DOKK / manpages / debian 10 / libswe-dev / swetest.1.en
swetest(1) General Commands Manual swetest(1)

swetest - swetest.c

swetest Swiss Ephemeris test program.

Swetest computes a complete set of geocentric planetary positions, for a given date or a sequence of dates. Input can either be a date or an absolute julian day number. 0:00 (midnight). With the proper options, swetest can be used to output a printed ephemeris and transfer the data into other programs like spreadsheets for graphical display.

The Swiss Ephemeris did not arise in the UNIX/Gnu Linux world and hence the people at Astrodienst did not create UNIX/Gnu Linux style manpage for swetest. Please consult the following files:

/usr/share/doc/libswe-doc/swephprg.pdf

/usr/share/doc/libswe-doc/swisseph.pdf

/usr/share/doc/libswe-doc/swephprg.html

/usr/share/doc/libswe-doc/swisseph.html

This documentation can also be found on line on astrodienst's web pages.

However, below is the result of "swetest -h".

Command line options:

help commands:
-?, -h
display whole info
display commands
display planet numbers
display format characters
display input date format
display examples
input time formats:
begin date; e.g. -b1.1.1992 if Note: the date format is day month year (European style).
begin date as an absolute Julian day number; e.g. -bj2415020.5
same as -bj
input time (ephemeris time)
input date is universal time -utHH:MM:SS input time -utHH.MMSS input time
object, number of steps, step with
planet sequence to be computed. See the letter coding below.
differential ephemeris: print differential ephemeris between body X and each body in list given by -p example: -p2 -d0 -fJl -n366 -b1.1.1992 prints the longitude distance between SUN (planet 0) and MERCURY (planet 2) for a full year starting at 1 Jan 1992.
midpoint ephemeris, works the same way as the differential mode -d described above, but outputs the midpoint position.
output data for N consecutive days; if no -n option is given, the default is 1. If the option -n without a number is given, the default is 20.
timestep N days, default 1. This option is only meaningful when combined with option -n. output format:
use SEQ as format sequence for the output columns; default is PLBRS.
don't print the header before the planet data. This option is useful when you want to paste the output into a spreadsheet for displaying graphical ephemeris.
+head
header before every step (with -s..)
use PPP as gap between output columns; default is a single
-g followed by white space sets the gap to the TAB character; which is useful for data entry into spreadsheets.
astrological house system:
-house[long,lat,hsys]
include house cusps. The longitude, latitude (degrees with DECIMAL fraction) and house system letter can be given, with commas separated, + for east and north. If none are given, Greenwich UK and Placidus is used: 0.00,51.50,p. The output lists 12 house cusps, Asc, MC, ARMC and Vertex. Houses can only be computed if option -ut is given.
-hsy[hsys]
house system to be used (for house positions of planets) for long, lat, hsys, see -house
Geographic position. Can be used for azimuth and altitude or topocentric or house cups calculations. The longitude, latitude (degrees with DECIMAL fraction) and elevation (meters) can be given, with commas separated, + for east and north. If none are given, Greenwich is used: 0,51.5,0
sidereal astrology:
-ay.. ayanamsa, with number of method, e.g. ay0 for Fagan/Bradley
sidereal, with number of method; 'sid0' for Fagan/Bradley 'sid1' for Lahiri
sidereal, projection on ecliptic of t0
sidereal, projection on solar system plane ephemeris specifications:
swiss ephemeris
jpl ephemeris (DE406), or with ephemeris file name -ejplde200.eph
moshier ephemeris
true positions
no aberration
no gravitational light deflection
astrometric positions
no precession (i.e. J2000 positions)
ICRS (use Internat. Celestial Reference System)
no nutation
calculate high precision speed
´low' precision speed from 3 positions do not use this option. -speed parameter is faster and preciser
force iflag to value XX
test example in AA 96, B37, i.e. venus, j2450442.5, DE200. attention: use precession IAU1976 and nutation 1980 (s. swephlib.h) -testaa95 -testaa97
round to seconds
round to minutes
observer position:
-hel compute heliocentric positions
compute barycentric positions (bar. earth instead of node)
topocentric positions. The longitude, latitude (degrees with DECIMAL fraction) and elevation (meters) can be given, with commas separated, + for east and north. If none are given, Zuerich is used: 8.55,47.38,400

