New Features:
- surround Earth satellite name with parentheses if eclipsed.
- move "Keep marker centered' to Sky View Telescope menu
Bugs fixed:
- improve handling of catalog errors, eg, when in part of sky with no UCAC
- improved Solver tool Min/Max stability
- use proper amount of precision when saving TLE as .edb
- use geometric elevation for Earth satellite conversion to RA/Dec
- fix Earth satellite transit info when up now
- fix possible rise/set infinite loop when object just barely rises or is geostationary
- arg of peri was listed in Earth Data Index table twice
- fclose could be called twice when saving preferences
- fix possible crash when updating db or Favorites when Earth Objects are up
- fix printed trail time zone (always said UTC even when local)
- outdated AAVSO support removed
- SKY2000.edb RA PM was not multiplied by cos(Dec)
INDI enhancements:
- improve display of large Light properties
- parser missed decoding entity if first char in pcdata
- eventloop.c:rmTimer() resized array wrong
- fixed memory leak in getINDI.c
- getINDI now handles BLOBs
New Features:
- Data Table adds JD, HJD and PA columns.
- Earth View adds inertial reference frame option.
- Earth View allows picking earth satellite via orbit marker.
- Earth View shows altitude and range in satellite right-click data.
- Earth View shows satellite position in space.
- Earth View can draw orbits on cylindrical projection.
- Earth objects table has new column-wide toggles.
- Main menu can remember to start RT mode automatically.
- Makefiles now support building Mac OS X universal binaries.
- Object index search supports using glob patterns.
- Observing log adds JD, HJD and Airmass fields.
- Observing log replaces Search with List feature.
- Observing log search supports using glob patterns.
- Preferences can now remember and restore which views were open.
- Print adds new option to draw with thicker lines.
- Several improvements to XML and INDI tools.
- Shared app defaults file, XEphem, may now be in /etc.
- Sites list search supports using glob patterns.
- Sky View draws simplistic antialiased stars.
- Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus satellite models extended to 2021.
- Native binary support for Mac OSX Intel.
Bugs fixed:
- .fts added as default suffix when downloading DSS images.
- Data menu was not cutting spect field at 2 chars.
- Earth View uses unique names for satellite object listing fields.
- Fix logic to detect no natural satellite models.
- Main menu now only shows progress meter if using fewer than 1000 steps.
- Numbers like 2e-2 were considered negative in some situations.
- Sky View RADec grid was inaccurate in AA mode near celestial poles
- Sky View compass correct now when showing tilted/rotated FITS image.
- Sky View labels N and S ecliptic poles.
- Sky View no longer prevents panning below horizon.
- Sky View telescope marker turned off when manually point only if also recentering.
- Sky View was leaving constellation figure files open.
- Solver properly guards XML entity characters when saving functions.
- Support ISO 8601 in FITS DATE-OBS field.
- Support much longer edb entries when downloading from web.
- Updated Delta-T table.
- WCS solver window labels CDELT2 as pixels up, not down.
- astorb2edb.pl updated for longer object names.
INDI enhancements:
- add IEDeferLoop function for inline waiting.
- add IUCrackNumber and IUCrackText utility functions.
- change indiserver to use select(2) not threads (10-20% more efficient).
- command line tools can inherit socket from parent script to maintain a single session
- fix bug in very rapid timeouts.
- guarantee getProperties is first command sent to drivers.
- improve efficiency of traffic to remote drivers.
- indiserver sniffs client devices from all commands, not just getProperties.
- library sends doubles with more precision.
- merge stderr from drivers into indiserver's log with date stamp.
- more robust IUSaveText.
New Features:
- Add tool to align two or more FITS images and create motion movies.
- Add Control-m keyboard shortcut to add any view to the Movie loop.
- Upgrade to higher resolution Earth image.
- Put user annotations in a scrolled list to accommodate lengthy collections.
- Add Moonrise and Moonset to collection of Step size controls.
- Image gallery lookups now search against all names of data base objects.
Bugs fixed:
- Fix crashing when deleting all frames of a Movie.
- Fix antisolar point in Sky View when changing Equatorial preference.
- Fix pen/umbra position in Sky View when changing equinox.
- Fix problem when reading some Sky View history files.
- Fix large height of Progress meter seen on some systems.
- Fix crashing when starting any Animation demo.
- Fix mainmenu size jumping on some systems when moon not up.
- Fix mainmenu moon/sun/rise/set step bug when near a day without any such.
- Fix bug in reference manual describing earth satellite footprint.
- Fix crashing when make About window too small.
