CWAstEph Asteroid App by Mark Pottenger

✓ My top pick

Windows-based software for asteroid calculation only (making it also more affordable for asteroid work).
While this is a stand-alone Asteroids Calculation app, Mark also has a CCRS Horoscope app that integrates with it. So, you have the choice of software for full astrology chart work, but you don’t need a chart calculation app to use this CWAstEph software. This is a big advantage.

The CWAstEph Asteroid App is super easy to use, with a single page input and very few fields to fill in (though, you’ll need to remember to change the birth time/date to its UT/GMT time as the input for the calculations), once you have it set up for your computer system. So, it’s very quick to use!

You have choices as to what kind of list you want to calculate (zodiac, alphabetical, and by degree sort) and a number of choices for which available sets of asteroids you want in the file, including the entire set of Named asteroids, which I recommend. You can also create your own asteroid sets with the bundled ASTNUM app.

Sirius by Cosmic Patterns Software, Inc

Developers of the Windows-based astrology software programs: Pegasus; Kepler; and especially SIRIUS which has a comprehensive asteroid calculation add-on feature for astrologers.

SIRIUS has the capacity to provide complete listings of all of the astrologically-available officially Named asteroids, available in Zodiac (Longitude) order (necessary for serious asteroid work!), as well as Alphabetical, and in also sorts of various degree orders (such 45˚  for Cosmobiology charts).

SIRIUS firstly has an optional Asteroid add-on program of files for more than 19,000 Named asteroids (plus thousands of so-far Unnamed asteroids that later may receive names).
Plus, SIRIUS has a feature that automatically downloads extra asteroid files/names (providing you have the Sirius optional extra Asteroid app installed) from the ASTRODIENST website, while you are calculating a list when connected to the internet! So you always have the latest list that is available!

There is also an option in SIRIUS to create a small number of your own category groups of asteroids.

All asteroid listings appear on-screen and are exportable as txt or pdf files.
Before each calculation, you can choose how many columns you want per page, and which information to include, such as Name, ID Number, Longitude, Declaration, Speed, etc… See my procedure and general suggestions, below, under Here’s My Method in the Mac Solutions section.

Cosmic Patterns software applications, developed by David Cochrane, are Windows-based, but also run well with Parallels (+ your own Windows OS) on a Mac. (See my instructions below for running and using these Windows apps on your Mac.) You can also check out David Cochrane’s YouTube videos.

Solar Fire by Esoteric Technologies

Windows-based programs for all systems of astrology. Especially recommended for their comprehensive SOLAR FIRE program, and their Asteroid Add-On category-editing supplemental software, although it only contains 10,000 asteroids and many of those do not yet have names. But this number can be boosted by connecting to the ASTRODIENST site (see note at the bottom of this page*) for (tediously!) downloading more asteroid files, one file at a time, which I used to do years ago!

SOLAR FIRE does uniquely have great asteroid aspects-to-planets listings within your asteroid category files (plus quite a few categories are supplied for you there) that can, themselves, be easily edited and created (I had built up 300 of my own categories in SOLAR FIRE, though each category is incomplete without all the Named asteroids I have available in SIRIUS and now CWAstEph — but still very useful for the quick access to asteroid aspects within your categories.

SOLAR FIRE also runs well on Parallels on the Mac (actually, better than on a PC!).

Astro Gold by Cosmic Apps, Pty Ltd

I am including Astro Gold here, as this astrology chart calculation software for Mac also includes about 60  asteroids (as I write in Sept 2023). And the app has been updated and expanded over time, so I’m expecting more asteroids to arrive later.

It has versions for Mac desktop, iOS devices, and also Android. But at this stage, only the Mac desktop version has the extra asteroids (apart from the six that are often included in astrology apps), which can be shown on the chart wheel, and also in the Aspects listing, using their icons.

This app can be helpful if you are just starting out with asteroids and want to ease in slowly. It has a clean open interface, offering many useful features without being bloated or complicated.

Astro Gold is available internationally, and has Support people in various countries. 

