EPHEMERIS

GraphDark
«GraphDark allows you to work out when an astronomical object will be visible from your location and when moonlight, twilight or low haze will affect its visibility. An additional option displays the moon’s phases as a lunar calendar. Typical uses might be planning a series of observing sessions for deep sky objects so that moonlight can be avoided, working out when a comet will be visible from your location at a reasonable altitude, or when a variable star will be visible.
GraphDark is best suited for summarising visibility of an object over a period of weeks or months, for example the apparition of a comet. Alternatively a number of objects on a single night can be displayed. By clicking on the timetable more information is provided for that particular instant in graphical or tabular form. However, if you need a more realistic display of what the sky looks like at a particular time then a planetarium type program would be more suitable, there are plenty to choose from.» See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 2 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


Ephemeris Tool 4.XX
Software to calculate all sorts of ephemeris-tables. Allows you to create Microsoft Excel *.xls-files. Extremely high quality and completeness. The best you can find. Additional DLL files, available in its homepage, offer increased accuracy. Lets you choose among English and German menus. By the same author of Virtual Sky. See a screenshot.

Shareware, without restrictions; Windows 95 and above; 3.1 MB + 890 KB.
Homepage || Download || Update


Astronomy Laboratory for Windows 2.03
Superb program. Generates a bunch of different astronomical animations - including solar and lunar eclipses, lunar and planetary occultations, planetary and jovian satellites transits, orrery et cetera... Also produces almanacs and several types of graphics. See a screenshot.

Shareware, without restrictions; Windows 95 and above; 470 KB.
Download || FTPsearch


Stig's Sky Calendar 1.11
Innovative application. An on line self-updateable calendar; showing the latest events of astronomical interest (from the launch of the space shuttle to the perihelion of a recently discovered comet); including links to related web pages - you just have to click on the icons. Also features a planisphere and tools to observe the planets. In English, Norwegian and Spanish but with international support - you can now get correct week numbering, day and month names for your locale. Take a look at the screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 6.2 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


Lunar Occultation WorkBench 3.1
Program developed by the the Dutch Occultation Association available in two versions: «Lite» and «Pro». Exclusively consecrated to lunar occultations.
«The Professional edition does everything that the Lite edition can do and more: it includes over 476.000 stars of the Guide Star Catalog 1.1 ( GSC ) which lie in the Zodiacal zone. Both editions can handle the large lunar limb databases Watts and MoonLimb. LOW 3.1 is an update of version 3.0 which was able to automatically download the USNO's Delta T table. Unfortunately the USNO no longer maintains this file and a different (and also automatic!) solution was created.
You can record your observations and send them by email to be reduced by the International Lunar Occultation Centre in Japan. You can, among many features, also view the Moon and the planet or star, as they would appear at the time of occultation. The moon's phase and even the colouring of the moon due to the Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse are taken into account! You can see the field of stars in which the occultation events take place. Another option is a zoomed in portion of the lunar limb to show you the mountains and valleys the star will pass during occultation... Printing selected predictions is allowed.» See a screenshot.
You can get additional moon limb files in its homepage (professional use).

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 14 MB or 4MB.
Homepage || Download LOW Pro || LOW Lite || FTPsearch


EMapWin 1.2X
Simulates solar eclipses from 3000 BC to 4000 AD. Shows a full featured eclipse map (central line of the umbra, northern and southern limits of the umbra and penumbra et cetera, et cetera...); displays a table with the limits of the umbra by longitude; shows a graphic with local observation circumstances and a simulation; and allows to calculate which eclipses were/will be visible for a given place over a 7 millenniums time span.
The program can now display the map with the CIA world databank II. To get the rivers, coast line and boundaries data files visit the homepage.
You also need to download additional Bessel elements data files. A Japanese version is available as well. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 405 KB + 856 KB + 786 KB.
Homepage || Download Prog. || Elem. Bessel 1 || Bessel 2


MoonCalc 6.X
Everything you may ever want to know about the Moon: "position, age, phase, orientation, appearance and visibility for any given date, time and location on Earth. It also provides the Julian Day Number, Magnetic Declination, time and direction of moonrise and moonset, interval between sunset and moonset, interval between sunrise and moonrise, date/time of astronomical new moon (conjunction), full moon".
The program also produces several graphical animations, which can be printed out: showing the position of the Moon on a star chart and in a simulated local sky. A close-up of the near side of the Moon is also produced, as well as the drawing of world maps showing areas of the globe where the young Moon is likely to be seen. See a screenshot.

