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** VERSION 7.80 **
Release notes for Astrolog version 7.80 (June 2025):
Happy Solstice and start of Cancer everyone! :) This file describes the freeware astrology software program Astrolog version 7.80 and the additions and fixes made to it, over the previous version 7.70 which was released 14 months ago in April 2024. The main things in this update are antialiasing, constellation lines, and wheel chart degrees.
Here are new additions to version 7.80 that weren't in previous versions:
1. Antialiasing: Astrolog now supports antialiasing when drawing graphics. That means lines drawn aren’t blocky with pixels being either fully on or off, but rather the edges can blur with their surroundings, which looks smoother. To antialias charts, select the Graphics / Chart Effects / Antialias Lines menu command, or use the new -Xx0 switch. Antialiasing is supported when generating Windows bitmaps, and on the Windows screen. It’s not supported in PostScript or metafiles (which are vector formats so don’t have pixelation), or in X Windows. System fonts on the Windows screen are already antialiased, but this will affect text and glyphs drawn in Astrolog’s internal fonts.
2. Constellation lines: Astrolog’s displays which can show astronomical constellation boundaries can now also include lines between stars that form the constellations. To display constellation lines, select the Graphics / Map Effects / Show Constellation Lines menu command, or use the new -YXU1 switch. This is an extension to the feature which displays all stars, so requires that setting (-XU switch) to be enabled first.
To implement constellation lines, the program internally applies a set of -YXU switches to define which stars have lines between them. Constellation lines can be shown in old versions 7.20 and beyond by loading the following command file into the program (which contains the same set of -YXU switches that are now embedded within the program): http://www.astrolog.org/ftp/script/constel.as
3. Constellation lookup: Astrolog has an option to list which planets are in which astronomical constellations. To show constellations, set the Wheel Sign Subdivision Type dropdown to the new value “Constellation”, or pass the value 10 to the -v3 command switch. The standard text mode list of planets (-v _X switches) will include in the rightmost column which constellation the object lies within. This constellation may be any of the 88 total, and not just the 13 constellations along the ecliptic. Note the print nearest second setting (-b0 switch) needs to be on in order to show this column.
This setting will also apply to the graphics wheel chart, and will subdivide the signs into the 13 astronomical constellations that lie along the ecliptic (which are the 12 zodiac constellations plus Ophiuchus). In other words, this shows an irregularly sized “13 sign zodiac”. Because the wheel is two dimensional, it can only mark the constellations that are along the ecliptic, as if the planets were located at 0 latitude, when planets may actually be located in any of the 88 constellations which are above or below the ecliptic.
4. Stationary indication: Astrolog can display when a planet is stationary, which means its velocity is near zero, and it’s about to switch direction. Normally planets are considered either retrograde or direct, and displayed with an “R” or nothing. The new -Yw switch setting indicates the velocity value below which a planet will be considered stationary, which means it will be displayed with an “S” in charts. This setting tends to work better if the velocities relative to average speed setting (-v0 switch) is on, to avoid slow moving outer planets being stationary for longer periods of time. For example, -Yw 0.01 means a planet will be stationary if its velocity is less than 0.01 degrees per day, or if its velocity is less than 0.01 or 1% of its average speed.
5. Millisecond display: Astrolog can display planet positions, times, and longitude and latitude locations to the millisecond. Turn this on with the -b1 command switch. It modifies the print nearest second setting (-b0 switch), and causes it when on to display to the nearest millisecond instead of the nearest second.
6. Swap charts: The new -ix switch will swap the contents of chart slots #1 and #2. In the Windows version, use the new Info / Chart List / Swap Chart #1 and #2 menu command, or the Ctrl+Shift+X hotkey. Swapping the charts in an easy manner is useful in scenarios such as synastry charts, when determining which chart controls the planets versus which controls the houses.
7. Recall restrictions: In the Windows version, the Restrictions dialogs contain a new “Recall” button, which will restore object restrictions to the defaults that were loaded on program startup (or to the last time the restriction status was saved internally with the -YRo switch).
8. Combined zone offset: The new -Yz1 switch will display overall time zone offsets in the program as a single value, such as “h4w” for Eastern Daylight Time (5 hours West of UTC with Daylight Time on, so total offset is 4 hours West). Normally the program displays Daylight Time status separate from time zone, so for example Eastern Daylight Time is “DT Zone 5W”, and Eastern Standard Time is “ST Zone 5W”.
