What's new in SkyGazer 4.5.7
Mar 6, 2014
- Restored code which displays the current position angle and separation of visual binary stars in the "Physical" tab of the Info Panel.
- The compass and altimeter displayed in the lower right corner of sky chart windows now update correctly if the chart is dragged while scroll bars are hidden.
- A crash that occurred while displaying planet trails has been fixed.
- Messier 40 and Caldwell 100 have been added to the database. A few common names for deep sky objects have been added and/or corrected; duplicate entries for NGC 7582 have been removed.
- The Windows installer is now built with InstallShield Express 2009.
New in SkyGazer 4.5.6 (Mar 6, 2014)
- Digitized Sky Survey images now fade gradually in and out of view.
- A few minor corrections and additions have been made to object descriptions.
- Fixed a number of graphic "glitches" that occurred when correcting for refraction: planet & moon shadow phase areas, Moon orbits, planet paths, trails, and drop lines are all now drawn correctly with refraction turned on. Centering on planets with refraction on now centers the correct position.
- The computation of Delta-T now uses the Stephenson & Houlden 1986 algorithm, as with versions of Voyager prior to 4.5.5. This makes no difference for years after 948 AD.
- A few redundant asterisms (e.g. The Baseball Diamond = Great Square of Pegasus), as well as a few objects which are not really asterisms (e.g. the Pleiades, the Southern Cross) have been removed from the Asterisms list.
- The most current asteroid orbits are now imported from the Minor Planet Center. ADS, Hipparcos, and Tycho catalog numbers have been added for a large number of double stars which were missing them. A few hundred duplicate deep sky objects in the database have been cleaned up.
New in SkyGazer 4.5.5 (Mar 6, 2014)
- Added support for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and Windows 7 in the registration code.
- Fixed a problem which resulted in the chart being re-centered on a random location while double-clicking the sky with the default mouse action set to zoom the sky chart.
- When using Local Horizon coordinates, the altitudes for all objects reported in the "Object Info" window are now corrected for refraction. In addition, if the chart is using Horizon (Alt-Azimuth) coordinates, objects are now drawn at their apparent (refracted) positions, rather than their true (geometric) positions.
- Fixed a bug which sometimes prevented an object's description from appearing in the Object Info panel.
- Much better map of Mercury, created by Steve Albers, using MESSENGER data to fill in most parts of the planet not observed by Mariner 10.
- A few corrections to the basic stellar and deep sky object data: Marsic is Kappa Herculis, not HR 7008; Thor's Helmet is NGC 2359, not NGC 6451; NGC 6451 is the Tom Thumb Cluster.
- Binary star system component separations and position angles are now given for the current date in the Physical properties tab of the Info Panel.
- The Mac version is now built using XCode 3.1.3.
New in SkyGazer 4.5.4 (Mar 6, 2014)
- The maximum number of asteroids, comets, and spacecraft that can be installed at once has been increased from 16,384 to 32,765.
- Reopening settings files containing an Observing List no longer causes the program to crash.
- In the Display menu, the "Show Moon surfaces" option under the "Planets & Moons" submenu now works correctly.
- In the Solar System window (in the Explore menu), the "Guide" button for accessing the Sky Guide feature now appears properly.
- When a moon's shadow passes across a planet, or vice-versa, that shadow is now always drawn, regardless of whether or not the planet's (or moon's) shadow cone is turned on. Eclipses and transits do happen, whether we like them or not! The "show shadow cone" option now shows the planet or moon's umbral shadow cone, which is a mathematical construct that is not actually visible.
- A bug with drawing Sun and Moon glow circles which caused a crash under certain circumstances has been fixed.
- In the Preferences dialog, Chart tab, the sky chart zoom factor can now be set from 1.0 to 3.0 as advertised, without an error message.
- Fixed possible crash in Mac OS X version registration code which determines system serial number.
- Window menu items which select Panel windows (and their keyboard command equivalents) now bring those windows to the front of all other panel windows, in addition to just making the panel window visible.
New in SkyGazer 4.5.3 (Mar 6, 2014)
- Removed the beta version expiration message from the Mac OS X versions.
- When the "Auto" time update option is turned on in Startup file, the time now stays properly synchronized to the computer's system clock after the program launches.
- Updated the deep sky database using data from the latest (31 Dec 2008) Principal Galaxy Catalog. This fixes some mis-identications and removes an erroneous cluster of bright galaxies in Eridanus.
