(XEphem logo background galaxy by Galaxy Photography)
Version 3.7.7
Your satisfaction is guaranteed!
Compared to the free version, the commerical version of XEphem adds the following advantages:
- over 50 catalogs containing more than half a billion objects (see below);
- a complete indexed and annotated atlas of the Moon from Lunar Orbiter IV images;
- several hundred beautiful color images in the photo gallery;
- priority email support for installation and usage questions;
- much simpler installation on Linux and Mac OSX systems;
- the means by which you can show your support for our future effort.
Inquiries regarding commercial applications, large quantities or special considerations are welcome. Send a description of your situation to us at xephem@clearskyinstitute.com.
Packaging
XEphem is produced as 3 large compressed tar files. The same files serve Linux, MacOS X and all other UNIX-like systems.Each file includes an easy-to-use installation script for Linux or other UNIX and a standard Mac Package for use with the OSX Package Installer. File 1 contains everything needed for a complete XEphem installation except that files 2 and 3 contain the Hubble GSC 2.2.0.1 which is a stellar catalog with some 450 million stars complete to magnitude 18.5. Each file is about 500 MB.
We do not support XEphem on Microsoft Windows. However, depending on your skills and ambition, you might be able to get it to work yourself by compiling the free source code using porting tools such as Cygwin or MKS Toolkit. We can go so far as to say that occasionally we do build XEphem using both these tools to make sure there are no significant problems. We also verify that all the supporting catalogs, images and other auxiliary files beyond the executable itself are compatible with these tools. So building the executable from source code is up to you, but once that is running everything else will work fine. We can also mention that linux and Windows coexist very well using VirtualBox.
Catalogs
The following table lists the catalogs included with the commercial version of XEphem 3.7. Together these add up to approximately half a billion stars (that's an average of 3 stars per square arc minute), one million deep sky objects, 250 thousand minor planets and several spacecraft.
Description File name Count General Purpose:
- SKY2000 Master Catalog v.4, 2002.
SKY2000.edb 299167
- SKY2000 Bright Stars Subset, 2002.
SKY2k65.edb 8882
- Revised New General Catalog, 2005.
NGC.edb 7955
- Revised Index Catalog, 2005.
IC.edb 5201
- XZ Catalog of Zodiacal Stars, 2003.
XZ80Q.edb 244269
- Saguaro Astronomy Club Database 7.2, 2002.
Saguaro.edb 1887
- Messier Objects Catalog, 2005.
Messier.edb 110 Field Stars:
- GSC 2.2.0.1 Catalog, M18.5.
/GSC2201 451632833
- GSC-ACT Catalog, M15.
/gsc 18839509
- USNO UCAC3 Database (placeholder only; supported but not included)
/UCAC
- Hipparcos and Tycho-2 Catalogues.
hiptyc2.xe2 2538127
- Positions and Proper Motions Catalog.
ppm.xe2 468586 Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies:
- HYPERLEDA Catalogue, 2003 (p.1, bright).
HYPERLEDA.edb 101767
- HYPERLEDA Catalogue, 2003 (p.2, dim).
HYPERLEDA_dim.edb 881495
- Hickson Objects Catalog, 1994.
Hickson.edb 563
- Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies Catalog.
cgcg.edb 29363
- Uppsala General Catalog.
UGC.edb 7331
- Abell Clusters of Galaxies Catalogue, 1989.
Abell.edb 5250 Bright Nebulae, Dark Nebulae and similar objects:
- Lynds' Catalogue of Bright Nebulae, 1965.
lbn.edb 1125
- Lynds' Catalogue of Dark Nebulae, 1962.
ldn.edb 1791
- Barnard's Catalogue of Dark Objects, 1927.
Barnard.edb 349
- A Catalogue of Southern Dark Clouds, 1986.
DCld.edb 1101
- Catalog of Galactic Supernova Remnants, 2001.
cgsr.edb 231
- Sharpless Catalogue of HII regions, 1959.
sh2.edb 314 Observation oriented Catalogs:
- Sternberg Supernova Catalogue, 2004.
SSC.edb 2872
- Quasars and AGN Catalog 11th Ed., 2003
qagn.edb 64866
- General Catalog of Variable Stars.
gcvs.edb 31852
- AAVSO Stars Catalog
aavso.edb 28435
- Optically Visible Open Clusters Catalog, 2002
ovocc.edb 1599 Binary Systems Catalogs:
- Washington Visual Double Star Catalog, 2005
WDSC.edb 98186
- Sixth Catalog of Orbits of Visual Binary Stars
COVBS.edb 1832
- WDS Binary Star Calibration List,2004.
binary_calib.edb 81
- CCDM-Components of Double and Multiple Stars.
CCDM.edb 105838 Calibration and Photometry Catalogs:
- VLA Radio Calibrator Sources.
vla*cm.edb 2531
- LONEOS Photometry Catalog, 2003.
loneos.edb 33860
- The Updated Zwicky Catalog 1999.
Zwicky.edb 19368
- Catalog of Constant Brightness Stars,1997.
constant.edb 34
- WDS Single Star Calibration Cat.,2004.
sstar_calib.edb 1179
- USNO IR Stellar Sources Cat.CPIRSS. 1984.
CPIRSS.edb 37700 Comets and Asteroids:
- Minor Planet Center, asteroids to Mag 13
AstMPC.edb 3400
- Minor Planet Center, dimmer than 13
AstMPC_dim.edb 244033
- Lowell Observatory, asteroids to Mag 13
AstLowell.edb 3609
- Lowell Observatory, dimmer than 13
AstLowell_dim.edb 284491
- Observable comets, courtesy CFA, 2005
comets.edb 185 Other Catalogs:
- Pulsars List
pulsars.edb 559
- Spacecraft catalog
spacecraft.edb 80
- Deep Sky Objects Common Names, 2003.
DeepSky-C.edb 326
- Bright Star catalog
bs.edb 5953
- Nautical Almanac Nav Stars.
nav.edb 173
- Henry Draper Catalog and Extension, 1924
hd.edb 272150
- Henry Draper Extension Charts, 1995
hde.edb 88883
- Pleiades field Membership, 1995
pleiades.edb 442
- Herbig-Haro Objects
hh.edb 454
- Pulkovo catalogue
Pulkovo.edb 58483
Satisfaction Guaranteed
- If you can not get XEphem working on your system after consulting with us to overcome simple installation issues or even if you are just not satisfied for any reason within 90 days of receipt, just state that you have erased the software from your system and we will refund 100% of your purchase price.
Further inquires may be sent to xephem@clearskyinstitute.com