9. Animate fraction: The -Xn switch has been extended to accept the values 11-13 to step by 1/10th of a second, 1/100th of a second, or 1/1000th of a second at a time. In the Windows version, these can be selected by new menu commands on the Jump Rate submenu. This works best when the millisecond display setting (-b1 switch) is active, so one can actually see the time adjust by fractions of a second.
10. Scribble color: The new -Xk switch will set the scribble color to use when drawing on the window with the left mouse button. This can be set with menu options in the Windows version, but it’s nice to have a method to use in other environments too.
11. Set orb type: The new -gs switch (and the -as switch which does the same thing) takes a parameter between 0-2, and will set the orb type to either positive/negative, applying/separating, or waxing/waning. This can already be set with the -gp and -gx subswitches, but it’s nice to have a separate way of setting it without having to turn on the -g or -a switch charts at the same time.
12. Set sidebar: The new -Xv0 switch sets whether graphic wheel charts are displayed with a sidebar showing chart information and positions. This used to be controlled by the -v0 switch setting which is also used for planet velocities, in which it should really be determined by its own separate setting.
13. Change text scale: In the Windows version, the new menu commands Graphics / Character Scale / Decrease Text and Increase Text will decrement or increment the graphics text scale in steps between 100% and 400%. This can already be set within the Graphics Settings dialog, but it’s nice to be able to change the setting faster with the menu’s Ctrl+< and Ctrl+> hotkeys.
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Here's a summary of the 9 new command switches in Astrolog 7.80 that weren't in previous versions:
-gs <0-2>: Like -g but set orbs to offset, app/sep, or wax/wan.
-ix: Swap contents of chart #1 and chart #2.
-b1: Display locations/times to nearest millisecond instead.
-Yw <num>: Set velocity for planets to be considered stationary.
-Yz1: Display single time offset combining Daylight and time zone.
-YXU1: Set lines to depict all 88 astronomical constellations.
-Xx0: Draw antialiased lines in graphics charts.
-Xv0: Display sidebar to the right side of wheel charts.
-Xk <col>: Set current pen scribble color.
Here's a summary of the 8 new menu commands in the Windows version of Astrolog 7.80 that weren’t in previous versions:
Info / Chart List / Swap Chart #1 and #2
Graphics / Character Scale / Decrease Text
Graphics / Character Scale / Increase Text
Graphics / Chart Effects / Antialias Lines
Graphics / Map Effects / Show Constellation Lines
Animate / Jump Rate / 1/10th Seconds
Animate / Jump Rate / 1/100th Seconds
Animate / Jump Rate / 1/1000th Seconds
A list of improvements to existing features in Astrolog 7.80, such as new things you can now do with old features that you couldn’t do before, or ways that existing features work better than before:
1. Degree wheels: Graphic wheel charts now have the option to display degree numbers next to each planet on the wheel. This will include degrees and minutes, and retrogradation status. Normally this information is only available in the sidebar. This setting is controlled by the Show Cities option (-XL switch), and in the Windows version can be toggled with the new “Show Degrees on Wheel” menu option when right mouse clicking. The degree number option applies to single wheels and bi-wheels, but not tri-wheels and beyond.
2. Local astrocartography: Astrolog’s graphic local space chart (-Nl -X switches) can now also do astrocartography. If the globe halves focus on southern hemisphere setting is active (the “0” part of the -XG0 switch) then the lines drawn will be astrocartography instead of local space. In the Windows version, this can be toggled with the “Lines are Astro-Graph” menu option when right mouse clicking. Astrolog’s astro-graph and maps charts can show astrocartography for the entire world, but it’s nice to have an ability to zoom in on a particular region to see how lines relate to cities and such.
3. Zodiacal astrocartography: Astrolog’s text and graphics charts which display astrocartography (its astro-graph, world map, and local space charts) now have an option to do zodiacal positioning. Zodiacal means lines are based on a planet’s zodiac position only, and ignore ecliptic latitude and assume latitude is zero. The 3D houses setting (-c3 switch) controls this, and in the Windows version can be toggled with the “Ignore Planet Latitudes” menu option when right mouse clicking.