Mac Solutions:
Running Windows Apps on a Mac

It is possible to run Windows apps on your Mac.
There are two different ways to do this:

• Firstly, if you still have an Intel-based Apple computer (iMac, MacBook, or Mac, before the M series Silicon Apple computers that were released in 2022), you can partition part of your computer’s storage drive to install Boot Camp for free from the Apple site.
  Boot Camp is an interface that runs like a separate computer allowing you to add the Windows Operating System to a partitioned area of your Mac’s storage drive. But you have to provide the Windows 10 OS, so you’ll have to hunt around for that as Micrsoft no longer sell that version.
  — The downside is that you will always have to reboot your computer between using the macOS and WindowsOS, as though they are two separate computers.
  So if you use the Mac side of your computer for your astrology work, you’ll need to put the asteroid PDF you calculate onto a thumb drive, or send it to a cloud storage service (Dropbox, Sync [✓], etc), to download the asteroids PDF onto your Apple desktop.
  You will find complete instructions for Boot Camp here:
  https://support.apple.com/boot-camp/
• The other option is to download a ‘virtual machine‘ (VM software) on your Mac to mimic a computer. This is software that runs on your Mac’s desktop like an app, and simulates a Windows computer.
  It provides an interface between the macOS and WindowsOS.
  There are several Virtual Machines you can try, depending on whether your Apple computer has the original Intel or the new Silicon chip.
  Though, apparently Fusion by VMware will run on both Intel and Silicon based Macs. I have not tried Fusion, myself, so can’t advise here. It is premium software. But if I do try it, I’ll report back here.
  I had initially tried a couple of the free ‘open source’ virtual machines and gave up (they might be better now.). Just too complicated to install (some YouTube videos do exist now to help with this). But if you’re fairly tech-savvy, you can check those VMs out via SourceForge, the best site for legitimate open source software.
• The VM software I have been using is Parallels. It is premium software, but may be worth the expense, if you want an easy installation.
  It provides a smooth virtual machine that is an interface between macOS and Windows where you can have Windows sitting on your desktop at any size like an app. You can then drag and drop files between the two desktops!
  — Just be aware, you’ll need plenty of free disk space to add Windows + Parallels + the CWAsteph asteroids to your Mac — but you can put Windows on an external storage drive with only Parallels on the Mac.
  Though, I have had one problem with Parallels which has now deleted the ‘Print to PDF (on Mac Desktop)‘ option, needed for CWAsteph for aligning the columns automatically in a PDF. But I have found an easy way to overcome that, which I’ll explain here very soon. (More, below, about Parallels.)

As Parallels is Virtualisation software (a ‘virtual machine’) that runs from an icon in your Mac’s Dock, there is no rebooting of your operating systems when you’re switching from one to the other. Windows can be treated like any other app running on your Mac desktop.

Anything you copy from your Windows programs will be instantly available to your Mac apps via the Mac’s Clipboard, including screenshots. You can copy & paste between the operating systems, and drag common file types across from one desktop to the other!

And if Windows is not set to completely full-screen, you can access your Mac apps from the Dock for, say, TextEdit or Notes and drag downloaded files from the Mac Downloads folder straight into folders in Windows! (Great for downloading updates to the CWAstEph Asteroid App!, as you don’t have to have Windows exposed to the internet for the download! You can use the Mac Download option instead, especially while Windows is not open!) So, if you’re only using Windows for the asteroids, you won’t need Edge or Chrome.

Even though Apple’s Mac operating system updates are always free (thank you, Apple!), you may want to pay for Parallels updates each year if you upgrade your Mac OS, and Windows OS — but it’s not strictly necessary, although you lose Parallels Support and future updates without the update payment. (Parallels will send an email to remind you to update, plus you may get annoying pop-ups in Windows if you’re online.)

How I Use the CWAsteph Asteroid App on my Mac:

When you purchase the CWAsteph App from Mark Pottenger, he provides you with the installation instructions (not complicated) that you need. So I won’t go into that here. And if you have a Windows computer, you shouldn’t have any probelms at all. 

But if you have a Mac, as I do, there is a way to allow you to take full advantage of this app which will give you the most up-to-date full list of all Named asteroids, updated usually every month (directly from Mark Pottenger).

So, firstly, you will need a VM, as I’ve explained above. So, I will describe my own experience of Parallels here: 

o— With an older Intel model, you can use any version of Windows where Parallels, etc, is available to support it.
— But with a Silicon M-series Mac, you will need Parallels 18 or 19(+), as any Parallels version under 18 will not run on Silicon.

• With an Intel Mac and Parallels, the Asteroid App should work ‘out of the box’ on Windows;
• For an M-series Mac, follow the instructions for the M-series, just below.

When you open Windows on your Mac desktop,
it will behave like any other app,
so you can resize it and move it around.
So, for our procedure,
make sure your Mac’s Dock is showing
on the screen when you have Windows open.
You’ll also need the TextEdit app in your Dock.

