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Astrology and Microsoft Excel - Video 1 - Slides
Astrology and Microsoft Excel - Video 1 - Slides
2.5
1.5
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(Degrees/Day)
0
0 50 (Video 1 – an introduction)
100 150 200 250 300
-0.5
-1
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Time
(from 3/20/85 to 8/10/86)
Objectives & Preliminary Notes:
• Objective: To give the viewer the basic skills needed to use the
program swetest.exe to generate a customized ephemeris file and to
briefly introduce how that data can be imported and graphed in Excel.
• In this video we will be:
• Downloading swetest.exe and the associated ephemeris files and learning to
use swetest.exe in the Windows Command Prompt and in the web version
• Importing data into Excel and creating a graph
• This video demonstrates these tasks in Windows 10 with Google
Chrome and Microsoft Excel 2013
Disclaimer
• This is an unofficial video and I am not associated with astro.com,
Astrodienst, or The Swiss Ephemeris.
• I am not responsible for any problems or damage caused to your
computer as a result of following the processes I have outlined in this
video.
About The Swiss Ephemeris
• A highly precise ephemeris developed by Astrodienst, largely based on
NASA’s JPL ephemerides
• Intended for software developers
• Used in professional astrology programs such as Solar Fire and AstroGold
• Two licenses:
• GNU General Public License
• https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
• Swiss Ephemeris Professional License (for paying customers)
• http://www.astro.com/swisseph/secont_e.htm
• License must be read before downloading any files
• http://www.astro.com/ftp/swisseph/ephe/LICENSE.TXT
• In this video, we will not be developing any software, but we will be using
the Swiss Ephemeris Test Program – swetest.exe – to generate data.
About the Swiss Ephemeris Test Program
(swetest.exe)
• Generates ephemeris data and much, much more
• Highly configurable with many features:
• Output format is fully customizable
• Displays positions and speed of numerous astrological bodies in various
coordinate systems in either decimal or degree formats
• Can also display a midpoint ephemeris or a differential ephemeris, which shows the
angular separation of two objects
• Options for both sidereal and tropical zodiacs
• Computes geocentric, heliocentric, and more (i.e. barycentric)
• Computes special events such as eclipses, occultations, heliacal events,
meridian transits, and the diurnal rising/setting of a planet or star (not
covered in this video)
About the Swiss Ephemeris Test Program
• The program can be used online or downloaded and used in the
Windows Command Prompt
• Downloadable version includes an interactive mode and also allows you to
save output to a text file
• Output from the online version can be copied and pasted into notepad and
saved to a text file
Downloading the program
• This video will show how to download the files starting from the main
astro.com page, or you can use either of these links:
• ftp://ftp.astro.com/pub/swisseph
• http://www.astro.com/ftp/swisseph/
• In the folder ‘programs,’ download the file swetest.exe
• Save the program to C:\sweph
• This program can work as a stand-alone program, but for increased
accuracy and date range, you must also download the ephemeris
files.
Downloading the ephemeris files
• The folder ‘ephe’ contains the ephemeris files
• The folder contains .se1 files, ranging from 13000 BC to 16800 AD and includes the
planets, the moon, Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, Juno, Chiron, and Pholus (150 files),
• For convenience, the subfolder ‘archive_zip’ contains zipped files ranging from 5401
BC to 5399 AD (18 zip files containing 54 .se1 files)
• Subfolders are available for thousands of minor asteroids, to be downloaded
individually as needed (not covered in video)
• Ephemeris files have the extension .se1
• Each file covers 600 years
• Files named ‘sepl’ are for planets
• Files named ‘semo’ are for the moon
• Files named ‘seas’ are for Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, Juno, Chiron, and Pholus
• Download (and unzip) all ephemeris files to C:\sweph\ephe
Using an FTP Client to download the files
• Using an FTP Client, such as the free program FileZilla, can make
downloading the files easier, if you want the full time range (150 files)
• https://filezilla-project.org/
• Careful when installing – it’s a bit tricky and tries to install some unnecessary programs
The Windows Command Prompt
• Some ways of opening the Command Prompt
1) Open the run dialogue box, type CMD, and press enter
• The run dialogue box can be opened by pressing the Win + R keys
2) Windows 10: Type CMD in the search box and press enter
• -sN
• Example: -s5
• Step size: Time step N days. Instead of advancing the date by 1 day, you can advance by N
days at a time. In this example –s5 advances the date by 5 days.