Freeware; DOS; 507 KB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


Planet's Visibility 2
According to the authors, «presents a sleek 3-colour graph that tells, at-a-glance, when a planet (or Moon and Sun) is visible from your location. The vertical axis marks the months of the selected year, with the horizontal axis marking the 24 hours of the day (in local time). The three colours create a contour map effect and identify when the selected object is visible, not visible, or "eclipsed" by the sun. A fixed crosshair identifies the current date and time. By moving the mouse over the graph area, the date and time, as well as the objects altitude, azimuth, and magnitude (or the phase of the moon if the moon is selected) are displayed. The results can be printed"
Click anywhere on the graphic and you will get a representation of the rotational and illuminational parameters of the planets.» See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 98 and above; Aprox. 4.5 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


JupSat 95
Featuring pretty attractive graphics, the program shows the status of Jupiter's four largest moons, with the option of inverting the poles for telescope users.
Plots and prints graphics similar to those commonly displayed on astronomy magazines. Also calculates the transits of the Great Red Spot. See a screenshot.

Shareware, without restrictions; Windows 95 and above; 754 KB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


Satellites of Saturn 2
Watch the status of Saturn's rings and of his moons around him. See a screenshot.
In its homepage you will find more useful astronomy freeware by the same author - for instance, Tracker v6.0, aimed at the natural features on Jupiter's southern hemisphere, and Jovian Moon Events v3.0, which computes the times of eclipses, transits and occultations for Jupiter's four largest satellites.

Freeware; DOS; 76 KB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


WinEphem 1.09
The best things come in simple packages, they say, and this program proves it. Shows in a practical fashion the ephemerides of the solar system bodies, as well as of the 110 objects of Messier's catalogue and of a few prominent stars and deep space objects. Also allows to input new comets, asteroids, stars or whatever. Along with the celestial coordinates, altitude, azimuth, sun distance, magnitude, phase et cetera..., it calculates rise, transit and set times; and topocentric and geocentric distances. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 85 KB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


Meridian 4.8X
Graphical ephemeris of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Lets you choose among English, French and Spanish menus. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 1.3 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


Planetary Ephemerides [NEW ADDITION]
Graphical ephemeris of the Moon and Planets. This is a BETA version! The module "Lists" and the moons for Mars and Uranus are not yet implemented. Multilingual: German, English and Portuguese. Know more about extra Moon and Mars maps on the homepage. See a couple of screenshots.

Freeware; Windows; Aprox. 600 KB + 1MB.
Homepage || Download Planetary || Planetary Maps || FTPsearch


WinAstro
Conversion among calendars and coordinate systems; planetary ephemeris; oppositions and elongations; physical ephemeris; natural satellites ephemeris; rise, transit and set times; ephemeris of comets and asteroids; lunar phases and eclipses; seasons; sidereal time and nutation; calculation of aberration parameters; equation of time; sundials design; equinoxes (orbital elements); calculation of refraction parameters; conversion among equatorial, horizontal, ecliptic and galactical coordinates and, finally, calculation of lunar occultations of the planets.
The interfaces are a bit primary, though. In French. There is also a DOS version available. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 6.3 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


Astronomic Clock 8.X
Calculates eclipses, seasons, sundials, planetary ephemeris, sidereal time and a few things more. Attractive graphics. Well integrated functions. A Dutch version is also available. See a screenshot.