special events:
-solecl solar eclipse
output 1st line:
eclipse date, time of maximum (UT), core shadow width (negative with total eclipses), fraction of solar diameter that is eclipsed Julian day number (6-digit fraction) of maximum
output 2nd line:
start and end times for partial and total phase
output 3rd line:
geographical longitude and latitude of maximum eclipse, totality duration at that geographical position,
output with -local, see below.
specify planet (-pf -xfAldebaran for stars) output format same as with -solecl
output 1st line:
eclipse date, time of maximum (UT), Julian day number (6-digit fraction) of maximum
output 2nd line:
6 contacts for start and end of penumbral, partial, and total phase
only with -solecl or -occult, if the next event of this kind is wanted for a given geogr. position. Use -geopos[long,lat,elev] to specify that position. If -local is not set, the program searches for the next event anywhere on earth.
output 1st line:
eclipse date, time of maximum, fraction of solar diameter that is eclipsed
output 2nd line:
local eclipse duration, local four contacts,
-hev[type] heliacal events,
type 1 = heliacal rising

type 2 = heliacal setting

type 3 = evening first

type 4 = morning last

type 0 or missing = all four events are listed.

-rise rising and setting of a planet or star.
Use -geopos[long,lat,elev] to specify geographical position.
southern and northern meridian transit of a planet of star Use -geopos[long,lat,elev] to specify geographical position.
specifications for eclipses:
-total total eclipse (only with -solecl, -lunecl)

-partial partial eclipse (only with -solecl, -lunecl)

-annular annular eclipse (only with -solecl)

-anntot annular-total (hybrid) eclipse (only with -solecl)

-penumbral penumbral lunar eclipse (only with -lunecl)

-central central eclipse (only with -solecl, nonlocal)

-noncentral non-central eclipse (only with -solecl, nonlocal)

specifications for risings and settings:
-norefrac neglect refraction (with option -rise)

-disccenter find rise of disc center (with option -rise)

hindu version of sunrise (with option -rise)
specifications for heliacal events:
-at[press,temp,rhum,visr]:
pressure in hPa

temperature in degrees Celsius

relative humidity in %

visual range, interpreted as follows:

> 1 : meteorological range in km

1>visr>0 : total atmospheric coefficient (ktot)

= 0 : calculated from press, temp, rhum

Default values are -at1013.25,15,40,0
-obs[age,SN] age of observer and Snellen ratio
Default values are -obs36,1
-opt[age,SN,binocular,magn,diam,transm]
age and SN as with -obs

0 monocular or 1 binocular

telescope magnification

optical aperture in mm

optical transmission

Default values: -opt36,1,1,1,0,0 (naked eye)

backward search:
-bwd

-rise rising and setting of a planet or star. Use -geopos[long,lat,elev] to specify geographical position.

-metr southern and northern meridian transit of a planet of star Use -geopos[long,lat,elev] to specify geographical position.

specifications for eclipses:
-total total eclipse (only with -solecl, -lunecl)

-partial partial eclipse (only with -solecl, -lunecl)

-annular annular eclipse (only with -solecl)

-anntot annular-total (hybrid) eclipse (only with -solecl)

-penumbral penumbral lunar eclipse (only with -lunecl)

-central central eclipse (only with -solecl, nonlocal)

-noncentral non-central eclipse (only with -solecl, nonlocal)

specifications for risings and settings:
-norefrac neglect refraction (with option -rise)

-disccenter find rise of disc center (with option -rise)

-hindu hindu version of sunrise (with option -rise)

specifications for heliacal events:
-at[press,temp,rhum,visr]:
pressure in hPa

temperature in degrees Celsius

relative humidity in %

visual range, interpreted as follows:

> 1 : meteorological range in km

1>visr>0 : total atmospheric coefficient (ktot)

= 0 : calculated from press, temp, rhum

Default values are -at1013.25,15,40,0
-obs[age,SN] age of observer and Snellen ratio
Default values are -obs36,1
-opt[age,SN,binocular,magn,diam,transm]
age and SN as with -obs

0 monocular or 1 binocular

telescope magnification

optical aperture in mm

optical transmission

Default values: -opt36,1,1,1,0,0 (naked eye)

backward search:
-bwd

Planet selection letters:

planetary lists:
d (default) main factors 0123456789mtABCcg

p main factors as above, plus main asteroids DEFGHI

h ficticious factors J..X

a all factors

(the letters above can only appear as a single letter)

single planet letters:

0 Sun (character zero)

1 Moon (character 1)

2 Mercury

....

