astrology software Urania

Specification of version 1.85 (draft v.0.91)

Work in progress (not all functionality is desribed yet, for full range of functions download Trial version). Translation in progress. This document was last modified: 2008-06-26.

Functions available in full version only are listed in black color.

Functions present in freeware Lite version also are marked with different color.


Aspects

Calculated aspects are:

  • conjunction (0°)
  • opposition (180°)
  • square (90°)
  • trigon (120°)
  • sextile (60°)
  • quinkunks (150°)
  • confinis (30°)
  • halfsqare (45°)
  • 3/4square (135°)
  • quintil (72°)
  • biquintil (144°)
  • decile (36°)
  • tridecile (108°, off by default, it's orb overlaps with biseptile)
  • septle (51°25'48")
  • biseptile (102°51'36")
  • triseptile (154°17'24")
  • nonagon (40°)
  • binonagon (80°)
  • quadrononagon (160°)

Each type of aspect has a separately set orb, different for transit, comparative and natal charts. You may select at any time, what kind of orbs are applied to viewed chart.

Variation from standard aspect can be given in aspect table in degrees (rounded mathematically - from 0 to 0.5 down to 0°, above 0.5 up to 1°) or optionally - user selectable - in percentage of maximum orb.

Aspects are divided on applicational and separational. Applications and separations are prognosed depending on objects' position and speed in the moment of chart calculation.

Position calculation of planets and other objects

The program uses for calculation of planetary positions the Swiss Ephemeris libraries (http://www.astro.com/swisseph/). It uses ephemerides, which reflect planetary positions with 0.001" angular precision - according to ephemeris D405/406, designed in JPL, Pasadena.

Planetary positions may be calculated both with help of external ephemerid files (original DE406 or their compressed versions), or with built-in procedures (with lesser precision than with external files). Asteroid positions are calculated only with help of external ephemerid files.

Urania has procedures for calculation and visualisation of positions for these celestial bodies:

  1. Sun, Moon and planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune with help of internal files in time range 5400 BC - 5400 AD. Pluto is calculated with built-in ephemerides 3000 BC - 3000 AD, other planets with help of short VSOP 87 tables.
  2. asteroids: internal functions calculate positions of eight biggest planetoids (Ceres [1], Pallas [2], Vesta [4], Hygiea [10], Interamnia [704], Davida [511], Cybele [65], Europa [52]) and Juno [3].
  3. centaurs and Kuiper ring objects (3000 BC - 3000 AD): Chiron (2060), Pholus (5145), Nessus (7066), Asbolus (8405) and Chariklo (10199).

For those who require other bodies directly on chart wheel, there is a possibility of defining 12 extra objects, with help of external configuration file (*.odf, in program package there is default file VirtObjs.odf with sample set of asteroids and fixed stars - editable in any word processor). Internal format serves so far:

Caution: Asteroids and comets are calculated for period 3000 BC - 3000 AD (or longer - varying on ephemeris file version), unless position of certain bodies can be determined only for shorter period (ex. Chiron only from about 650 AD to 4650 AD, because of close encounters with Saturn).

Other objects

  1. Ascendent (Asc) and Descendent (Desc), Medium Coeli (MC) and Imum Coeli (IC),
  2. Moon Nodes - average and real on ecliptics- can be displayed separately or together in any combination,
  3. Lilith - average apogee of Moon orbit ("mean apogee"),
  4. Vertex (point near Asc - personal matters) and Covertex (point near Desc - others involved in our life),
  5. Nibiru - proposition of orbit of a body known to ancients, but not yet found by modern astronomers (proposition is roughly sketched according to Z. Sitchin's descriptions, in details it is determined by author's own research - still it can be a fiction).
  6. Hypothetic "bodies" of Hamburgian school: Cupido, Hades, Zeus, Kronos, Apollon, Admetos, Vulkanus, Poseidon,
  7. Selene is practically implemented - there is just a lack for astrological definition for this hypothetic object.

Reference systems and position of objects in house's plane

Coordinates

Urania allows displaying of planetary positions in different astronomic reference systems and house systems in space. It allows to determine real placement of planets relatively to houses' corners in space, and not just on ecliptic.

