readme.md created 5-oct-2017 by Alois Treindl
last update 20 September 2023
Swiss Ephemeris (SE) is a software toolbox for programmers of astrological software. It is of little use for a non-programmer
Swiss Ephemeris was developed by Dieter Koch and Alois Treindl, while both were employed by Astrodienst AG in Zollikon/Zürich Switzerland.
Most astrological programmers all over the world use Swiss Ephemeris in their software.
SE ist built according to the highest standards of precision available in astronomical data, with raw data from Nasa's JPL. It is able to reproduce the ephemeris data in astronomical standard books up to the last printed digit.
Detailed information is available at https://www.astro.com/swisseph or in the documentation files included here (folder doc).
In the public Swiss Ephemeris github repository folder ephe https://github.com/aloistr/swisseph/tree/master/ephe
or from Alois' public Dropbox area in folder 'ephe' with this link
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y3naz62gy6f6qfrhquu7u/h?rlkey=ejltdhb262zglm7eo6yfj2940&dl=0
In the public Swiss Ephemeris Github repository https://github.com/aloistr/swisseph
in the public Swiss Ephemeris Github repository folder doc/ https://github.com/aloistr/swisseph/tree/master/doc
see folder windows/ https://github.com/aloistr/swisseph/tree/master/windows
to be downloaded directly from JPL, see https://www.astro.com/swisseph-download/jplfiles/
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de200.eph size 41 Mb download de200.eph
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de406.eph size 190 Mb download de406.eph
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de431.eph size 2.6 Gb download de431.eph
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de441.eph size 2.6 Gb download de441.eph
These download links refer to the JPL area https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/ftp/eph/planets/Linux/` After download, files like de441/linux_m13000p17000.441 must be renamed de441.eph to be recognized by Swiss Ephemeris code.` or from Alois' public Dropbox area in folder 'jpl binary files' with this link
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y3naz62gy6f6qfrhquu7u/h?rlkey=ejltdhb262zglm7eo6yfj2940&dl=0
md5-keys
1ef6191b614b2b854adae8675b1b981f de200.eph
1ef768440cc1617b6c8ad27a9a788135 de406e.eph
fad0f432ae18c330f9e14915fbf8960a de431.eph
a7b2a5b8b2ebed52ea4da2304958053b de441.eph
Each file covers 600 years, from 1500 - 2099. They are organized in folders of 1000 files each, available in Alois' public Dropbox area in folder 'all_ast' with this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y3naz62gy6f6qfrhquu7u/h?rlkey=ejltdhb262zglm7eo6yfj2940&dl=0
The total volume was 29 Gb in September 2023.
Each file covers the long range of 6000 years, from 3000 BCE to 2999 CE. available in Alois' public Dropbox area in folder 'long_ast' with this link
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y3naz62gy6f6qfrhquu7u/h?rlkey=ejltdhb262zglm7eo6yfj2940&dl=0
The total volume was 11 Gb in September 2023.
Swissephe code uses an internal swed.ephepath for the directory names where it looks for its data files.
It defaults to \sweph\ephe on Windows and to ".:/users/ephe2/:/users/ephe/" on Linux or other Unix-like systems like Android or Mac OS-X.
The characters ; in Windows and ; or : in Linux serve as path separators. In the default setting on Linux, the three directories . , /users/ephe and /users/ephe2 are searched when Swiss Ephemeris looks for a file.
The programmer can call the function swe_set_ephe_path() to set the ephepath variable, and may include path separators.
The user of a program can also set an evironment variable which override the builtin default.
The compressed planetary ephemeris files like sepl*.se1, sem*.se1 and seas*.se1 must be directly in one of the path elements.
Asteroid files must be in subdirectories named astN like ast0, ast1, ... ast623, where N is the asteroid number divided by 1000.
The folders all_ast and long_ast are only used inside the Dropbox area to organize the files. Once downloaded, the astN directory must be placed directly in one of the elements of ephepath. Short asteroid files and long asteroid filese differ by an s in the file name, like se1001.ses and se1001s.se1. They can be merged into the same astN directory, in this case ast1. Astrodienst keeps them traditionally separate in /ephe and /ephe2, but that distinction is not technically necessary.
folder contrib: It contains open source code and applications using the Swiss Ephemeris. See the readme file in directory contrib for more details.
The SWISS EPHEMERIS can be licensed by programmers to include this calculation engine in their software. More information is found at https://www.astro.com/swisseph/
Depending on your application the free edition under the Public License may apply, or you may have to acquire a professional license for a fee.
Read LICENSE.TXT
We maintain a mailing list which servers for discussion between developers and as the main support channel. All Swiss Ephemeris support is public. There is no private support by email.
If you want to have your name added to this mailing list, please visit https://groups.io/g/swisseph
We welcome any suggestions and comments you may have about the Swiss Ephemeris. Please email to swisseph@groups.io
If you want your feedback distributed to all members of the swisseph mailing list, please subscribe to https://groups.io/g/swisseph
Thomas Mack has ported the Swiss Ephemeris library to Java.
His work can be found at: http://www.th-mack.de/international/download/
If you use it for commercial or for non-open-source purposes, please be aware that AGPL Public License of Swiss Ephemeris also applies for the Java version, besides any additional requirements which may be defined by Thomas Mack.
found on Github https://github.com/cyjoelchen/php-sweph
found on Github https://github.com/aloistr/perl-sweph
the numerical integrator to prepare swisss ephemeris files is not in a state fit for publication.