Shareware, allows a 5 months evaluation; Windows 95 and above; 1 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


AstroMeeus
Almanac like program, an implementation of some formulas of Jean Meeus book on astronomical algorithms.
Prints reasonably elegant monthly calendars, with astronomical annotations. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 3.1; 116 KB.
Download || FTPsearch


Urania View 2
Calculates planetary ephemeris. Includes development links to the pages of Projeto Urânia and information on the physical and orbital elements of the solar system bodies; the brightest stars and the names of the constellations - as well as a brief astronomy glossary. Everything written in Portuguese. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 347 KB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


LunarPhase 2.XX
Moon: current phase in realtime displayed graphically; times and dates of major lunar phases; illuminated fraction; current age; distance; realtime position in both RA/Dec and Alt/Az coordinates; parallax and visible diameter (in arcminutes); times, dates and distances of the next Apogee and Perigee; Position Angle; Phase Angle; Rise, Set and Transit times; lunar eclipse circumstances; names of full moons; dates of Blue moons.
Sun: Realtime position in RA/Dec and Alt/Az coordinates; Rise, Set and Transit times.
Twilight: Start and End times for Civil, Nautical and Astronomical Twilight.
Other Features: inbuilt calendar; Tabular function provides a list of lunar rise/set/transit times, illuminated fraction, solar rise/set/transit times and Start/End times for Civil, Nautical and Astronomical Twilight for selected month; Calendar and tabular printouts; Local Sidereal Time clock; Equinox and Solstice info; Day/Week/JulianDay Nos. (day/week no. in ISO date format); links to online lunar websites. See a screenshot.

Shareware, starts showing nagging screens after 30 days or 100 runs; Windows 95 and above; 1.2 MB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


Dark Skies 1.XX
Application created to help determine the times of the year when the night sky will be totally dark and to show the results in a graphical fashion. Plots the times of sunset and sunrise for the entire year or any given month for any location, the end of twilight in the evening and the start of twilight in the morning. In English and French. See a screenshot.

Freeware; Windows 95 and above; 146 KB.
Homepage || Download || FTPsearch


EfeCalc & OrbPlan
«EfeCalc» is a brad new Windows program that produces highly accurate astronomical ephemeris, including: rise, transit and set times for the Sun, Moon and Planets and ecliptic, equatorial and horizontal coordinates; mean and apparent positions of the Stars; lunar and solar eclipses (with maps); Moon phases and age, perigee and apogee; elements for the observation of solar physics; equation of time (with graphic); parallax of the Moon, stars and planets; illuminated fraction of the planets; calendar events (Easter, seasons, Chinese New Year etc..); extensive database of locations around the world; database with more than 400 stars et cetera.
If you want to learn more about Astronomy, this program also has an on-line extensive Help.
It exports the results to .html, .csv (spreadsheet) and .txt formats.
Version 2 also includes an on-line automatic update feature and a planetarium (sky simulator). Available in English and Portuguese. Take a look at the screenshot.
The author also offers «OrbPlan», an application that calculates the polar coordinates of the different planets of the Solar System in their orbital planes and shows a window with a graphic simulation of the planetary movement. The results are exportable (.html, .csv and .txt); an Help File (English and Portuguese) is included.

Time restricted freeware; Windows 98 and above; Aprox. 2.4 MB and 1.2 MB
Homepage || Download Efecalc || OrbPlan || FTPsearch (EfeCalc)

Note - I recently got this information from the author:
A new version - EfeCalc 2.13 - is available for download. This version will work until 31/August/2003 and adds a few modifications(...) Soon you will be able to test EfeCalc Web Interface (EfeCalc 3)», which will replace the current offline Windows version.


Other freeware programs in this category (links to the homepages)

L'astronomie par les calculs 3 (French)

Interactive Computer Ephemeris

Other shareware programs in this category (links to the homepages)

Occult


NOTE: See also, under "Miscellaneous", the program Spica.