OLDER VERSIONS are no longer available.

Linux Files (If you use Fedora Linux, try this experimental build - Feedback requested)

Unzip all files in the same directory and run astwin.exe (Windows XP etc).

Note: This is an Alpha release! Many functions are incomplete and some menu items are not fully working yet. I will update them as I get time. Please be patient. Feedback/wish lists requested..

What does version 4.0 look like??

Sample of a screen shot showing 300,000 asteroids. (You need to download the full database)

Stars to mag 9.0 from Tycho2 catalogue, colour coded according to spectrum.
10,000 Asteroids from the Lowell observatory database plus Sun and Planets.

Prehistory:

An Alpha trial version should be available for evaluation at the end of April 1999.

Alpha 01: 1st Apr 1999; Help is no help! PPM and HIP catalogs, rough menu only.
Alpha 02: 1st May 1999; Help now works, Telescope installed. Finder enabled.
Alpha 03: 9th May 1999; Find the moon, size the moon.
Alpha 04..08 June 1999; Cosmetic changes. Not posted until 08 build
Alpha 08p: 13th July 1999; patch file, 2000 asteroids, names in the telescope.
Alpha 09p: 3rd March 2000; 3000 asteroids, Stars look like stars in the telescope.
Alpha 09p: update. 3rd August 2000 Preliminary Linux version and minor bugfixes.
Alpha 10 update. 3rd September 2000; Constellation bounds and names. Allowed user to input their own data. Access 10k MPs with block mode.
Alpha 11 update. Added CCD selection. Ephemeris menu works.
Added access to complete Hipparchos star catalog OR 120,000 PPM stars.
Alpha 12 update. 1st October 2000; Appulses/Conjunctions between planets and planet/stars added, includes GOTO.
Alpha 13 update. 1st November 2000; Squashed ephemeris bug. Added over 700 odd observatories (and a few even ones...) OK, so where are the asteroids *tomorrow*?
Alpha 13 patch update. 9 Feb 2001; Added Tycho2 star catalogue support
Alpha 14 update. 1st October 2001; Added skin file support.
Version 4.0 Build 26 (work in progress)
Alpha 26 update. 1st October 2004; Added colourful themes, wallpapers and Hartung's Objects for southern telescopes with Northern addendum. Supports NGC, Messier and double stars for the whole sky.
Alpha 30 update. 1st June 2005; Completed Hartungs nebula catalog.
Alpha 32 update. 31st July 2005; Support for UCAC2 catalog added. Also added KB0's such as Sedna and the alleged 10th planet 2003UB313 in the user file.
Alpha 33 update. The complete TYCHO2 star catalog.
Alpha 35 update. 1st July 2006; Support for 350,000 asteroids at once.
Alpha 37 update. 10th July 2006; Modified asteroid algorithm so that viewing 330,000 asteroids is now much faster.
Build 38 update: added 170 moons for major planets.
Build 39 update: updated databases, added full screen option 'f'
Build 40 update: 9th October 2009; Major upgrade to version 4.1 adds visualization code for a 3d tour of the solar system. added over 100 asteroid moons as well. Preliminary release, more work needed on interface. Shuttlebug "egg" installed. Can you find it?
This new version is designed to work with an optional 40MB data file with the entire 2.4 million tycho2 stars. I have also added support for 48 million UCAC stars to 16th mag. This requires a 480MB data file generated from the UCAC2 CDroms. I can't store such a big file here, so if you want to try it out.. please email me!
Build 42 update: Adds 100 asteroid shapes for the solar system simulator based on the DAMIT database.
Build 43 update: A more accurate calculation for Earth's position gives better asteroid locations.

With extra features, ASTEROID now requires serious horsepower to run. Try a Pentium for quick updates; a 200MHz is usable, but a little slow.

Software projects: SPACE FX

SPACE FXis an animation program used to generate a series of up to 1000 1024x768 true-colour 24-bit TGA files suitable for conversion to FLIC, AVI, MPEG animations or GIF images.

Contact yours truly:

For further information about my work or the items mentioned above, please email me!

Late Breaking News..

Version 4.2 now here as a test version while I continue updating it.
I am currently working on Asteroid 4.3 but, hey, you know that already, right?

Who am I?
I am a Professional Electrical Engineer and sometime programmer with an interest in animation graphics, raytracing and astronomy. I do most of my programming in C and a little asm when necessary. I have also used Visual Basic and am currently trying out C++.

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