4. Eclipse areas: Astrolog’s graphic globe and local space charts will darken the parts of the world that are night, when the world map in Mollewide projection setting (the “0” part of the -XW0 switch) is on. If eclipse detection is also on (-Yu switch) and a solar eclipse is taking place, then the parts of the world actually seeing the eclipse will now be darkened too. Any part of the world experiencing totality or annularity will be highlighted in red. An image of this feature showing an eclipse progressing can be seen at: https://www.astrolog.org/astrolog/screen/eclipseg.gif
5. Wheel eclipse glyphs: Many Astrolog charts will display a Conjunction or Opposition aspect that’s also an eclipse with glyphs that have the circle(s) filled in. (This assumes that eclipse detection is on, and that the current aspect font contains such glyphs.) This now also happens for the standard wheel charts.
6. Midpoint aspects comparison: The setting to display aspects to each midpoint in the text mode midpoint chart (-ma switch) now also works for the relationship comparison version of the chart (-r0 -m switches). This will display aspects from midpoints between the two charts, made to planets in the second chart.
7. Extra stars charts: The list of extra stars or extra asteroids (-XU or -XE switches) will be displayed in more charts, specifically the text mode standard list (-v _X switches) and text mode local horizon chart (-Z _X).
8. Sort extra stars: The list of extra stars or extra asteroids (-XU or -XE switches) when displayed in text mode charts will now be sorted by the star sorting setting (-U switch parameter). All sorting options are available except by distance, and sorting by brightness is only available for stars.
9. Minute ephemeris: The text mode ephemeris chart which displays positions at a specified interval can now also do minute intervals, with the “n” parameter to the -E0 switch. For example, -E0 n5 will display ephemeris positions every five minutes.
10. Natural perigee option: The natural node setting (-Ynn switch) will now affect custom objects set to the Moon perigee point. For example, the switch -YeOp <slot> Moo will calculate the natural perigee of the Moon, just like the -Ynn switch setting will make the Lilith object be the natural apogee of the Moon (instead of the mean/true apogee).
11. Text mode fonts: In the Windows version, the text font field in Graphics Settings will now also affect text mode charts. This makes the Courier New and Consolas fonts available as options. The “Astrolog” font option will produce the existing behavior of using the system Terminal font. The thicker lines setting (-Xx switch) if active will affect these alternative fonts, and display them in boldface.
12. Unicode fallback: Astrolog’s internal text font displayed in graphics charts is in the Latin-1 codepage containing 256 characters. Characters that aren’t one of these are usually displayed as “?” characters. This situation will now attempt to find an Ascii fallback character if possible, by removing the accent or diacritical mark from letters, before displaying as “?”.
13. Longer command lines: Command lines in Astrolog switch files used to be limited to 1020 characters long, with later characters truncated. Now they can be any length or number of characters.
14. TZ database updated: Astrolog’s time zone change information has been updated to use TZ database version “2025b” (instead of “2024a” which was used before). This new version has a few subtle corrections and improvements to various areas in the world.
15. Exoplanet list updated: Astrolog’s default list of exoplanets has been updated, expanding from 4190 to 4401 exoplanets.
A few changes that aren't new feature additions or bug fixes have been made to Astrolog 7.80, which means certain old assumptions are no longer valid. Most can be considered improvements, but they still change existing behavior. A list of these follows (which aren't useful to be aware of unless you have used previous versions of the program):
1. Part of Fortune changed: The Part of Fortune object (along with other parts in the Arabic parts chart) have changed how night charts are determined. Before this was defined by the Sun being in houses 1-6, which isn’t the best for non-quadrant systems. Now a night chart means the Sun is less than 180 degrees after the position of the Ascendant. If the 3D houses setting is on (-c3 switch) then night charts will be based on if the Sun’s actual local horizon position is below the horizon, which may take atmospheric refraction into account (if the -Yf switch setting is on).
2. Sidebar setting changed: Whether graphic wheel charts are displayed with a sidebar showing chart information and positions, is now controlled by the new -Xv0 switch. This used to be controlled by the -v0 switch setting used for planet velocities, in which it should really be determined by its own separate setting.
3. Sign change display: In the text mode transit times charts (-d and -t switches) when a planet changes sign it’s displayed with an arrow like “-->”. Now, if the planet is retrograde, the sign change will be displayed with a backwards arrow like “<--“. This is consistent with transits displayed in the graphics calendar chart, which also has both types of arrow.