• First thing:
  Mark Pottenger provides you with his exclusive CWO font set (text and astrological glyphs) used in his Asteroid App.
  It is vital that you add that CWO Font to your Mac’s FontBook. You can slide that file directly from the Asteroid App files in Windows into your open FontBook on the Mac side. You will be asked to install it, as usual on the Mac. Too easy.
• Using the Asteroid app in Windows is the same as Mark’s instructions until you get to creating a PDF from the .CWO output file.
• After installation, you will see the icon for the CWAsteph Asteroid App on your Windows desktop. Remember, in Windows you have to double-click to open things! There is also another app there from Mark Pottenger, Astnum, that lets you create your own asteroid group files (Mark provides you with the instructions for that).
• Calculation:
  It is VITAL that you reconfigure the time of birth as UT/GMT time, adjusting the date as necessary. You don’t need the latitude and longitude as this app does not calculate a birthchart, it’s purely for asteroid positions.
  — The date field is in digits only and seems to pick up the format (M/D/Y vs D/M/Y) based on your computer’s clock preference, but double-check the written date on the output file to be sure your input was formatted correctly.
• The app’s form fields are simple: Name, Date, UT (Universal Time Zone), Zodiac (Tropical/Sidereal), Coordinates (8 choices: I use Geocentric), Arc (degrees, normally 30), Order (List [Alphabetical], Zodiac, Degree in Sign, Latitude), List (heaps of them, and you can create your own lists: Choose ASTNUM 999 for the full set of asteroids)
• Selections at Bottom of Screen:
  — Select Text instead of Glyphs for the output file (even with the CWO font installed on both Windows and the Mac, the glyphs won’t display and things get weird! But you need the .CWO font installed on the Mac for the rest of the text and to maintain the columns integrity.)
  — You have the choice to have Force One Column of each asteroid’s data (rather than 2), so you can add information next to it — Mark Pottenger added this feature for me as I add information on the blank side — explained below. (The next 2 choices are explained in the documentation.)
• Click “Calculate“. That’s it! The speed of calculation will depend on your computer. With an M1 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM, it takes around half a minute for a full list of more than 24,600 asteroids in a Zodiac sort. Amazing!
• Accessing the Calculated List:
  Click on the yellow folder icon in the Windows dock (or go to C: in File Manager)
• Open the Asteroids app folder (if you had installed the app there in the Windows C drive, as recommended).
• Viewing In Date order, you  can see a new .CWO file at the top of the list. This file is unintelligible. So you need to export it.
• Parallels has deleted the “Print to PDF (Mac Desktop)” option (!), and I couldn’t get “Print to PDF” to work at all on Windows in Parallels. I tried for 10 months to get a PDF file for my Mac where all the columns would be  perfectly intact and the page had tighter margins, rather than being an image in the centre of a big page.
• Here’s what I discovered:
  Simply drag that .CWO file down (or across, depending on your Mac screen setup) to your Mac’s Dock, dropping it into your TextEdit app there.
• Click on the TextEdit icon and you will see the .CWO file there. Open the file (if it doesn’t open instantly), make any changes you want (such as adding your name/business name and email address/URL etc to the header area if it’s for a client — it’s OK to add an extra line if you need it, as the asteroids on every page will just move down a line, you won’t lose any).
• Go to File (in the TextEdit menu) and slide down to click on “Export as PDF“. This will open in Preview.
• Rename the file appropriately, Save, and voila! Too easy! You can then save it where you like and share the file as an email attachment, if you wish, for any operating system, as it can also be opened in Adobe Reader.
• This PDF is searchable via the Search Field in Preview.
• Use the Markup option in Preview to highlight asteroid names (in the colour of your choice there), and also use the Textbox (and format the text in the textbox) to create a note beside the asteroid, such as the meaning of/references for the asteroid name and the aspects the asteroid is making in the chart! A Text box can be moved around to line up with the asteroid.
• This is excellent for client work when you’ve pre-studied the asteroid Aspects in the client’s chart via the Zodiac listing, making it easy to search the conjunctions and all other Aspects by degree.
  — To speed this process, I also calculate a 30˚   sort for quickly spotting asteroids at the same degree (not Sign) of a chart’s planet that I’m investigating, as well as Aspecting each other to fill in the story. For the orientation of my own work, I only use conjuctions and Aspects that are multiples of 30˚  .

You may not think you need the full set of Named asteroids, but would you really want to miss out on some of the newer ones such as #249521 Truth? Truth was the 249,521st asteroid to be discovered, so would not likely show up in smaller sets of asteroids provided by some software developers.

Lastly, I keep a PDF of my personal asteroid list, in Zodiac order, in my Apple Books app, so the list is available to me on all my Apple devices. So, when references pop up in life, I can look them up in real time. (Ever the researcher!)

Disclaimer :

The above software applications are listed as recommendations for your consideration only. Kerrie Redgate is not affiliated with these software companies and can in no way be held responsible for your use of the above listed software or dealings with these companies, though they are recommended in good faith.