- Fixed problems in importing data for asteroids with numbers greater than 100000 and/or semi-major axes greater than 100 AU from MPC orbit files.
New in SkyGazer 4.5.2 (Mar 6, 2014)
- The Windows version can now correctly export TIFF and JPEG files.
- When saving a settings file with the Windows Shell "hide file extentions for known file types" option turned on, the horizon image file path is now saved correctly.
- Custom labels for hidden solar system objects are now drawn in the correct position.
- Preferences for Angle and Time formats are now used more consistently throughout the program.
- When downloading import files, Voyager now properly handles HTTP redirect responses, and lets you continue downloading files if a particular file fails to download.
- The on-line registration code has a longer timeout, to avoid "unable to connect to on-line registration" errors, and now defaults to retrying rather than displaying the register-by-phone dialog.
- • In the Windows version, error message dialog boxes can no longer inadvertently be moved behind the application's main frame window.
- • Graphic artifacts when drawing the Info Panel's tab control in the Mac version have been removed. In both the Mac and Windows versions, the Description tab now always appears when selecting an object that has a description.
- • The Jupiter map has been modified so that the Great Red Spot appears near its current (2008) longitude of 130 degrees, producing more accurate GRS transit times.
- • With the "Auto" time button turned on in the Time Panel, simulated sky chart times now stay in sync with the computer's system clock.
- • When drawing the Earth without a textured surface image, the Earth's night side shading is now drawn properly when the Earth's "Show Phase" option is turned on.
- • A potential crash in both the Mac and Windows versions when drawing horizon, planet disk, or constellation figure polygons has been fixed.
- • A problem with setting the screen gamma table to uninitialized values on program exit has been fixed.
- • Incorrect values for moon rotation periods have been fixed. Improvements to orbit drawing code have been made.
- • A few new-and-improved settings files have been added. Performance problems in the Windows version have been addressed.
New in SkyGazer 4.5.1 (Mar 6, 2014)
- Improved stellar and deep sky data:
- New bright star data file, based on version 5 of the NASA SKY2000 Master Star Catalog, with RECONS and SIMBAD data added for the 100 nearest star systems. Bayer latin letter star identifiers and Flamsteed numbers missing from SKY2000 (e.g. b And, 82 Eri) have been added from the Hipparcos catalog. Missing and/or incorrect variable star and multiple star identifiers in SKY2000 v5 have been fixed, using data from the latest GCVS and WDS catalogs. A few incorrect proper names (e.g. Shaula, Lesath) have been fixed, and many additional proper names have been added from research on Jim Kaler's STARS, Wikipedia, and other sources.
- SkyGazer now includes vastly improved "plain-English" descriptions of nearly 72 star systems, developed in conjunction with professor Jim Kaler at the University of Illinois. Click on nearly any bright star, and select the "Description" tab in the Info Panel for a few paragraphs on that star's cultural and historical significance, astrophysical properties, evolution, and planetary system (if known). The deep sky object descriptions have also been "beefed up" for several constellations, including Virgo and (our favorite) Carina.
- This version includes a new deep sky object data file. The new file includes the latest open cluster data from the Wilton Dias 2008 catalog. Galaxy data has been updated from the 2008 version of the Principal Galaxy Catalog, with missing information filled in from the earlier 2002 PGC. Distances for PGC galaxies in the Local Group (e.g. the LMC, SMC, M 31, M 32, M 110) have been corrected using values obtained from other sources. All objects in the NGC and IC catalogs have been revised with data from Wolfgang Steinicke's 2008 Revised NGC & IC lists.
- SkyGazer should be better at identifying deep sky object images embedded in sky chart windows when the mouse is moved over them (Auto Identify) or clicked on them, even which deep sky object outlines/symbols are turned off.
- Improved settings files:
- Added ability to read Voyager/SkyGazer II settings files. Not all Voyager II settings can be interpreted correctly, particularly spacecraft orbits, variable stars, and some issues related to planet scaling. However, most settings should be imported correctly.
- Fixed crash in importing Voyager/SkyGazer III settings files. Fixed problems with importing object references from Voyager/SkyGazer 4.0 settings files. Fixed problems with interpreting Flamsteed numbers for stars in constellations with two words in their names (e.g. "46 Leonis Minoris").
