If out of this period it says some ephemeris is missing, but if you press OK it keeps repeating a similar message a few times, BUT it finally calculates the chart accurately!!! Actually the programme has enormous possibilites if one learns how to go about it. The date correction from julian to gregorian is automatic. So one has to be careful. I am attaching the introductory blurb as a file. regards Mani http://www.magitech.com/~cruiser1/astrolog.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 26, 2001 Report Share Posted March 26, 2001 > I would recommend Pullen´s "Astrolog" for a quick and reliable check. I would agree. Astrolog is great. I like to have it plot the orbits of the planets over, say, a year, so you can watch the retrogrades--it looks like a Spirograph drawing from when I was a kid! (Sorry, I'm easily amused.) > The posizions agree with the >Swiss and NASA ephemerides. I would expect that, since Astrolog uses the Swiss Ephemeris, which is based in turn upon the NASA JPL ephemeris. Incidentally, comparing the output of Astrolog and, say, Solar Fire, will do you no good--they'll always agree very closely since they both use the Swiss Ephemeris (they may not agree exactly if they use different models for rounding off). >The downloaded programme accepts only dates from 1860 to 2130. If out of this >period it says some ephemeris is missing, but if you press OK it keeps repeating >a similar message a few times, BUT it finally calculates the chart accurately!!! That is easy to fix. Astrolog by default comes with only one ephemeris file, the one for the dates you mention. But you can download other ephemeris files for dates outside of that range from the Astrolog website--just put them in the Astrolog directory and you're all set. The reason Astrolog works even if you don't have those ephemeris files is that if it can't find the ephemeris files, it uses a backup model (Moshier's) hard-coded into the source code instead. And that's still pretty good--something like a few arc seconds for the Moon, under a single arc seconds for the planets, and an arc minute for the true lunar nodes (mean nodes, not a problem). Incidentally, the Swiss Ephemeris (and, consequently, anything using it) can handle dates which go beyond the JPL ephemeris. The SE can handle from January 2, 5401 BCE (Julian) to December 31, 5399 CE (Gregorian). However, it extends the JPL ephemeris (the DE406 version goes from February 23, 3001 BCE Julian through March 3, 3000 CE Gregorian) through some fancy extrapolation. jpd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 27, 2001 Report Share Posted March 27, 2001 Phil Draughon wrote: > > I would recommend Pullen´s "Astrolog" for a quick and reliable check. > > I would agree. Astrolog is great. Dear Phil, Thanks for additional info. re Astrolog. > > Incidentally, comparing the output of Astrolog and, say, Solar Fire, will do > you no good--they'll always agree very closely since they both use the Swiss > Ephemeris (they may not agree exactly if they use different models for > rounding off). I don´t understand you here. It is exactly the agreement that helps to check the input and the way it is handled. We are not really checking the ephemirides: if there is a difference of some seconds between programmes, we still have no way os saying which is more correct!But if a clear difference appears, there is a bug, wrong input or a mix-up in DST, Julian or gregorian date etc. to be checked. Astrolog does not make internal decisions but accepts what you say literally and that is why it is a good way to check. > That is easy to fix. Astrolog by default comes with only one ephemeris > file, the one for the dates you mention. But you can download other > ephemeris files for dates outside of that range from the Astrolog > website--just put them in the Astrolog directory and you're all set. > I know. But to download you have to find the right file - unless one dowloads all the files for 11000 years! The best way to ülay with astrolog is to print out the Help file (NOT Readme file). There are so many command switches that it is not easy to find them on-line. This is a bit like Potenger´s CCRS programme. > However, > it extends the JPL ephemeris (the DE406 version goes from February 23, 3001 > BCE Julian through March 3, 3000 CE Gregorian) through some fancy > extrapolation. > I am sceptical about these extrapolations - they cannot be verified at all, assume that the solar system has never been disturbed. But we hear about tremendous collisions in the past and I am sure they did displace planets a bit. Regards Mani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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