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Software

Astronomical software for RISC OS
This is a table of the currently available RISC OS software of astronomical interest. Please let us know of any omissions, inaccuracies or broken links.

The table is sorted by categories as follows:

ProgramTypeStatusCompatibilityNotes
Charting     (top)
Copernicus
Ray Middleton
1.54 (28 Feb 2001)
Charting Freeware
(ex-commercial)
Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Almanac and chart program (mag<7)
Versions for all OS variants
Much extra information (eg sky diary, sun/moon times)
Excellent Drawfile/sprite export
Fine manual, but sky navigation could be easier
NightSky
APDL/Clares
1.54 (28 Feb 2001)
Charting Commercial (£14.90) Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
No Iyonix
Chart program (mag<7.55, 26,000 stars)
Supports user annotations
Orion
Ray Middleton
0.10 (15 Mar 1997)
Charting Freeware No RISC OS 3.10
No RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Generates a naked-eye map of the night sky
Only suitable for latitudes around 54°N
Sprite export for printing
Orrery
Photodesk Ltd
2.00
Charting Commercial (£20.00) Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Special Iyonix unknown
Mainly educational astronomical package
Solar system orrery, star charts, ephemerides
Independent review and resources
Stefan Wuerthner has a (very old) demo
ROCchart
Rick Hudson
2.25 (beta3) (27 Apr 2003)
Charting Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
The nearest RISC OS has to a professional charting program
Under active development
Large and extensible database
Facilities for hardware control
No export mechanism
SkyGuide
Alan Senior
0.30 (11 Feb 1998)
Charting Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Basic chart program (mag<7, 9000 stars)
Good navigation and time-stepping features
Very fast, especially on a high-spec machine
No export facilities
SkyView
Nigel Hawkes
1.02 (26 Aug 1993)
Charting PD Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Special Iyonix (needs Aemulor)
Basic naked-eye sky charts
Awkward user interface
Solun
David Rushall
0.50 (Oct 2001)
Charting Charityware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
No RISC OS 4
No Iyonix
Unfinished port of a Psion charting program
Also available for the Osaris palmtop
StarChart
David Pilling (port)
1.05 (17 Dec 2002)
Charting Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Port of a Unix program
Draw export
Small database
Stargazer
Steve Ellwood
7.00 (7 May 1992)
Charting Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Simple sky charts (planets, 1300 stars, mag<5)
Animation works well on a fast machine
No export facilites
Awkward user interface
XEphem
Peter Naulls (port)
3.5.2-1
Charting GPL Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
No Iyonix
Experimental port of an interactive ephemeris
Needs RiscX to work (very slow currently)
Huge number of options and displays
XEphem home page
Utility     (top)
AstroBase
Rick Hudson
1.02 (9 Apr 2000)
Utility Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Special Iyonix (needs Aemulor)
Astronomical database server
Integrates with ROCChart
Can use Project Pluto, ADC, and user-defined databases
MoonTool
Musus Umbra
3.27 (19 Aug 2003)
Utility PD Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Desktop display of moon phase and other information
Based on a Unix program
Like all Musus' software, very well programmed
Spotter
Simon Melhuish
1.10 (7 Dec 1993)
Utility Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Special Iyonix (needs Aemulor)
Calculates satellite visibility from NORAD two-line elements
TLEs certainly need updating, but still useful
Map options don't work on Iyonix
Time and date     (top)
Calendar
Erik Groenhuis
0.02a (5 Jun 2003)
Time Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Converts dates between various calendar systems
Module with SWI interface
Currently handles Gregorian and Julian dates
Hebrew, Islamic and French Revolution calendars to come
Calendar
David Pilling
1.04 (14 Oct 2002)
Time Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Neat desktop calendar display
Can save in Draw and text formats
Copes correctly with the change to the Gregorian calendar in Sept 1752
Clocker
Richard Butler
1.27 (16 Jan 2002)
Time GPL Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
World times on the desktop
Sourcecode provided
Needs 1280x1024 screen
Requires Paladin and Chaucer fonts (or hack the Templates file)
Daylight
David Taylor
2.20 (10 Apr 1992)
Time Shareware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Displays sun/moon rise/set times for any location and date
Also shows 'civil twilight' (when you can see a grey goose a mile away, apparently)
UI showing its age, but usable
JDay
Richard Butler (port)
1.20 (18 Aug 2000)
Time PD Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Special Iyonix (needs Aemulor)
Command line Julian date tools
Sourcecode provided
Sourceforge page
SClock
Simon Melhuish
1.10 (31 Aug 2000)
Time Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Special Iyonix (needs Aemulor)
Displays local sidereal time and sun/moon positions
WorldTime
PE Marshall
1.41 (1 Jan 1994)
Time Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Displays animated world map showing day/night regions
Imaging     (top)
Widget5
Andrew Sellors
1.42
Imaging Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Graphics processing package
Can handle 16-bit per pixel greyscale images
PDSview
Photodesk Ltd
?
Imaging Commercial (deleted?) Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Special RISC OS 4 unknown
Special Iyonix unknown
Viewing and basic processing of satellite images
Understands some raw data formats (but not FITS)
Miscellaneous     (top)
EarthMap
John Kortink
1.10 (23 May 2003)
Miscellaneous Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Special Iyonix (needs Aemulor)
Geographical feature map of the Earth
Drawfile export
Planets
Jochen Lueg
3.44 (Jan 2002)
Miscellaneous Freeware Special RISC OS 3.10 RPC only
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Three-body planetary system demonstration with various effects and options
Amusement     (top)
ByJupiter
Jochen Lueg
2.30 (5 Mar 2003)
Amusement Freeware Special RISC OS 3.10 20MB RPC only
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Animation of the Galileo probe's arrival at Jupiter
Eclipse
Jochen Lueg
1.30 (3 Mar 2003)
Amusement Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Animation of the 1999 solar eclipse as seen from a weather satellite
Eclipse99
Jochen Lueg
1.30 (3 Mar 2003)
Amusement Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Animation of the 2001 solar eclipse as seen from a weather satellite
Lunation
Jochen Lueg
1.80 (3 Mar 2003)
Amusement Freeware Special RISC OS 3.10 RPC only
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Animation of the Moon over a month, showing libration and size effects
OneDay
Jochen Lueg
2.30 (3 Mar 2003)
Amusement Freeware Special RISC OS 3.10 RPC only
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Animation of the Earth over a day as seen from a weather satellite
XEarth
Matthew Bloch (port)
0.11 (27 Nov 2006)
Amusement Freeware Yes RISC OS 3.10
Yes RISC OS 3.50
Yes RISC OS 3.70 (SA)
Yes RISC OS 4
Yes Iyonix
Stunning real-time backdrops of the Earth on your desktop
Port of a Unix program
Many options, including animations


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