9 Pluto

m mean lunar node

t true lunar node

n nutation

•
obliquity of ecliptic

q delta t

A mean lunar apogee (Lilith, Black Moon)

B osculating lunar apogee

c intp. lunar apogee

g intp. lunar perigee

C Earth (in heliocentric or barycentric calculation)

dwarf planets, plutoids
F Ceres

9 Pluto

some minor planets:
D Chiron

E Pholus

G Pallas

H Juno

I Vesta

s minor planet, with MPC number given in -xs

fixed stars:
f fixed star, with name or number given in -xf option

f -xfSirius Sirius

fictitious objects:
J Cupido

K Hades

L Zeus

M Kronos

N Apollon

O Admetos

P Vulkanus

Q Poseidon

R Isis (Sevin)

S Nibiru (Sitchin)

T Harrington

U Leverrier's Neptune

V Adams' Neptune

W Lowell's Pluto

X Pickering's Pluto

Y Vulcan

Z White Moon

w Waldemath's dark Moon

z hypothetical body, with number given in -xz

e print a line of labels

Output format SEQ letters: In the standard setting five columns of coordinates are printed with the default format PLBRS. You can change the default by providing an option like -fCCCC where CCCC is your sequence of columns. The coding of the sequence is like this:
y year

Y year.fraction_of_year

p planet index

P planet name

J absolute juldate

T date formatted like 23.02.1992

t date formatted like 920223 for 1992 february 23

L longitude in degree ddd mm'ss"

l longitude decimal

Z longitude ddsignmm'ss"

S speed in longitude in degree ddd:mm:ss per day

SS speed for all values specified in fmt

s speed longitude decimal (degrees/day)

ss speed for all values specified in fmt

B latitude degree

b latitude decimal

R distance decimal in AU

r distance decimal in AU, Moon in seconds parallax

relative distance (1000=nearest, 0=furthest)

A right ascension in hh:mm:ss

a right ascension hours decimal

D declination degree

d declination decimal

I Azimuth degree

i Azimuth decimal

H Height degree

h Height decimal

K Height (with refraction) degree

k Height (with refraction) decimal

G house position in degrees

g house position in degrees decimal

j house number 1.0 - 12.99999

X x-, y-, and z-coordinates ecliptical

x x-, y-, and z-coordinates equatorial

U unit vector ecliptical

u unit vector equatorial

Q l, b, r, dl, db, dr, a, d, da, dd

n nodes (mean): ascending/descending (Me - Ne); longitude decimal

N nodes (osculating): ascending/descending, longitude; decimal

f apsides (mean): perihel, aphel, second focal point; longitude dec.

F apsides (osc.): perihel, aphel, second focal point; longitude dec.

+ phase angle

- phase

* elongation

/ apparent diameter of disc (without refraction)

= magnitude

v (reserved)

V (reserved)

Date entry: In the interactive mode, when you are asked for a start date, you can enter data in one of the following formats:



        1.2.1991        three integers separated by a nondigit character for


                        day month year. Dates are interpreted as Gregorian


                        after 4.10.1582 and as Julian Calendar before.


                        Time is always set to midnight.


                        If the three letters jul are appended to the date,


                        the Julian calendar is used even after 1582.


                        If the four letters greg are appended to the date,


                        the Gregorian calendar is used even before 1582.


        j2400123.67     the letter j followed by a real number, for


                        the absolute Julian daynumber of the start date.


                        Fraction .5 indicates midnight, fraction .0


                        indicates noon, other times of the day can be


                        chosen accordingly.


        <RETURN>        repeat the last entry


        .               stop the program


        +20             advance the date by 20 days


        -10             go back in time 10 days
Examples: 



    swetest -p2 -b1.12.1900 -n15 -s2


        ephemeris of Mercury (-p2) starting on 1 Dec 1900,


        15 positions (-n15) in two-day steps (-s2)


    swetest -p2 -b1.12.1900 -n15 -s2 -fTZ -roundsec -g, -head


        same, but output format =  date and zodiacal position (-fTZ),


        separated by comma (-g,) and rounded to seconds (-roundsec),


        without header (-head).


    swetest -ps -xs433 -b1.12.1900


        position of asteroid 433 Eros (-ps -xs433)


    swetest -pf -xfAldebaran -b1.1.2000


        position of fixed star Aldebaran 


    swetest -p1 -d0 -b1.12.1900 -n10 -fPTl -head


        angular distance of moon (-p1) from sun (-d0) for 10


        consecutive days (-n10).


    swetest -p6 -DD -b1.12.1900 -n100 -s5 -fPTZ -head -roundmin


      Midpoints between Saturn (-p6) and Chiron (-DD) for 100


      consecutive steps (-n100) with 5‐day steps (-s5) with


      longitude in degree‐sign format (-f..Z) rounded to minutes (-roundmin)


    swetest -b5.1.2002 -p -house12.05,49.50,k -ut12:30


        Koch houses for a location in Germany at a given date and time

The Swiss Ephemeris and swetest were written by Dieter Koch and Alois Treindl of Astrodienst.

This manual page was transcribed by Paul Elliott <pelliott@blackpatchpanel.com> using the results of "swetest -h", for the Debian project (and may be used by others).

August 10, 2011