Riyal – What’s New – Astrological Paradigms

RIYAL CALCULATION SOFTWARE “Whats New”

https://astrologicalparadigms.com/Riyal/Riyal for Windows version 4.35.rar

September 1, 2006. Version 4.35 fixes minor redundancy bugs. Version 4.34 fixes the bug of the disappearing Ceto in “sort all” — actually the disappearing first line. To correct the bugs, it is not necesary to download the whole package, you only need to replace “Riyal32.exe“.

The following explanation on the use of precession has been taken from the program’s documentation:

Sidereal Positions. Riyal works by default in a sidereal reference frame. The dates of aspects of solar arc directions and secondary and tertiary progressions are calculated sidereally, i.e., using the sidereal year instead of the tropical, with a “bija” correction equivalent to about one day for every year of life. A tropical date at 60 years of age, for example, would occur roughly 60 days before the one listed. Similarly, by default, the transiting positions –as well as the positions of any secondary chart meant to be compared with the radix– contain a “bija” correction, and the solar and lunar returns will contain this correction in space as well as in their timing. All of this can be disabled by writing “0” (”zero”) instead of “1” in the last line of the “riyal.cfg” configuration file read by the program at startup.The use of precession does not imply using any of the traditional sidereal zodiacs. It means that we are using a “sidereal reference frame”, i.e., fixed in space, unlike the tropical zodiac, which rotates with respect to the sidereal. Movement along this fixed space is then measured in sidereal units of time instead of tropical. The result is that as time passes, all progressions, transits, returns, etc., happen a little later than if we use a tropical measurement. Most astrological software, with the supposed capability of working in the sidereal zodiac, mistakenly calculates using the tropical year. If one uses the sidereal zodiac, then one has to use the sidereal year. The time of a sidereal progression must be different from the time of a tropical progression. Failure to make this distinction is inconsistent and gives wrong results.

When comparing positions from different dates, like in transits or in synastry, most people would simply take them from the ephemeris and then compare, without making any correction for precession. That is the generally accepted practice, so you would not be making anything wrong. It is really a minority who use precession. In the case of a radix set in the year 1095, for example, the tropical positions of 1999 will be ahead 12.6 degrees, so that you would have to subtract this quantity in order to refer them to the tropical zodiac of 1095 instead of that of 1999. This is what it is about: since the year 1095 is the radical, then all other positions should be measured with respect to the fixed zodiac of the time of the radix.

Riyal does this for you if you have not disabled the “precessed” functionality in the “riyal.cfg” file. But the situation can get very confusing when you are checking transits of more than 1 radix, because the transits of one radix cannot be compared with the transits of the other (this is where the use of positions in the sidereal zodiac comes in handy). In other words, each radix establishes its own fixed zodiac, so that positions referenced to different radices cannot be compared. In this case, all one needs to do is reference all radices and transiting positions to a sidereal zodiac, and then the problem disappears.

A thorough discussion of the “sidereal” concept as used in Astrology can be found at:

https://astrologicalparadigms.com/home-2/recent/sidereal/

August 29, 2026. version 4.33 corrects some problems with the glyph display in “Graphics”. Remember that to display the glyphs in the wheel, you have to select which planets to show in “Options” – selection of planets. You also need to manually take the “riyal32.fon” file and copy it directly into the Windows “fonts” folder. Windows automatically recognizes that it is a font file and performs the installation, asking to over-write the version of the file you already placed there. It is recommended that you manually delete the old “riyal32.fon” before installating a new one. As with previous versions, Riyal “glyphs” are simply letters that allow to identify the object in the graphic. The only real glyphs is in the case of the first 10 asteroids, Ceres trough Hygiea, with the exception of 8 Flora which is identified by a strong “F”. If you like glyphs, the “riyal32.fon” font file can be easily edited with a bitmapping font editor so that it displays any glypgh you like, replacing the corresponding letter(s). You must be careful to use the same exact slot or ascii nomber for each glyph you replace. The “riyal32.fon” is a simple bit-map font of 12×13 pixels.

August 27, 2026. A complete update of Riyal (version 4.3) is ready for download.

4.0 – updated delta-t table and predictions
4.01 – distant objects database updated to 2026
4.02 – Swiss Ephemeris interface completely removed
4.03 – removed “all named asteroids”
(use instead “input orbital elements”)
4.1 – completely re-structured internal list
4.11 – updated font
4.2 – ALL orbits recomputed and updated to 2026
4.30 – Ceres-Pallas-Juno-Vesta extended 1702-2048
4.31 – Dioretsa-Narcissus-Hidalgo-Damocles extended 1702-2048
4.32 – added Astraea, Hebe, Iris, Flora, Metis, Hygiea 1702-2048

The internal list includes 65 objects:

