Dear STAR Atlas:PRO User,
Welcome to the
latest edition of the SKYLab Astronomy Software Newsletter, issued periodically to keep you
in touch with the latest STAR Atlas:PRO™ software upgrades
and other related news.
The latest version of
STAR Atlas:PRO, Version 5.2, is now
available as a free upgrade to all registered users.
Major new
features include a new Day
Mode colour scheme that switches STAR Atlas:PRO's colour
scheme to tones of the colour grey for daytime use, or back to tones of red and
black for dark adaptation.
There is now improved support
and additional features for the Argo Navis™ Digital Telescope Computer and support for
High Precision
Telescope Pointing for Meade Telescopes.
A greatly expanded collection of
Star Names ultimately improves star labelling on charts and can also list
other names and historical names that a Star has previously been known by.
Another new
feature generates star charts as Postscript files which may then be printed at
the highest possible resolution on your printer, transformed into an Adobe PDF
file, or used in typesetting applications.
There are also dozens of minor corrections and improvements that will improve
STAR Atlas:PRO overall.
Following is a more complete description of Version 5.2 and introductory details
for using each new feature.
Finally you will find instructions on to download and install the Version 5.2
Upgrade Package.
I hope you enjoy the latest version of STAR
Atlas:PRO.
Clear Skies!
Paul Mayo
SKY:Lab® Astronomy Software
Web:
www.skylab.com.au
E-mail:
info@skylab.com.au
STAR Atlas:PRO
Version 5.2 release notes
The following
text uses the square brackets [a button] to represent a button command or a
sequence of buttons [button 1]
→
[button 2]
Contents
New Daylight Colour Scheme
Improved collection of Star Names
Bright Comets now displayed
on Sky Chart
Easier access to
download Comet Orbital Elements
Improved Argo Navis™
driver
Improved Meade Telescope
Driver
High Resolution Postscript Charts
Precessing Telescope Co-ordinates
Minor Corrections and Improvements
New Daylight Colour Scheme
Since it's inception STAR Atlas:PRO has maintained it's red and black colour
scheme to suit dark adaptation. However with STAR Atlas:PRO being used more and
more at the desktop a new colour scheme is introduced in this version. The new Day Mode
colour scheme consists of a mixture of grey colours similar to those of typical
software applications that run on Windows™.
How to toggle between Night and Day mode colour schemes.
1. Select [Chart Prefs] from the main floating menu.
2. At top right of the Chart Preferences and Program Settings window you
will see the two new buttons, [Night] and [Day], select either to suit your
preference.
Improved collection of Star Names
The number of
common Star Names is greatly increased resulting in improved
star labelling and a new easy way to lookup and locate Stars by name.
To Locate a
Star by name.
1. Choose [Locate] from
the main floating menu.
2. Choose menu number [57] Star Names.
3. Choose [Find Star] from the Star Names window that appears.
4. From the quick locator buttons along the top of the window, choose the letter
that beginning letter of the Star you are looking for. As an example, if you are looking for
the Star called Rigel,
click the [R] button and then all star names beginning with the letter 'R' are listed
in the window. You can then double-click to select Rigel from the list,
you are returned to the main Star Names window where you can click
[MAP] to locate the Star position.
Bright Comets now
displayed on Sky Chart
STAR Atlas:PRO's Sky Chart now displays Comets brighter than
Magnitude 10, making it easy to spot the brightest Comets in the Sky.
Easier access
to download Comet Orbital Elements
Easier access is now provided to STAR Atlas:PRO's Comet Elements Import screen,
which may now be accessed from the On-Line Data menu that appears when you right
click on a chart.
How to download Comet Elements
1.
Right-click on a chart to display the popup-menu.
2.
select On-Line Data from the menu.
3.
then select Load Comet Elements from the On-Line Data menu list
the next step depends of which version of STAR Atlas:PRO you have
STAR Atlas:PRO Advanced Edition:
4. Click [SAP/INET Connect] and STAR Atlas:PRO will automatically download,
process the Comet Orbital Elements file and then return to the chart.
STAR Atlas:PRO Standard Edition:
4. click [Connect using Web
Browser], this will start your web browser and automatically
retrieve the required Comet Orbital Elements file from the Minor Planetary
Centre. You must then choose File->Save As from your web browser and save
the Comet Orbital Elements file as a text file. Then locate
the file with the [...] button that appears on the STAR Atlas:PRO window.
5. Click the [Process Elements file] button to process the new orbital elements.
Improved Argo Navis™
driver
A new feature for the Argo Navis™
displays Internal Unit Temperature, Encoder Step Positions,
Internal Date and Time and other information. In addition you may now download celestial objects stored in
STAR Atlas:PRO's Observation Planner into the Argo Navis User Catalog memory. Then take the
Argo Navis out for observing and have access to all of
the objects you've stored in STAR Atlas:PRO's Observation Planner. You can also
print a list of the objects downloaded into the
Argo Navis.
How to display the Argo Navis Internal Temperature and Encoder Step Positions
1. Choose [ Scope ] from the the main floating menu.
2. then choose [
Connect ] to make a connection with the Argo Navis.