4. Allow empty chart list: Saving a chart list to Astrolog’s chart list format will now allow an empty zero size list to be written. Before, if the chart list was empty, a length one list containing the main chart slot would be output.
Here are bugs or other issues with version 7.70, all of which have been fixed in 7.80:
1. Parallel aspects bug: In relationship comparison charts, when the parallel aspects setting is active, parallel and contraparallel aspects would be displayed as if the two charts were reversed. This affected the relationship aspect grid (-r0 -gp switches) and the aspects in the middle of bi-wheel charts.
2. Ray decoration omission: Selecting the “Ray 12345” option in the Wheel Corners dropdown in Graphics Settings (and the corresponding -YXv 5 switch) wouldn’t do anything when selected.
3. Star retrogradation omission: In the wheel chart sidebar, fixed star objects wouldn’t ever show a “R” for being retrograde, even when they were actually retrograde.
4. Position comparison bug: A comparison chart (-r0 switch) between two charts with no time or space (such as produced with the -o0 switch) wouldn’t preserve the two charts’ data, and therefore not work right.
5. Aspect grid day: In the text mode relationship comparison aspect grid (-r0 -g _X switches) the day of the week displayed for chart #2 would be wrong, and be the same as the day of the week of chart #1. Also, in the text mode relationship comparison aspect grid, if one of the charts had no time or space, then the month displayed for the chart would be garbage and potentially cause a crash.
6. LMT midpoint inaccuracy: The time space midpoint chart (-rm switch) wouldn’t use the correct midpoint time if one or both of the charts had a time zone of local mean time (LMT).
7. Latitude crossing inaccuracy: The text mode astro-graph chart (-L0 _X switches) would sometimes display latitude crossings located near the date line (180W/E) with wrong latitudes, such as taking place at above 90 degrees latitude.
8. Transit 3D inaccuracy: In the transit to natal times chart (-t switch) transits into a new natal 3D house would be displayed at wrong dates/times.
9. Transit position display: In the transit to transit times chart (-d switch) if the rounded positions setting was on (-Yr switch) then sign change events wouldn’t display the zodiac position of that event as expected.
10. Eclipse detection bug: When detecting whether a solar eclipse exists anywhere on Earth (-Yu0 switch) zero sized objects like the Nodes would sometimes be displayed as being part of a partial eclipse, which is impossible. Zero sized objects should either be an annular transit once they touch the Sun’s disk, or not be an eclipse at all.
11. Custom Earth limitation: Attempting to set a custom object to be the Earth or one of its apsis points would fail saying the object index is out of range. This limitation would affect both the Object Customization dialog, and the corresponding -YeO command switch.
12. Degree symbol display: In the Windows version, when a text mode chart was being viewed, the degree symbol would be corrupted and shown a different character in the Chart Info dialogs, when looking up a city or displaying nearby cities. Also, in the Chart List dialog, degrees would be displayed as just a colon when they should be the degree symbol.
13. Animate month glitch: Animating or incrementing the chart by month would sometimes result in an illegal day, such as February 31. Now the day will be adjusted down if needed.
14. JPL Horizons limitation: Calculating an object using a JPL Horizons Web query would truncate the time used to the clock second, losing any fractional second specified.
15. Local space display: In the graphic local space chart (-Nl -X switches) displaying the detailed world map over a wide enough area to cover more than 360 degrees of longitude would display garbage for the background.
16. Constellation line omission: Constellation lines (-YXU switch) would sometimes not be drawn on the globe chart if they spanned a large enough horizontal distance.
17. Calendar event display: In the graphic calendar chart with events included (-K -XA switches) events other than aspects would always be displayed as thin lines, even if the thicker lines setting was on and the text character scale large enough so the text could be drawn thicker.
18. Custom background glitch: When a bitmap background is being used for graphics charts, wheel chart fills would still be attempted, which would sometimes fill in just part of the area based on what’s in the background. Bitmap backgrounds will now cause the wheel chart fill setting to be ignored.
19. Directory import display: Loading all charts in a directory (-id switch) would cause charts that were in the old style formatting consisting of just numbers, to be loaded into the chart list with names containing “(null)” at the end of them.