It is done in accordance to definition of house systems, different than common simplified way, which is used only for determination of houses' cusp intersection with ecliptic. Actually calculations are done for the following systems: Krusiński, Koch, Placidus, Campanus, Regiomontanus.

Traditional, approximate houses' display as their projection on ecliptic plane is set as default for the chart.

Reference systems:

  1. ecliptic - height, width, in two variations:
  2. equatorial coordinates with start in eastern point and with sense according to other astrological reference systems, ie. with sense inverse to that of hourly system, and different starting point (system used only in primary progressions)
  3. planets in plane of first vertical (position of planets in Campanus' houses plane)
  4. planets in plane of Krusiński's houses
  5. planets in plane of Regiomontanus' houses
  6. horizon in form of a wheel (optionally with aspects), in convention E-N-W-S (east - north- west- south)
  7. equatorial - rectascency, declination (both with positions of Krusiński's house cusps on equator plane - used as a way of representing planetary positions in Krusiński's houses)
  8. static equatorial Zodiac - experimental plane, a result of search for large wheel and starting point for zodiac called 'siderial'

In traditional form - as positioning of house cusps on ecliptic - the program calculates postitions for 19-teen "house systems" (listed in historical order):

Horoscope transformations

Dynamic modifications to the chart

Relocation - saving a changed record to base do and manual change of geographic location, of selected command "Relocation" from handy menu of "Chart" window, which displays a dialog allowing to select a place from cities database or enter any geographical coordinates.

The geographical position of a person can be changed in realtime, as you examine the chart. Use keystroke "Shift+arrow up/down" to switch chart modification from time changes to longitude - lattitude changes.

Solar chart, Lunar chart and other planetary aspects

This was programmed in general as dynamic planetarias, that means searching of any aspect between transiting planets or natal to transiting planets (as an option in "Find the closest transit"). Searching in time is possible both forward and backward from any user selected date and time.

Transit on a date - dynamical transit

After selection of date and time a transit chart is displayed to be optionally a single wheel or double-wheel chart compared to the natal one. Within such a chart user may move in time backward or forward with any selected timestep, on all wheels.

In case of selecting comparison of progressive and transit chart or two progressive charts, both of them are changed according to own progression factor (in other words the date of progressive chart is aligned with date of transit chart).

Secondary and primary progressions

A single or a compare chart is displayed with natal or transit chart.

You may make a progressive chart out of another progressive chart. The natal data of old progressive chart is automatically assumed for calculation as the starting point of new chart.

Display function of progressive chart can be used for contact chart. In this case progressive charts are automatically made for both natal/progressive source charts, from which the contact chart was made. Then the new contact chart is calculated from the new progressive charts.

Primary progressions - chart is calculated as for secondary progressions, then it is displayed in selected reference system which is related to rotation of Earth.

Lists of transits, progressions and directions

Thanks to unique search module - which finds dates of transits - in time of a single search you may select both signle searches (ie. transits to natal positions), or multiple different ones.

For example you may search at the same time transits to natal positions and to their dynamically calculated progressions. You can open up to 5 independent search windows.

This allows to conveniently make a new search in a different window for a the same or a different person, right after finding interesting events for the previous person!

Lists are made for aspects between natal planets, transiting and progressive:

Ingressions to houses are now a part of more general solution, as calculation of date for any given planetary aspect to house corner on ecliptic.

Sorting of events found can be set according to planets or date, with optional display of date and hour. You can also conveniently display chart for an event, or a comparative chart of this moment and a natal chart.

Search engine performs the calculation of dr Jonas' cycle - a list of females' fertility days.

Combined charts

Apart from standard midpoint composite chart there are also it's variations:

Astrologic clock

A chart showing actual position of axes and planetary objects on the sky:

Ephemerides in tabular or graphical form.

Sophisticated database

Database options

Display of julian calendar day in footer (up to 6 digits after comma, where 1s = 0,00001157d).

Dates can be entered in julian or gregorian calendar, or use default option, which automatically sets julian calendar before 15.X.1582, and gregorian afterwards.

Comments to each record can be saved in database.

You can import to Urania databases from Astrolog (DOS) by Chwiszczuk and Arański, natal records from program Mandala 3.1 (DOS) by Dariusz Walicki, natal records from ZET database.

Copyright © 2000-1009 by Astrosfera, ® All rights reserved. Astrosfera