1-) centaurs:
Chiron,Pholus,Nessus,Pylenor,Hylonome,Asbolus,Chariklo
Pelion,Okyrhoe,Cyllarus,Elatus,Aphidas,Echeclus,Bienor
Thereus,Amycus,Crantor,Orius,Riphonos,Eurytus

2-) tno’s
Varuna,Chaos,Rhadamanthus,Deucalion,Huya,Ixion,Quaoar
Sedna,Orcus,Logos,Typhon,Ceto,Alicanto,Borasisi,Altjira
Salacia,Eris,Makemake,Haumea,Aya,Mani,Uni,Achlys,Varda
Lempo,Gonggong,Albion

3-) unnamed/unnumbered sdo’s:
1996TL66,1999CY118,1999CZ118,1999TD10

4-) The first 10 historical asteroids:
Ceres,Pallas,Juno,Vesta,Astraea,Hebe,Iris,Flora,Metis,Hygiea

5-) The 4 named damoclian (or similar) objects:
Dioretsa,Narcissus,Hidalgo,Damocles

The ephemeris is 1 B.C. to AD 2100 (1-2-3) and 1702-2048 (4-5).

August 4, 2026. The “all distant objects” option of Riyal 3.99 uses a database from the beginning of 2013. It included 1,726 objects beginning with 944 Hidalgo as the defining line. A newer database from 2022 can now be used. It features 4,109 objects –59 named– starting with Hidalgo.

Go to the Riyal directory or folder, remove “distant.dat”, and replace it with this file. This is the updated version.

The “all named objects” uses the file “named.dat” in the Riyal directory; it includes 17,502 objects from February 2013, but this file will not be updated. Since these are all named, their orbits are all well known already, and the new names of distant objects will appear in the other list.

Riyal users must be aware that these 2 routines or menu options can be used to calculate accurate positions of any object in the list. The first default tabulation is the result of a 2-body calculation that is only an approximation. Click “OK”. When youn right-click on any of the lines or names Riyal performs a limited numerical integration after which a small box pops out at the center showing the correct coordinates. Click “OK” and try right-clicking any other object.

Both lists (“distant” and “named”) can be sorted according to any of the columns when you click on a column header, revealing many orbital details of each object that can only be revealed in comparisons made possible through the different ways of sorting. Additionally, they are in plain text format so they can be easily edited, or individual bodies can be added.

The accuracy of the numerical integration after about 100 years is close to 1-arcminute in the case of the main belt asteroids, better than 15 or 20 arcsends in the case of transneptunians and centaurs. Due to an unidentified glitch or bug in the numerical integration procedure, the objects of the Apollo type or earth grazers –those whose perihelion distance is less that 1.3 AU– cannot be integrated.

With the exception explained above, it is possible to make detailed tabular ephemerides of any object with Riyal.

How do I build ephemerides of any object with Riyal?

1. Go to “Special” and click on “Input Orbital Elements”. A default dialog will appear with the osculating orbital elements of Ceres. The new elements can be input by hand if the object is very new, or you can take advantage of the “named” and “distant” databases that Riyal uses by clicking on “Ceres”. Presently only the “named” database can be used.
2. After clicking on “Ceres”, Riyal will display the whole list of 17,500 named objects. Scroll the list (horizontally) until you find the desired object and double-click on it. This closes the displayed list and presents the corresponding object and its osculating orbital elements, giving you the option of specifying a target date and time.
3. Once the date and time are specified, you have 2 choices: “calculate” and “Integrate”. The first is a 2-body calculation, the second is a numerical integration. If you so desire you can stay in the dialog and try as many objects as you want, OR you can press “OK” and leave the dialog in order to take advantage of Riyal’s internal numerical integration feature, and build a detailed multi-date ephemerides.
4. When the main-belt faster asteroids are going to be integrated past several centuries from the present time, the 12-days default time-step of the integration should be reduced to ensure more accurate results. This 12 days default step will not have a significant effect in the case of the slow-moving objects.
5. After clicking “OK” and closing the dialog, go to “Special” and click on “generate ephemerides” and choose “one object only”. A dialog will apear asking you to choose the object you want. Here’s the trick: click on the pink box that says “Aux” at the bottom of the dialog. When you click on “Aux” you will see the name of the object appear at the top of the dialog. Now click “OK”. Choose the start and ending dates and the desired time step in days of the tabulation.
6. Voilà.

Riyal’s “readme” provides a sample of maximum errors of the numerical integration. In the worst case of the asteroids of the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, the maximum error is 1-arcminute from 1900 to 2100. But the distant, slow moving objects show maximum errors of the order of only 10 to 15 arcseconds.

	1900-2012	centaurs	1900-2012	transneptunians	1900-2012
Ceres	46″	Chiron	12″	Eris	1″
Pallas	1’17”	Pholus	8″	Varuna	7″
Juno	1’04”	Nessus	8″	Orcus	14″
Vesta	9″	Asbolus	6″	Typhon	9″