Add Asteroid(s) to a Solar Fire chart

[Steve]

The process for adding asteroids that are not shipped with Solar Fire is somewhat complex.  Here are the steps, and two links that also discuss the process.

1)  Normally step one is downloading the asteroid ephemeris file from astro.com   To do this you must know the asteroid's assigned asteroid number ( Lucifer is 1930 ) and follow the procedures on astro.com that are pretty confusing.  To save time I have pasted a link to the Lucifer file right here so you can download it from here and not have to go to astro.com download Lucifer file

Also, Solar Fire includes 1000+ asteroid ephemeris files. You don't see them when you try to add an asteroid to the Extra Ring Points however they are there.  To add other asteroids, before going to astro.com try Step 3 below.  You will see the thousand asteroids in step 3 - pick any you want and proceed from step 3 on in these directions.  Steps 1 and 2 are only needed if the asteroid you want is not included in Solar Fire's 1000 built-in asteroids.


2)  Then you have to put the file in a specific folder in your Solar Fire installation.  That is explained here: http://alabe.com/smarterticket/Customer/KBArticle.aspx?articleid=290 which is a guide to the whole process.  This version is only for Windows Vista and Windows 7.    I found I mentioned briefly about installing on Windows XP in an earlier message board post

3)  Then you have to tell Solar fire that you want to make additional asteroids available for use in charts.
In Solar Fire 6 the option is
Chart Options / Files / Asteroid File - click Edit to change the active asteroid file, the one that is highlighted on the screen.  (May be the same in Solar Fire 7)

Important: This file only tells Solar Fire which additional asteroids you want to have available as possible choices to display on charts.  It does not display them, it just adds them to the list of asteroids available for display. 
( On my computer I already see Sophia, Urania, and Metis in this asteroid file.  They are just inactive.  I can make them available by clicking their names.  They then jump from the Available column to the Selected column. )
  Since you have already placed the Lucifer file in the correct folder you should see Lucifer in the center column also.  Clicking it adds it to the Selected asteroids column on the left.
  Now click the Save button, and then Save again on the Asteroid File Selection screen.

4)  Solar fire will display minor asteroids only in the Extra Points Ring.   The normal Solar Fire chart wheel does not display the Extra Points Ring thus we have to change the wheel we view charts in.
  This is done in Chart Options / Wheel Styles / UniWheel
I prefer the file uniextr4.wh1 as my choice for viewing charts with extra ring, but any wheel file with the letters extr in its filename displays the Extra Points Ring.  Highlight uniextr4.wh1 or another and click Select.

5)  Now we are going to add asteroids to the Extra Points Ring. 
Select Chart Options / Extra Ring Points.  Click Edit

In the right column select Asteroid.  The center column will display all the asteroids that are available for display.   Any that you added in step 3 should now be there. Click one and it should move from the Available column to the left Selected Points column.  ( Anything in the Selected Points column will appear in the Extra Points ring around a chart. )
(   This is also the screen on which you can add Planetary Nodes to the Extra Points ring.  To do so in the right column select Node and the center column will fill with all the nodes you can add to the Extra Ring)

After you Save from the Extra Point Selection screen, you should start seeing the asteroids you selected in the Extra Points Ring.  If you don't, try closing Solar Fire and opening it again.

Along with the link to the astrolabe instructions page, here is a link to an earlier discussion on this topic on this message board