13 February 2011

Deep-Sky Planner 5 Update Status

The first major update to Deep-Sky Planner 5 is well under way. It was scheduled to be released at the end of March 2011 but will slip into Q2. This will be a major (but free) update to Deep-Sky Planner 5 not only because of features that are being added, but because the code base has been migrated through 2 major compiler upgrades. Because of the compiler upgrades this update will undergo more extensive beta testing than might otherwise be necessary.

The primary feature that is implemented and headed for field test is a new plan document/report. This will allow you to use the reference data that you see in Deep-Sky, Star, Asteroid/Comet/Planet Ephemeris reports in a single document. You will also be able to add objects to a plan document that are not in the Deep-Sky Planner database. This new document will bring other new capabilities such as automatic refresh of report data as you observe and DSS image retrieval and local storage. Other capabilities are planned but are not yet implemented. These plan documents are designed for easy online sharing and conversion from other formats.

Please stay tuned for more information as work progresses on this important update.