Copyright (C) 2003-2008 by Aldo Vitagliano
Copyright Information:     Text and images in this site may be freely reproduced, provided credit is given to the author.

The SOLEX page        What is SOLEX ?

Basically, SOLEX is a free computer program modelling the N-body dynamics of the Solar System, and it is the result of a long and patient amatorial work by the author (Aldo Vitagliano).
Its heart is a powerful numerical integrator, and the many additional functions make it a greatly flexible program, which at the same time is very simple to use and very powerful in its performances. It can just give aesthetic pleasure and help in identifying sky objects, or it can be used by an experienced researcher as a tool to investigate aspects of the solar system dynamics such impact probabilities and chaotic motion. More ...
Last but not least, the software package contains a companion orbit-determination program (EXORB), suitable for the determination of orbital elements of minor bodies (asteroids and comets) from their astrometric observations.

        Just to give the flavour of some unique capabilities of Solex, here are a few questions that the program can answer:

• When in the past was Mars closer to Earth than it was at the opposition of August 27, 2003 ?    Answer: Sept. 12, -57616 (57617 BC); nearly 60,000 years ago !  More...
• Which will be the longest observable occultation of a bright star by an asteroid in the next 30 years ?   Answer: 4 Sgr (m. 4.7) by Ceres on May 27, 2033 (Brazil, 81 secs).  Occ. path ...
• What is the chance that asteroid 2000SG344 will impact Earth in september 2071 ?    Answer: 0.25% (no much worry: it is a small one - only about 50 m diameter) . More...
• On June, 8, 2004, a rare transit of Venus took place. Can we get a list of Venus transits between 100,000 BC and AD 100,000 ? Answer:  Sure!. Transits of: Venus, Mercury.
• Will the transits of Mercury and Venus ever take place simultaneously ?  Answer:   Yes  But we should wait at least until AD 69163!  More ...
• Was an occultation of Saturn by Jupiter ever seen,  or will it ever be seen from Earth ?  Answer
  

                                                          A few screen shots:

                                    1. The starting screen and      2. the "Text output" screen
 

    3.                              4.

3.  The Pleiades and six asteroids in a field of 4°                       4.  The asteroid belt, projected onto a plane perpendicular to the Equator

    Download the installation file for Solex 10.01 Light:     SETUP10L.ZIP (updated June 21, 2008, problems fixed)

    Download the English manual:                           Solex100.doc     (updated June 15, 2008)

    Download the ExOrb manual:                              ExOrb64.doc       (updated January 2007)

    Scarica il manuale in Italiano:                              Solex9It.doc        (ancora vecchia versione, Settembre 2006)

   Download the latest executable update:            SLX1004.ZIP  (updated October 19, 2008).

   The very first DOS version, with BASIC source code:     SOLEX1.ZIP

   Page latest update:  October 19, 2008
  Any comment, inquiry or suggestion is appreciated:  alvitagl@unina.it