- Fix Sky View compass rose during display of FITS images.
- Fix a few entries in xephem_sites
New Features:
- Data
- Includes Hubble GSC 2.2.0.1 catalog, 450 million stars complete to M18.5.
- New and updated catalogs: Messier, IC, NGC, COVBS, SKY2000, HYPERLEDA, Supernova, WDSC, Open clusters, Henry-Draper, Pleiades and asteroids.
- YBS replaced with Sky 2000 to magnitude 6.5.
- Can now display Gallery image directly from Data Index.
- Earth View
- Display satellite orbits in space.
- Zoom in to see better geography, or out to see high orbits.
- Quick-set button to set equator rotation.
- Display of surface footprint is now optional.
- Expanded range mouse panning allows continuous rotation.
- Sky View
- Save and restore sets of eyepiece definitions.
- Save and restore sets of eyepiece Sky positions.
- Constellation figure definitions now stored in editable files.
- WCS solver invoked automatically if header has seed but no solution.
- Shortcut button to set display aspect ratio to match image.
- FITS file blinking via new Movie frame function.
- User Annotation
- Anchor locations are now based on the view's world coordinates.
- Sets of annotations may be saved and loaded from files.
- Other
- Collect any number of View, NAAG or Plot frames into a movie, save as set of PNG files.
- Many tweaks for improved INDI support, including display FITS BLOBs.
Bugs fixed:
- Negative years in some date formats.
- WCS solver could result in RA outside range 0..24 hours.
- Setting lat or long would reset elevation.
- Highly zoomed FITS images would show half-pixel offset.
- FITS images without WCS headers could generate bogus graphic overlays.
- Sky View compass rose rotation angle could be wrong near poles.
- Persistent labels on Earth trails in Sol System view were incorrect.
- Outdated magnetic declination model updated.
- add Proper Motion columns to Data table
- update NAAG also when change horizon offset in Data Setup
- Favorites table now displays full .edb definition of each entry
- allow adding a new Favorite directly from the dialog
- Solver has separate Find Min and Find Max goals
- All moon views: add boolean fields for casting shadow and transit
- Sun view: fix and make a configurable resource the SOHO network address
- Sky View: label galactic center
- Sky View: show rise/set for trailed objects
- Sky View: show position angle for roaming mouse coordinate
- Sky View: fix printing rectangular eyepieces
- add support for linux and osx motif libs in source distro
- remove -ffast-math from all Makefiles
- add Hide and Toggle to User Annotation tool
- add User Annotation window tips
- add XE icon to Coordinate Converter window
- add XE icon to Earth Objects window
- show longitude at += 90 in Earth map
- fix sporadic dropped contour segments in Earth map
- fix spherical mode printing size in Earth map
- add spectral class L designation
- fix bug downloading from GSC 2.2 in Dec range -1..0 degs
- bump max download count for GSC 2.2
- fix eyepieces png in help
- remove extra @ before seti@home in help
- fix relativistic deflection if objects are nearer than sun
- allow for negative Earth satellite es_decay
- fix Sky View keyboard pan/zoom did not erase fits display
- put Sky View Mag in main popup, not in extra pullright
- only remove Internet downloaded asteroid files if fresh
- fix sending INDI goto coords to the marker properties
- better handling of INDI agent disconnect
- fix bug building INDI newTextVector property
- honor new*Vector commands seen from other INDI clients
- redraw each INDI light vector when remanaged
- new INDI getINDIproperty and setINDIproperty tools
- improve approach to preventing screen blanking during right-clicks
- fix memory problem when closing Trails window
- planets should be On in the default Sky View History horizon entries
- improve drawing of thin crescents in Sky View
- faster Sky View depth sorting
- fix oversight preventing support of GSC 2.2 field stars
- fix binary orbit update problem
- fix Sky View Names toolbar button
- fix timezone problems in Trails
- improve compass rose accuracy in Sky View
- fix persistent label in Solar System view
- show mag+spectral class for Binary companion too in Sky View's More Info
- show size for planets too in Sky View's More Info
- eliminate use of tmpnam() for security reasons
- INDI tolerates other clients coming and going
- new or improved catalogs: asteroids, COVBS, CPIRSS, WDSC, aavso, binary_calib, constant, loneos, sstar_calib
New Features:
- Gallery
- Gallery of over 300 color images, fully cross-linked with Sky View.
- Sun
- New Sun view downloads and saves live images from SOHO.
- Moon
- Lunar features can be loaded directly into More Info dialog.
- Fully integrated with Lunar Orbiter IV images, with and without annotation.
