Astrology software is a type of computer programs designed to calculate

astrological Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celesti ...

horoscope A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...

s. Many of them also assemble interpretive text into narrative reports.

History

Astro Computing Services (ACS) in San Diego, founded by Neil Michelsen in 1973, published a computer-generated astrological

ephemeris In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (; ; , ) is a book with tables that gives the trajectory of naturally occurring astronomical objects and artificial satellites in the sky, i.e., the position (and possibly velocity) over tim ...

in 1976, ''The American Ephemeris''. When personal computers generally became available, astrologers and astrology hobbyists were able to purchase them and use astrological or astronomical calculation

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

or make such programs themselves. Astrologer and computer programmer

Michael Erlewine John Michael Erlewine (; born July 18, 1941) is an American musician, astrologer, photographer, publisher, and Internet entrepreneur who founded the music online database site AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide) in 1991. Career Erle ...

was involved early in making astrological software for microcomputers available to the general public in the late 1970s. In 1978, Erlewine founded Matrix Software, and in 1980 he published a book with all the algorithms and data required for owners of microcomputers to make their own complete astrological programs. At first, astrology software was opposed by American astrologers who did not approve of computers in their field. However, acceptance grew as it became clear how more efficient and profitable such software could be. A few hundred fixed-purpose astrology computers were made. One of which, the Digicomp DR-70 Astrology Minicomputer, was used by Nancy Reagan's astrologer

Joan Quigley Joan Ceciel Quigley (April 10, 1927October 21, 2014) of San Francisco, California, was an astrologer best known for her astrological advice to the Reagan White House in the 1980s. Quigley was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She was called on by ...

beginning in about 1981. Astrology software has been made available in the

open-source model Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

, starting with the release of

Astrolog Astrolog is an open-source astrological software program that has been available online free of charge since 1991. It has been (as of 2024) authored by Walter Pullen since its creation, and was originally distributed via postings to the Usenet ...

in 1991.

Features

Computer astrology programs today typically make accurate planet position calculations, display and print these positions using astrological

glyph A glyph ( ) is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A ...

symbols in graphic

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

, save and retrieve individuals' data to and from

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

files, compare the planet positions of different charts to find the astrological aspects between them (e.g. for compatibility), calculate the dates of important events in the future for a chart, and research the saved chart database. Some generate colorful geographical maps with lines showing where the planets rise and culminate at a significant time, usually the time of birth or the time of inception of an organization (called

astrocartography Locational astrology (sometimes referred to as astrocartography or astrogeography) is any of various types of astrology that factor in specific locations of the Earth. The different types also carry a range of astrological techniques. Astrogeogra ...

). Astrology programs usually come bundled with an electronic atlas, allowing the review of the

longitudes Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter ...

latitudes In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at the south pole to 90° at the ...

, and

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

observance histories for cities and towns. Many assemble interpretive text about the various element combinations in a chart into comprehensive printed reports.Nine of the ten software programs reviewed
by TopTenReviews.com in 2011 provide interpretive reports.

Software development tools for astrology

Software libraries exist to aid in the development of astronomical software. These libraries can also be leveraged for use in astrological projects. One such tool is Swiss Ephemeris, which is an astronomical almanac developed by Astrodienst AG, Switzerland, the makers of

. It is widely used for calculating the positions of planets, moons, asteroids, and stars for a given date and time. The library can be integrated with several programming languages including C#,

C++ C++ (, pronounced "C plus plus" and sometimes abbreviated as CPP or CXX) is a high-level, general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup. First released in 1985 as an extension of the C programmin ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, and

.NET The .NET platform (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a free and open-source, managed code, managed computer software framework for Microsoft Windows, Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. The project is mainly developed by Microsoft emplo ...

. The Swiss Ephemeris primarily uses the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris (abbreviated JPL DE(number), or simply DE(number)) designates one of a series of mathematical models of the Solar System produced at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, for use in sp ...

as its source data for positions of the Sun, Moon and planets. It uses data from Astronomisches Rechen-Institut (ARI) in Heidelberg, Germany for the positions of asteroids.

References

{{Reflist, 2

Software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

Divination software and games

History

Features

Software development tools for astrology

See also

References