Follows is a random list of contributions of one sort or another related to XEphem. We have not necessarily tested these but are happy to serve as a central exchange for these efforts. If you have questions about these please contact the authors directly. Send your contribution ideas to xephem@clearskyinstitute.com.

• Here is an alternative version of moon.fts that was made using strips of LRO images with low sun angles. It is a much better match to what you see when viewing a given location while it is near the terminator. Thanks to Martin Federspiel, Martin.Federspiel at gmx.de.

• xeseds2.1.pl is a Perl script that can be used with the fifo interface. Once running, then when you click on "Telescope GoTo" over many types of objects in Sky View, a command is sent to put up a new browser window (konquerer by default) to fetch a page of information about the object from various web sites. It's quite nice. Thanks go to Tim Walker, twalker@bigpond.net.au. Note: due to a server config beyond my control, the file name can not end with .pl so after downloading this file, please remove the "-removeme" portion.

• Catalogs contributed by Steve Mencinsky, SM310531 at Exchange.Australia.NCR.COM
  • M31globulars.edb is a list of principle globular clusters in galaxy M31.
  • SMC.edb is a list of deep sky objects in the Magellanic Clouds.
  • recons100.edb is the complete census as of January 1, 2000, of objects outside our solar system known within 10 parsecs.

• Looking for Motif? Here are prebuilt libraries and include files suitable for compiling XEphem from source on several systems. Right-click and Save the desired file, explode, and set the MOTIFI and MOTIFL macros in Makefile.smple in the XEphem source directory to point to the explode directory.
  • Linux on x86
  • Linux on Alpha
  • FreeBSD on x86
  • Mac OS X

• Brandon Craig Rhodes has built an excellent astronomical Python library called PyEphem based on XEphem's libraries. Even if you don't use Python check it out, it's enough to make you switch.

• XEphem runs very well under Windows using virtualization technologies such as VirtualBox. You will need to load a linux distribution such as Ubuntu.

• Here are four .fav files of favorite NGC objects for each season of the year. Contributed by the late Guillermo Andrade, database contributor par excellent.
  • Summer
  • Autumn
  • Winter
  • Spring

• Here are two more Constellation Figures files inspired by popular sky atlases used in Germany and England: eurofigs_de.csf and eurofigs_uk.csf Put them in your shared or private XEphem directory and it will automatically become available as a choice in the Sky View -> Options -> Constellation menu. Contributed by Georg Graf, georg.graf at gmx.de.

• Bob Abraham has contributed an alterate image of Mars. It is made from observations from Earth and so more closely matches what a visual observer sees at the telescope than the Mars Orbiter map included with XEphem. The image is not perfectly registered with the Martian coordinate system of database objects but it is close enough for many purposes. Please see his forum posting for full details and to download the final image. To use the image in XEphem, first save your current Mars map in ShareDir/auxil/marsmap.jpg somewhere then copy in Bob's image. Thanks Bob, this is a great idea.

• Drop-in replacement for VSOP files in libastro. Contributed by Gustavo A. Corradi who claims improved accuracy.

• Improved entries for telescopes on the Canary Islands for the xephem_sites file, contributed by Peter Suetterlin, pit at astro dot su dot se

  	Isaac Newton Telescope (98-inch)        ;  28 46  0 N   ;  17 53  0 W   ;  2336 ; AST1ADT,M3.5.0,M10.5.0
  	Large Earth-based Solar Tel. (LEST)     ;  28 46  0 N   ;  17 53  0 W   ;  2400 ; AST1ADT,M3.5.0,M10.5.0
  	Nordic Optical Telescope                ;  28 45  0 N   ;  17 53  0 W   ;  2382 ; AST1ADT,M3.5.0,M10.5.0
  	Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma        ;  28 45 30 N   ;  17 52 48 W   ;  2327 ; AST1ADT,M3.5.0,M10.5.0
  	Telescopio Nazionale Galileo            ;  28 46  0 N   ;  17 53  0 W   ;  2400 ; AST1ADT,M3.5.0,M10.5.0
  	William Herschel Telescope              ;  28 46  0 N   ;  17 53  0 W   ;  2332 ; AST1ADT,M3.5.0,M10.5.0
  
      

• Richard Mather has posted here a family of Java programs that convert several catalog formats to XEphem .edb format.

• Here is an updated version of libip/wcs.c that supports the CD martix headers from astrometry.net and elsewhere. Thanks to Roman Tolesnikov, rtolesnikov@yahoo.com.