3. Once connected, select [
Argo Navis Panel ] from the Scope Control Toolbar (menu) that appears after STAR
Atlas:PRO makes a successful connection to the Argo Navis. The Argo Navis Panel
window that appears automatically displays the
Internal Unit Temperature, Altitude and Azimuth
Encoder Step Positions and
Internal Date and Time. The values display are for the current instant and are updated
if you click the [Refresh] button.
How to download Observation Planner Objects into the Argo Navis™.
1. Choose [ Scope ] from the the main floating menu,
2. then choose [
Connect ] to make a connection with the Argo Navis.
3. Once connected, select [
Argo Navis Panel ] from the Scope Control Toolbar (menu) that appears after STAR
Atlas:PRO makes a successful connection to the Argo Navis. The Argo Navis Panel
window will then appear and automatically display the current R.A. and DEC.
values along with Internal Unit Temperature and other values. Note: the
command buttons are disabled whenever communications between STAR Atlas:PRO and
the Argo Navis are in progress.
4. Choose the [Export] button to start the download process. Following the
instructions that are displayed by STAR Atlas:PRO, which tell you how to setup
the Argo Navis so that it is ready to accept the download of objects from STAR
Atlas:PRO (the lower part of the STAR Atlas:PRO screen contains the Argo
Navis User Catalog command section, each command is explained in the following
table ).
User Catalog commands.
|
[Purge]
|
Removes
all objects from the User Catalog in the Argo Navis. |
|
[Export] |
Downloads
all objects from the STAR Atlas:PRO Observation Planner into the Argo Navis User Catalog. |
|
[Print] |
Prints a
list of the objects downloaded to the Argo Navis User Catalog. |
|
[Preview] |
Print
Preview a list of the objects downloaded into the Argo Navis User Catalog. |
|
[Refresh] |
Updates
the displayed User Catalog values (see next table). |
Displayed User Catalog values.
|
Free User Catalog Memory (bytes) |
The number of bytes of available in the Argo Navis User Catalog Pool. |
|
Argo Navis User Catalog (count) |
The
number of celestial objects present into the Argo Navis User Catalog. |
|
Observation Planner (count) |
The
number of celestial objects present in STAR Atlas:PRO's Observation
Planner. |
New Default BAUD Rate Setting for Argo Navis Driver.
When you select the Argo Navis telescope driver in [Chart Prefs]
→
[Telescope
Setup]
→ [Select
Driver], the Baud Rate now defaults to 38400 (this is the manufacturers default
Baud rate
setting for each of the Argo Navis Serial Ports).
Improved Meade
Telescope Driver
STAR Atlas:PRO's inbuilt Meade LX200 driver now supports Meade's High and Low
Precision Telescope
pointing modes.
For further information on High and Low Precision Telescope pointing modes,
consult your Meade Telescope manual.
Low Precision Mode provides Telescope Pointing accuracy to 1/10th of an
arc-minute in Right Ascension and to the nearest 1
arc-minute in Declination.
High Precision Mode provides Telescope Pointing accuracy to 1 arc-second in both
Right Ascension and Declination.
How to toggle High &
Low Precision Telescope Pointing Modes.
1. Choose [Scope] from the
main floating menu
2. Choose [Options] from the Scope Control menu that is displayed
after a successful connection is made to the Telescope.
3. Click the [ High / Low Precision Mode ] button to toggle STAR Atlas:PRO and
the Telescope between High and Low Precision Pointing modes.
Note: Each time
STAR Atlas:PRO is started, it assumes your Telescope is set to Low Precision
Mode.
High Resolution Postscript
Charts
STAR Atlas:PRO's new Postscript feature allows you to output the displayed chart
to a Postscript file.
The Postscript star chart may then be imported by a variety of other software
applications to produce high resolution Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format)
files for printing, viewing, and easy publication.
Applications that can import Postscript files include GSview (see
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/ ), Adobe Distiller and Jaws PDF
Creator.
How to generate a Postscript File for the displayed chart
1.
Choose [ Print ]
from the main floating menu
2. choose [ Postscript
File ]
(Note: STAR Atlas:PRO will then generate a postscript output file called "starpro.ps"
, you can choose another file name and/or folder to store the file).
3. Use a Postscript compatible software application that can open Postscript files to print,
display or export the chart to an Adobe PDF file.
Precessing Telescope
Co-ordinates
Telescopes and Digital
Setting Circles (including the Argo Navis™)
may report their pointing co-ordinates for the Epoch of the instant in time when the
telescope is being used, which do not match the J2000.0 Epoch of STAR Atlas:PRO charts.
This results in some inaccuracy when plotting the pointing position of the telescope on a
STAR Atlas:PRO chart.
Applying
precession to Telescope Co-ordinates.
1. Choose [Scope] from the
main floating menu
2. Choose [Options] from the Scope Control menu
3. Enable [√]
Precess Telescope co-ordinates option.
Minor Corrections and
Improvements
- Celestial
objects with a Magnitude of 0.0 (zero) are no longer erroneously displayed in
Sky Chart mode.
-
Some Time Zones located West of Greenwich, were miscalculated when selecting the Observer's Location
from the list of choices.
- The Planetary database now displays the current actual distance to each Planet in kilometres.
- The Interval between Position Updates setting in [Chart Prefs]→[Telescope
Settings] function is improved.