- Searchable list of Lunar features.
- Earth
- Use shaded relief maps and nightside light maps.
- Can display any number of simultaneous satellites.
- Mars
- Now uses a shaded relief map from Mars Global Surveyor.
- Seeing simulation can now be controlled to 1/10 arc second.
- Saturn
- Now uses real images.
- Sky View
- Keyboard shortcuts for positioning and zooming.
- Constellation figures as defined by H. A. Rey.
- Orienting compass roses.
- Milky Way boundary.
- Rotatable eyepieces.
- Multiple horizon profiles and interactive editing.
- Field stars have their own labeling controls.
- Natural satellites drawn along with their parent planets.
- Planets drawn with proper phases.
- Displays galactic coordinates.
- More annotation point on principle coordinate planes.
- Accurate colors for all stellar spectral classes.
- Binary system orbits.
- Other views
- New annotation facility to overlay text and lines on any view.
- All planet views now show moon shadows on planet.
- Solar System has keyboard shortcuts for rotation, zooming and stereo.
- Tools
- New Observer's log book.
- Main window now displays local magnetic declination.
- Printing now supports A4 paper sizes.
- Trails can now extend Before as well as After the starting time.
- Plot and List now have Undo controls.
- Plot, List and Solver can now save and restore configurations.
- Telescope control now supports INDI, a highly flexible XML protocol.
- More data options and crisper graphs in AAVSO plot tool.
- Close tool can now omit planet's own moons.
- Coordinate Converter supports arbitrary equinox, can directly place Eyepieces.
- GUI
- Date and Time triad entry formats simpler yet more flexible.
- New Splash screen for instant feedback when launched.
- Help now written in html and triggers your favorite browser.
- Most unwieldy File Selection Boxes replaced by smart file popups.
- One-click Web catalog downloads automatically loaded into memory, as well as saved as a file.
- Data management
- New general purpose Favorites facility completely replaces ObjXYZ.
- .edb format extended to capture proper motion.
- .edb format extended to capture valid date ranges for orbital elements.
- .edb extended to capture multiple names per object.
- .edb extended to capture binary system orbits.
- Add support for USNO CCD Astrographic Catalog as field stars.
- Data Index now displays .edb format.
- Data Index can now partition objects into basic categories.
- Data View contents can be sent to X11 selection buffer.
- Field stars can now populate up to 30° FOV to support 35mm photography.
- Save Preferences can now automatically save Minor resources as well.
- Better Data menu organization.
Bug Fixes:
- Printing has improved Adobe compliance and is immune to locale.
- Improved handling of scalable fonts, include fixing a memory leak.
- Improved printing in color, and changed Grey to genuine Black.
- Fixed Length-of-Night if dusk or dawn does not occur.
- Fixed Length-of-Night and NAAG when dawn or dusk cross midnight.
- Main window calendar pulldown menu could clip some month names.
- Mars moon view can finally print.
- Fix NAAG for "arctic" dusk and dawn.
- Fix NAAG for case of no rise today but rise tomorrow; ditto for set.
- Fix NAAG for earth satellite when current time is on right half-day.
- Num Lock key no longer required to be off.
- Sky View 1:1 and 2:1 shortcuts no longer fail in certain situations.
- Sky View grid labeling improved.
- Sky View better at not clipping large objects until fully off screen, not just their center.
- Sky View toolbuttons for constellations, planes and labeling improved.
- Sky View is better at avoiding overlapping labels.
- Improved stability in Solver tool seeking periodic extrema.
- Fixed problem with mag glass over image without WCS headers.
New Features:
- add support for Uranometria 2000 sky atlas.
- add support for all three atlases in Data Table and Sky View listing.
- add "Auto list" so Close-pairs tool can print while looping.
- add GHA column to Data Table.
- add Spectral class column to Data Table and Sky View listing.
- add ability to store preferred position for more dialogs.
- add support for reading TLE-format satellite files directly.
- add Print option to Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus views.
- add support for 8-bit FITS format.
- add major upgrade to star finder and WCS solver.
- add image X,Y coords to Sky View corner info, when displaying image
Bug Fixes:
- fix a communication problem with LX200.
- fix minor problem with Earth view gray-scale printing.
- fix font problems occuring on some systems.
- fix crashing in Jup/Sat/Uranus seen with some window managers.
- fix saving Site preference when multiple abbreviated names match.
- fix rare crash when saving preferences.
- fix some incorrect XmForm attachments.
- fix crash if enter 0 eyepiece focal length.
- fix rare crash when refracting far below horizon.