- The "Open Settings" dialog box in the File menu now defaults to the "Settings Files" directory. The "Save Last Settings" option in the "File" tab of the "Preferences" dialog now correctly saves the last program settings as the Startup file so they will be restored the next time the program starts up.
- The "Overwrite Startup File"? warning message no longer appears if no Startup file is actually present.
- Custom labels which are attached to moving objects (such as the Sun, Moon, and Planets) should now stay attached to those objects when they move.
- Improvements to Panel Windows:
- In the Mac version, Panel window locations outside the main monitor can now be saved in settings files (including the Startup file); this allows panel windows to be positioned on secondary monitors.
- In the Windows version, the Info Panel now properly resizes when minimized. Problems with the Info Panel appearing with its title bar outside the application's main frame window (and hence immovable) have been fixed. Flickering and spurious bold re-drawing of description text in the Info Panel in the Windows version has also been eliminated. Problems with the description text scroll bar in the Info Panel resetting to the top have been fixed.
- In the Windows version, the Display Panel is no longer moved to positions outside the application's main frame window when it is maximized/minimized running on a second monitor.
- Fixed crash in Windows version caused by deleting items from the Observing List panel.
- Settings files containing descriptions will show Banner window when opened. Settings files containing observing lists will display Observing Panel when opened.
- Fixed problems with displaying the Clock hand positions not matching numerical time displays when switching between Local Time and Universal Time in the Time Panel's time menu.
- Increased the number of user-defined locations from 32 to 1024.
- New Mac2Win DLL resolves problems with minimize/close buttons appearing incorrectly in resizable panel windows (Info Panel, Planet Panel) in the Windows version.
- Improvements to graphics and computation:
- Mouse wheel zooming support: you can now zoom in and out on the centered part of the sky chart window by using the mouse wheel (if you have one) - just like with Google Maps, or some other astronomy programs.
- Keyboard accelerators for items in the Chart Menu > Sky View submenu (Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, etc.) now work correctly on Windows.
- Fixed problems (particularly in non-Sterographic projections) where sun glow was not being drawn to the limb of the Sun, leaving a black "ring" around the Sun's disk. Also fixed problems related to drawing the limb of very enlarged planets/moons whose centers are offscreen.
- The IAU standard expression for local sidereal time as a function of universal time has been modified to cap quatratic and cubic terms with respect to time at +/- 10,000 years from the present epoch (J2000). The correct expression for LST as a function of UT at times farther out than this is really a matter of speculative guesswork, but this modification at least prevents confusing situations like the Sun appearing below the horizon at 10 AM in the year 76,000 A.D.
- Daylight Savings Time in Australia for 2008 and after now ends the last Sunday in March, instead of the first Sunday in April.
- Experimental option for showing the Earth as viewed from 200 miles up in the main sky chart window while dragging your location on the Earth Map in the Location Panel. This is to provide a sensation of motion and make more clear what is happening in the sky when you change your location on Earth.
- When using a path to show an object's apparent motion across the sky, and simultaneously moving around the solar system, SkyGazer now corrects the path for your new position, instead of leaving an abrupt discontinuity in the path.
New in SkyGazer 4.0.7 (Mar 6, 2014)
- Added on-line registration feature to allow individual and multiple site licensing, and to allow users to easily update their contact information in our user database.
- Built Windows version with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 instead of Visual C++ 6.
- Windows version includes a new Mac2Win DLL, which fixes problems with saving descriptive text in settings files.
- The planet Uranus is now displayed with a texture-mapped ring system.
- Daylight savings time was incorrectly being omitted for parts of southern Florida when the "Automatic Daylight Savings Time" correction was turned on. This is now fixed.
- Several cosmetic problems in Location Panel in the Windows version have been addressed.
- The "Clear Sky Chart" command in the Display menu is now implemented and working properly.
- The Windows Voyager 4 QuickTime Link DLL (Voyage4QT.dll) now has a VERSIONINFO resource to indicate its version number (4.0.4 currently).
New in SkyGazer 4.0.6 (Mar 6, 2014)
- New Mac2Win DLL resolves issues with scroll bars and panel windows.
- Additional SkyGuide sections on double and variable stars, and Bayer constellation drawings.
- The "Set Location" dialog now saves the seconds portion of latitude and longitude for user-defined locations.
New in SkyGazer 4.0.5 (Mar 6, 2014)
- First release of SkyGazer 4 for Windows and Mac OS, derived from the Voyager 4 code base.