New illustrated Manual

A new STAR Atlas:PRO™ User Manual is now available. The new manual includes over 230 illustrated pages and many step by step procedures to help you master STAR Atlas:PRO™. When you setup Version 6.1 you can link the new manual to the STAR Atlas:PRO Help button. Download the manual from the downloads page.

New Telescope Driver

A new driver is included for the FS2 telescope drive unit. See page 145 of the latest manual for a full explanation.

Charting mode names changed

STAR Atlas:PRO's two main charting modes, Polar mode and Horizon mode have been renamed to make their differences more apparent. The Polar charting mode is now called Star Atlas charting mode and the Horizon charting mode is now called Planetarium charting mode. See page 40 of the new manual for more information.

Charting mode minor alteration

When you switching from Star Atlas charting mode too Planetarium chart mode, STAR Atlas:PRO™ will now automatically set the defaults for Planetarium charting mode. Example:- if you are in Star Atlas mode and you have set a chart Magnitude Limit to display faint objects, then when you switch to Planetarium Mode the Magnitude Limit is reset to the default for Planetarium mode.

Measuring the Angular Separation between Celestial Objects

STAR Atlas:PRO™ now includes a new feature to measure the angular separation between any two celestial objects that you choose. See page 48 of the new manual for more information.

The Caldwell Catalogue

A new astronomical catalogue is added in Version 6.1, the Caldwell Catalogue of popular deep sky objects. See [Locate]->[88] The Caldwell Catalogue.

Barnard's Catalogue of Dark Objects

A new astronomical catalogue is added in Version 6.1,  Barnard's Catalogue of Dark Objects. See [Locate]->[87] Barnard's Dark Objects.

Improved Observation List Generator

The Observation List Generator includes a new search parameter that permits you to specify the minimum size an object to be included in searches. See [Locate]->[5] Observation List Generator. See page 81 of the new manual for more information.

Horizon Line colour

The Horizon Line may now be set to any colour of your choice. The default colour of the horizon is now a deep blue rather than the previous green colour. See [Legend]->Horizon Line [Set Colour]

Horizon, Meridian and Ecliptic lines

The Horizon, Meridian and Ecliptic lines may now be turned off, so that they do not display. This new setting does not apply to the Horizon Line which is always displayed when Planetarium charting mode is selected. The new setting appears on the [Chart Prefs] screen as [√] Display Horizon, Meridian and Ecliptic. See page 104 of the new manual for more information.

Constellation Lines & Boundary Line Colours

The colours of Constellation Lines and Constellation Boundary Lines may now be set to a colour of your choice. The new setting appears on the appear on the Chart Symbols window displayed when you choose [Legend] from the main menu. See [Legend] -> Constellation Line [Set Colour] and [Legend] -> Constellation Boundary [Set Colour]

Improved Astronomical Database Manager

The myriad of buttons that appeared at upper right of the Astronomical Database Manager screen that appears when you choose [Locate], have now been replaced with a number of drop-down selection boxes. See page 70 of the new manual for a full explanation.

Sun Moon and Planets

When you reduce the chart's Field of View to a few degrees or less the Sun, Moon and Planets will display scaled to their actual apparent size. This means that when you zoom in to a chart far enough, a Planet will be displayed at the actual size it appears in the sky. Therefore one is able to view planetary events, like Venus crossing the face of the Sun, when the chart field of view is small ( i.e. usually 2 degrees or less).

Highlight Observation Planner Entries

Celestial objects that you have stored in the STAR Atlas:PRO™ Observation Planner may now be highlighted on charts. This new feature is designed to make it easy to sight the celestial you are planning to observe on any chart you choose to display. This feature is particularly useful when you have Planetarium chart mode set and you wish to determine which objects from the Observation Planner are currently visible. See page 93 of the manual new manual for a full explanation.

Smart Labels for Deep Sky Objects

The new Smart Labels setting attempts to improve the labelling of deep sky charts that become cluttered with labels from hundreds of deep sky objects appearing on the chart. The Smart Labels option only labels the largest deep sky objects on the chart. In the case of a crowded chart of galaxies, only labels for the largest galaxies are displayed, labels for smaller/fainter galaxies are not displayed until you Zoom In further and the smaller galaxies become large enough to display there label. This feature is enabled by default in Version 6.1.  To alter the setting See [Chart Prefs] -> [Labels] -> [√] Smart Labels.

Large Galaxies

Large galaxies, like the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Andromeda Galaxy, are now displayed in their correct size and orientation even when the chart field of view is large, such as in Planetarium charting mode.

Variable Stars

Bright Variable Stars may now be listed, searched and displayed on charts. Variable Stars include stars like V810 Cen and V474 Mon. The V letter followed by the number represents the Variable Star catalogue number from the General Catalogue of Variable Stars. See [Locate] -> [59] Bright Variable Stars

Postscript charts

There are many refinements to the Postscript charts that STAR Atlas:PRO™ generates.

Improved charting of deep sky objects

Some popular deep sky objects were not being displayed on charts when the [Mag. Limit] -> [Auto-Magnitude] setting is enabled (default setting).

This problem was caused in Version 6.0 when the astronomical catalogue data reports an object's Magnitude is unknown and therefore too faint to display on the  STAR Atlas:PRO™ chart. An investigation of the catalogue data revealed that many relatively bright deep sky objects like the Helix Nebula had no Magnitude specified and therefore were assumed too faint. Version 6.1 updates the responsible astronomical catalogue data which now resolves this problem.

Improved Chart Panning

In Version 6.0 when you viewed an Horizon chart and panned the chart in a East or West direction you to eventually spiral below the horizon. This problem is now resolved and the East West panning keys will move your horizon view horizontal to the local horizon.

Other notable improvements

• The Eyepiece overlay now work when [Chart Prefs]->[Black on White] is selected for the chart colour scheme.

• A program error resulted if you set the [Chart Prefs]->[Height Above Sea Level] setting, this is now corrected.

• The Azimuth is now displayed when you view a Horizon chart and enable [Chart Prefs]->[√] Alt. /Az. [Horizon Grid].

• When going from [Locate]->[58] Star Cross Reference Data the error "This Object is below the Horizon is repeatedly displayed even when the chart is set to POLAR MODE (to chart objects below the horizon), problem now corrected.

• Rise, Set and Transit times for observers West of Greenwich have now been corrected.