Solar Maps v3 User Guide Astrology Mapping with Intuitive Ease Solar Maps version 3 has been created and published by Esoteric Technologies Pty Ltd PO Box 578 Magill SA 5072 Australia Tel (08) 8331 3057 Fax (08) 8331 3057 Email: [email protected] For regional representatives please visit: www.esotech.com.au No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission of Esoteric Technologies Pty Ltd. Copyright © 1996-2008 Esoteric Technologies Pty Ltd Solar Fire® is a registered trademark of Esoteric Technologies Pty Ltd. Astro*Carto*Graphy® and Cyclo*Carto*Graphy® are registered trademarks of Jim Lewis. Table of Contents i Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Selected Features of Solar Maps ....................................................................... 1 1.2 Esoteric Technologies ........................................................................................ 2 2 GETTING STARTED ....................................................................................... 2 2.1 System Requirements ......................................................................................... 3 2.2 Installing ............................................................................................................ 3 2.3 Starting Solar Maps ........................................................................................... 4 2.4 Setting the Default Location .............................................................................. 4 2.5 Other Defaults You May Want to Set Now ........................................................ 5 2.6 Checking for Updates ........................................................................................ 5 2.7 Exiting From Solar Maps .................................................................................. 6 3 AN OVERVIEW OF SOLAR MAPS .................................................................... 6 3.1 The Main Solar Maps Window .......................................................................... 6 3.2 Using On-line Help ............................................................................................ 8 3.3 Using the Keyboard ........................................................................................... 9 3.3.1 Dialog Boxes ............................................................................................. 9 3.3.2 Short-Cut Keys ........................................................................................ 10 4 INTRODUCTION TO ASTRO-LOCALITY MAPPING .............................................. 12 4.1 Relocating Charts ............................................................................................ 12 4.2 Astro-locality mapping and Astro*Carto*Graphy® ...................................... 14 4.3 Midpoints and Aspects ..................................................................................... 16 4.3.1 An Example ............................................................................................. 17 4.4 Geodetic (Mundane) Charts ............................................................................ 17 4.5 Transits, Progressions and Cyclo*Carto*Graphy® ...................................... 18 4.6 Local Space Astrology ..................................................................................... 19 4.7 Eclipse Paths .................................................................................................... 21 4.8 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 22 5 CHARTS AND LINES .................................................................................... 24 5.1 Using The AstroClock ...................................................................................... 24 5.2 Opening a Chart File ....................................................................................... 25 5.3 Selecting a Chart ............................................................................................. 26 5.4 Casting a New Chart ....................................................................................... 27 5.5 Relocating a Chart ........................................................................................... 29 ii Table of Contents 5.6 Saving a Chart ................................................................................................. 30 5.7 Converting Chart Files .................................................................................... 31 5.7.1 Chart Files You Can Import From .......................................................... 31 5.7.2 Chart Files You Can Export To .............................................................. 32 5.7.3 Starting the Solar Fire Chart Conversion Utility .................................... 32 5.7.4 Import From ............................................................................................ 33 5.7.5 Save To .................................................................................................... 34 5.7.6 Options .................................................................................................... 34 5.7.7 ASCII Format to Use............................................................................... 35 5.7.8 Converting Charts ................................................................................... 36 5.8 Casting a Transits, Directions or Progressions Chart ................................... 36 5.9 Animating a Chart ........................................................................................... 39 5.9.1 Setting the Animation Options ............................................................... 40 5.9.2 Running the Animation ........................................................................... 40 5.9.3 Closing the Animation ............................................................................ 41 5.10 Displaying Lines ........................................................................................... 41 5.11 Selecting Displayed Points ........................................................................... 48 5.12 Selecting a Paran Point ................................................................................ 49 5.13 Selecting Point Colors .................................................................................. 51 5.14 Selecting Zodiac Projection Type ................................................................. 52 5.15 Day/Night Shading ........................................................................................ 54 5.16 Printing Maps and Chart Lines .................................................................... 55 5.17 Copying Output for External Use ................................................................. 56 5.18 Viewing Interpretations ................................................................................ 58 5.19 Viewing a Local Horizon Chart ................................................................... 59 5.20 Viewing a Chart Wheel ................................................................................. 60 6 MAPS........................................................................................................ 62 6.1 Selecting a Map ............................................................................................... 62 6.2 Re-Opening a Recently Used Map .................................................................. 65 6.3 Saving a Map ................................................................................................... 65 6.4 Using the Mouse .............................................................................................. 67 6.5 Selecting Map Options ..................................................................................... 69 6.5.1 Selecting Details to Show ....................................................................... 69 6.5.2 Selecting Projection ................................................................................ 70 6.5.3 Selecting Coordinate Grid ....................................................................... 73 6.6 Editing Cities ................................................................................................... 73 Table of Contents iii 6.7 Editing Countries ............................................................................................. 77 6.8 Using Color Fills ............................................................................................. 79 7 FIXED STARS ............................................................................................. 82 7.1 Opening a Star File ......................................................................................... 82 7.2 Selecting Stars ................................................................................................. 83 8 ECLIPSE PATHS ......................................................................................... 85 8.1 Selecting Eclipses ............................................................................................ 85 9 PLOTTING TRACKS AND EVENTS .................................................................. 88 9.1 Supplied Track/Event Collections ................................................................... 88 9.2 Downloading Data from the Web ...................................................................