Homepage > General

1. What does "Astrodienst" mean? How is it pronounced?
   
   "Astrodienst" means "Astro Service".
   "Dienst" is German for "service", and is pronounced "deenst". "Astro" is not a particular word, but a common abbreviation for Astrology. It is pronounced more in 'italian style'.
   
   
2. For the Current Planets listed on the homepage, do you list the declinations, degrees N or S of the ecliptic?
   
   They have been added as a hidden feature. Please move your mouse cursor on the minutes or seconds, and let it rest there. The declination will appear as a tiny popup. South appears as negative value.
   
   
3. In the list of current planets on the homepage, what does the number left of the zodiac symbols refer to?
   
   The planet position is given in the following pattern {degree} {sign} {arc minute} {arc second}, for example: 23°31"02'. The planet is on exactly 23 deg. Leo 31 min. 02 sec. in Leo.
   
   The number on the left is the degree of the planet in the sign. The numbers to right of the symbol are arc minutes and arc seconds.
   
   
4. How can I link to www.astro.com?
   
   For more information, go to the Astrodienst Link directory and click on the link Links to Astrodienst in the left column.
   If you would like us to link to your website, you can find the necessary information in this section of the Astrodienst link directory.
   
   

Homepage > Languages

1. How can I switch languages?
   
   Use the language navigation at the top of the page. The activated language is shown as a white oval shape with the language abbreviation inside. The abbreviations stand for the following languages:
   
   

   de	German
   dk	Danish
   en	English
   es	Spanish
   fr	French
   it	Italian
   nl	Dutch
   pt	Portuguese

   
   To switch to a different language, just click on the language symbol of your choice.
   Please note that not all the content of www.astro.com is available in all languages. If a webpage or service is not available in your language, you will automatically be led to the English version.
   Seriously interested volunteer translators for English material are welcome.
   
   
2. Are you planning to translate your website into other languages besides the ones you've got?
   
   Currently our reports and website are being translated into Chinese and Japanese. Once the website is online in these languages, we consider translating it into other languages. However, these languages need to be carefully chosen for several reasons:
   
   a) Translating the website is quite elaborate and costly. It involves the translation of hundreds of pages of text and complex software resources.
   
   b) Our free web services at www.astro.com are financed by means of selling our high-quality horoscope reports. So, in order to be able to offer free services in a certain language, we need to have at least some of our reports translated into this language. This means having to invest into the translation of these reports which comprise several thousand pages. Such an investment has to be justified by some prospect of being able to sell the reports.
   
   Therefore we can only translate into languages which offer a reasonable market for our products.
   
   
3. If there are different variants of a certain language, which one do you use - or do you (wish to) make your website available in both?
   
   We are aware that certain languages exist in different variants, for example British and American English, or Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. At www.astro.com, we do not favour any particular variants.
   It is our language policy to cultivate the co-existence of the different variants. And it depends on the respective authors or translators which one is used in a particular text. We do not intend to support two varieties of the same language as separate languages.
   
   
4. There are still pages in existing web languages which haven't been translated. Can I help?
   
   Yes, certainly. We are happy to accept help from volunteer translators. If you notice that a certain page in the "Understanding Astrology" or "Free Horoscopes" sections hasn't been translated and you would like to make a contribution, please write an e-mail to webmaster at astro dot com.
   
   

Homepage > Atlas and Time Zones

1. About the Astrodienst Atlas
   
   The Astrodienst atlas contains more than 250 000 towns. For more detail on the sources of the database, click on Astrology Atlas Query on the homepage, and follow the link About this atlas.
   
   
2. Can I use your atlas and time zone information for professional services?
   
   The free charts and free readings from our website are for private purposes only. They must not be redistributed commercially.
   If your intended 'professional astrology service' is computer based, you will need to purchase software for it. Such software will have its own atlas and time zone database built-in in for your use. You will however be allowed to use our atlas database for crosschecks.
   
   
3. Is there access to time zone information on your website?
   
   The time zone database is integrated into all services. When you enter natal data or run charts, the correct time zone information is automatically taken into account.
   We do not publish the time zone database content, so that all that valuable and unique information can be used elsewhere. This information is proprietary. You can use the database by using our services for your horoscopes, but you cannot copy the content of the database.
   
   
4. Do you have an option which allows the user to add places to the database or to enter the latitude and longitude of a particular place manually?
   
   If you provide reliable co-ordinates (longitude and latitude) and also tell us the source, we are happy to add additional towns.

   An automatic entry by web site users is not possible. The difficulty is that each town must be linked to one of nearly 4000 different time zone history tables. In many areas of the world there has been a complex time zone history where often nearby cities, counties or provinces have had different time zones or daylight savings time rules in the past. Only experts can assign the correct time zone history table for each new town, by comparing the new entry to the rest of the database.