1. What's New in Occult v4.0
2. How to Obtain Occult v4.0
3. Installation Instructions and Notes
4. Updated Files for Existing 4.0 Users
5. How to Update Occult v4.0
6. Becoming Familiar with the Program
7. Copyright Issues
8. Version History

Occult 4 is a complete rewrite of the Occult program, using the language C# and the '.Net Framework'. This has resulted in a vast number of changes in detail. The items listed here are merely the more noteworthy:

• Improved functionality for predicting lunar occultation and grazes
• Improved functionality for predicting asteroid occultations
• Improved tools for recording and analysing lunar occultations and grazes
• Improved tools for recording and analysing asteroid occultations
• Direct linking with GoogleEarth for drawing occultation and eclipse paths
• Direct linking with GoogleSky for viewing star fields
• FTP downloads of important files - such as Astorb, Steve Preston's Future.dat file of current asteroid occultations, and the MPC file of comet orbits.
• Faster computation. The speed increase depends on many factors, but Occult v4 is generally at least twice as fast as Occult 3.6. The most significant speed increase is searching for asteroid occultations - which is over 10 times faster.
• Greater accuracy, through revision of the code, and use of improved data sources (DE413 planetary ephemeris, Chebychev polynomial series for many moons of Jupiter and Uranus)
• For web site owners, create HTML files of occultation and eclipse paths for GoogleMaps, and create feeds for OccultWatcher
• Eclipses and occultations and transits of the main satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (with the planet)
• Mutual eclipses and occultations of the main satellites of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus
• A Magnitude Calculator to determine the magnitudes of the components of a double star from a light curve;

winOccult3 had several different site file formats. Occult4 uses a single format for sites. You can import site files you created in Occult 3, and convert them to the new format.

Finally, the new Occult will function with the NOMAD catalogue – a 96GB catalogue including stars to mag 20. A cut-down version of this catalogue, containing all stars to Mag 14.5 is available on DVD [4.2GB]. For anyone interested in generating their own predictions this catalogue is HIGHLY desirable, as all error information is included

1. Download the files shown below by right clicking on the filename and doing a "save as"
2. Order the CD (all files), and have it mailed to you.

To order the CD, send $5 with your name and address to: W.Robinson, 515 W. Kump, Bonner Springs KS, 66012, USA. You can send check, money order, or cash. NOTE: Anyone outside the continental USA should send money order or some similar draft in the amount of $10. My bank will not handle Canadian or overseas personal checks due to the routing number. If you use PayPal, you can transfer funds to my account. Account name: webmaster@lunar-occultations.com

The following notes are intended to provide guidance for the installation issues, and an overview of the functionality and new features.

Occult v4 is a complete rewrite of Occult. The previous version was written in the language VisualBasic6. This new version has been written in the language C#, and runs in the Net framework.

Before you can run the new version, you must have the Net Framework V2 installed on your computer. You can download this from the Microsoft Download center here. Or do a Google Search for ‘Net Framework V2’ to get the download site from Microsoft. If you are running Vista, Net V2 is already on your computer. If you have been running OccultWatcher, you have the Net framework installed.

The files you need to download are (use right click on your mouse and do a "save as"):

• Setup.exe - 421k - [November 2007 release]
• occult4 installer.msi - 38.9M - v4.0.2.8 - [Dec 30,2007 release]
  - These files install Occult 4 – apart from the next two large files. Place these files in the same directory, and then run Setup. The default installation path is ‘...\Program Files\Occult 4

• tycho2.zip - 62.8M
  - This download is essential for asteroid occultations. Unzip this file into the ...\Occult 4\Resource Files directory. You do not need to download this file if you have the Tycho2 catalogue in your current installation of Occult3. Rather, when you first run the program, you can specify the location of your Occult3 directory in the Maintenance tab, User Settings button. Then from the Maintenance tab, click the Import files from Occult3 button, and from there copy the file into Occult4. [You can also copy the Goffin catalogue (if you have that installed) – but this is not needed.]
• de405_413.zip - 51.8M
  - This download is not essential, but HIGHLY DESIRABLE. Unzip this file into the ...\Occult 4\Resource Files directory. It contains the latest JPL ephemerides for the planets. It is essential for any predictions involving Pluto. If your current installation of Occult has the file JPL DE405.dat, you can copy that file in the same way as copying the Tycho2 catalogue (above). However, if you have downloaded de405_413.zip, do not bother copying the JPL DE405.dat file.

When you first run the program, you will be taken to a page that displays a range of default settings. You can change the settings here at any time after Occult has been installed. However at this stage you should do the following:

• insert your site details in the box Site details – low precision;
• if you have a previous installation of winOccult, specify the Occult directory of that installation in the box Previous installation of Occult;
• insert your email address for the FTP anonymous password in the box FTP URL’s;
• indicate whether GoogleEarth is installed on your computer, in the GoogleEarth box;

You will then be taken to the main form of Occult, from which you can access all the functionality. Next time you run Occult, the program will open at this form - and at the tab last used.