• Time step of Years, Months, Minutes, or Seconds (instead of days)
• Append y for years (example: –s5y for a time step of 5 years)
• Append mo for years (example: -s5mo for a time step of 5 months)
• Append m for minutes (example: -s5m for a time step of 5 minutes)
• Append s for seconds (example: -s5s for a time step of 5 seconds)
• Example: swetest -p7 -fTPZ -b15.5.2018 –n10 –s1mo
Accessing the Swiss Ephemeris Test Page
• This YouTube video will show how to access the page from the main
astro.com page
• Direct link: http://www.astro.com/swisseph/swetest.htm
• Can also google “Swiss Ephemeris Test Page”
Using the Swiss Ephemeris Test Page
• Enter the following info:
• Start Date (d.m.y) -b
• Steps –n
• Stepsize –s
• Planet selection -p
• Output format –f
• Other options
• My Plan:
• Enter previously used commands from the command prompt version of swetest.exe
• Illustrate differences in command entry in the web version
• Refresh to restore defaults
• Show output for default settings
More Commands for swetest.exe
(Calculate for specific Time)
• Entering Time:
• My Plan: Show section in help filed titled ‘input time formats’
• Entering the time can be tricky
• No option for local time zones, must be entered in UT, UTC, or Ephemeris Time
• -utHH.MMSS or -utHH:MM:SS – Universal Time
• -utcHH.MM:SS – Universal Time Coordinated
• -tHH.MMSS – Ephemeris Time
• To the viewer - try entering your own birth data and verifying the position of the Sun and
the Moon
• swetest –p01 -fTPZ –b08.04.1985 –ut09:40
More Commands for swetest.exe
(Display Houses)
• -house[long, lat, hsys]
• Example: -house-122.27,37.80,W
• About 25 different house systems (hsys) are available
• Plan: Show area of help file that contains house codes
• A – equal
• K - Koch
• O – Porphyry
• P – Placidus
• R – Regiomontanus
• W – Whole Sign
• Ex: swetest –p01 -fTPZ –b08.04.1985 –ut09:40 –house-122.27,37.80,W
• Example is for Whole Sign Houses for Oakland, CA (longitude/ latitude is 122.27° W,
37.80° N or -122.27, 37.80)
More Commands for swetest.exe
(Sidereal Zodiac)
• -sid..
• Example: -sid1
• 38 ayanamsha methods are available
• Plan: Show area of help file that contains numbers for ayanamsha method
• 0 for Fagan/Bradley, 1 for Lahiri, etc
• Ex: swetest –p01 -fTPZ –b08.04.1985 –ut09:40 –sid1
More Commands for swetest.exe
(Heliocentric System)
• -hel
• Computes heliocentric positions
• Question: If my Sun is at 18° Aries geocentrically, where is the Earth
heliocentrically?
• Ex: swetest –pC -fTPZ –b08.04.1985 –ut09:40 –hel
More Commands for swetest.exe
(Differential Ephemeris)
• -dX
• Example: -d4 (Mars)
• Print differential ephemeris between body X and each body given by –p
• Ex: swetest –p7 –d4 –fTPL –n10 –b15.5.2018
• Longitude distance between Uranus and Mars
More Commands for swetest.exe
(Midpoint Ephemeris)
• -DX
• Example: -D4 (Mars)
• Note: Capital D vs lowercase D
• Print the midpoint between body X and each body given by –p
• Ex: swetest –p7 –D4 –fTPL –n10 –b15.5.2018
• Longitude of Midpoint between Uranus (7) and Mars (4)
• Ex2: swetest –p71 –D4 –fTPL –n10 –b15.5.2018
• Longitude of the midpoint between Uranus (7) and Mars (4), and the midpoint between
Moon (1) and Mars(4)
Summary of Commands Covered
Command Description Example
-pSEQ planet sequence to be -p01 computes the Sun and Moon
computed
-fSEQ Format the output sequence -fTPZ displays the date (T) first, followed by the
planet (P), and then the longitude (Z)
-bDATE Begin date (day, month, year) -b15.5.2018 begins computing from May 15, 2018
-nN Steps: This command allows -n10 display data for 10 consecutive days
you to display data for N
consecutive steps
-sN Step size: Time step N days. –s5 advances the date by 5 days.