20. PostScript bug: Exporting to a Quick*Chart format file would truncate the longitude and latitude to the arcminute, and would always export zero for the seconds.
21. Quick*Chart precision: Exporting an encapsulated PostScript file would produce a bad file that most utilities couldn’t parse and display. Complete PostScript files were unaffected.
22. War Time display: Importing Solar Fire text into the program wouldn’t parse War Time properly. The chart positions would still be correct, but War Time wouldn’t be treated as Daylight Time. For example, Astrolog would translate Eastern War Time (EWT) to “ST Zone 4W” when it should be “DT Zone 5W”.
23. Sidereal switch parsing: The -s sidereal zodiac switch would skip over the command switch after it, if that command switch started with “-“. That’s because the -s switch takes an optional parameter for the ayanamsa offset to use, and the starting dash was considered the start of a negative number. Now the next character after the dash has to be numeric, in order for it to be treated as a parameter to -s.
24. Wheel subdivision error: In the Windows version, entering an illegal value in the Wheel Sign Subdivision Type field would set the field to the illegal value "Astrolog", and potentially crash.
AstroExpressions or “Astrolog Expressions” are programmable customizations that don’t require recompiling the program, and can be considered an extended form of command switches. AstroExpression functions and related command switches have been updated in version 7.80. This section can be ignored if one doesn’t use this feature area.
The following lists all new AstroExpression functions. The name of each function is listed, followed by the type of its return value and the expected types of its parameters (if any). Numbers will automatically be converted to Integer or Real as needed.
ObjAng: Real(Int). Object angular diameter. Returns the angular diameter of the specified object in the sky, in degrees.
Constel: Int(RealX, RealY). Constellation lookup. Converts a zodiac position and ecliptic latitude to the astronomical constellation it lies within, returning 1-88.
g0, _gm, _gp, _gd, _ga, _gx, _gs, _a0, _ad, _aa, _ax, _as, _m0, _ma, _RO, _b1, _Yn1, _Yw, _Xx0, _Xv0, _Xk: Int. Program setting. This list of functions queries the Astrolog setting that’s set with the identically named command switch.
A few improvements or bug fixes have also been made in the AstroExpression area:
AspOn bug: The AspOn function was returning whether an aspect was restricted, when it should return whether the aspect is turned on.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Astrolog and all chart display routines and anything not enumerated below used in this program are Copyright (C) 1991-2025 by Walter D. Pullen (Astara@msn.com, http://www.astrolog.org/astrolog.htm). Permission is granted to freely use, modify, and distribute these routines provided these credits and notices remain unmodified with any altered or distributed versions of the program.
The main ephemeris databases and calculation routines are from the library SWISS EPHEMERIS and are programmed and copyright 1997-2008 by Astrodienst AG. Use of that source code is subject to license for Swiss Ephemeris Free Edition at https://www.astro.com/swisseph/swephinfo_e.htm. This copyright notice must not be changed or removed by any user of this program.
Additional ephemeris databases and formulas are from the calculation routines in the program PLACALC and are programmed and Copyright (C) 1989,1991,1993 by Astrodienst AG and Alois Treindl (alois@astro.ch). The use of that source code is subject to regulations made by Astrodienst Zurich, and the code is not in the public domain. This copyright notice must not be changed or removed by any user of this program.
The original planetary calculation routines used in this program have been copyrighted and the initial core of this program was mostly a conversion to C of the routines created by James Neely as listed in 'Manual of Computer Programming for Astrologers', by Michael Erlewine, available from Matrix Software.
Atlas composed using data from https://www.geonames.org/ licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Time zone changes composed using public domain TZ database: https://data.iana.org/time-zones/tz-link.html
The PostScript code within the core graphics routines are programmed and Copyright (C) 1992-1993 by Brian D. Willoughby (brianw@sounds.wa.com).
More formally: This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful and inspiring, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details, a copy of which is in the LICENSE.HTM file included with Astrolog, and at http://www.gnu.org
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* Walter D. "Cruiser1" Pullen :) ! Astara@msn.com *
O Astrolog version 7.80 Website: http://www.astrolog.org/astrolog.htm O
* "Who am I, What am I? As I am, I am not. But as we are, I AM. And to *
O you my creation, My Perfect Love is your Perfect Freedom. And I will be O
* with you forever and ever, until the End, and then forever more." - GOD *
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