DSP5.1 Update - Third beta released for field testing

The third beta build is in the hands of a small number of testers now. The number of bugs reported so far is at a comfortably low level. The next beta release (#4) should contain the final feature additions for version 5.1. Early results from that release will give good visibility for a release date. Please stay tuned.

Feature creep for version 5.1 will include support for an imminent update to OpenAstronomyLog (version 2.1). I also hope there will be some announcements soon about other developers adopting OAL support for their products. I've heard from two that are working on it presently.

Logging integration in the new plan document

PS: The Aug 23 earthquake was felt at the Knightware office. Monitors and lamps shook, but no damage. It's been a weird summer...

DSP5.1 Update - First beta complete, second beta begins

Results of the first beta test period of Deep-Sky Planner 5.1 have been very useful, particularly comments on usability. One issue was highlighted for inclusion in this release rather than being deferred to a later one. Accuracy and stability look good so far.

A second beta is out now and is still focused on usability, stability and accuracy. At present, 3 more beta test releases are planned for an expanding number of testers.

DSP5.1 Update - First beta released to field testing

Comments have begun coming in from the first beta test version of DSP5.1 that was released to field testing by a small number of testers. We are looking at stability across the entire product, and usability & accuracy in the new plan document, especially in real-time plan processing (see below).

Results of the early beta testing process should give more clarity on a release date - please stay posted.


A plan running in real-time (automatically updating every minute)

DSP5.1 Update - Object Designation Improvements

A catalog designation for a celestial object enumerates a single object, at least within the context of the catalog. The problem that arises is this: what is obviously 'NGC 100' to one person may be NGC100 or n100 to someone else. The IAU has a rule for this, but that doesn't change common use among the astronomy community. What to do?

Introducing the new object designation pattern matching engine. The engine is being added to Deep-Sky Planner to help change user-entered object designations into the format expected by Deep-Sky Planner. The engine is also being used to develop some sample plan documents that will be included in the 5.1 update. The engine is in final testing now.

To give an idea of how the engine will be presented, the screenshot below shows the new plan document editor which is used to add a celestial object to a plan. In the screenshot, the designation 'n100' is entered.

'Blank' Plan Editor

The second screenshot shows the result of a Lookup - what the engine found in the database and transferred to the editor form.

Plan Editor - NGC 100 found & retrieved from the database

Deep-Sky Planner 5.1 Update - Accuracy of Positions

Existing documents in Deep-Sky Planner provide accurate reference data taken from catalogs, or computed for solar system objects - asteroids, comets, planets, sun & moon. The accuracy of these data are documented in the appendix of the online help file. Last summer I did some remote imaging using an observatory operated by the University of North Carolina in Chile. During this experience, I needed higher precision positional information to accommodate the imaging system, so I have brought this capability into Deep-Sky Planner via the new plan document.

The plan document still allows users to enter reference data (e.g., positional data referred to epoch J2000.0) and display it. It can also display (topocentric) apparent position data if preferred. Apparent positions are precessed to the epoch of date and include effects of nutation, aberration and parallax (topocentric) as applicable to the type of object. The higher precision calculations should be helpful to users who are using high precision, accurately aligned mounts (particularly those doing remote imaging).

A plan showing apparent positions for the selected date & time

Deep-Sky Planner 5.1 Update - Preview

The first major update (v5.1.0.0) to Deep-Sky Planner 5 has taken longer to develop than anticipated, but hopefully the changes will be worth the wait. More will appear in this blog over the coming weeks about what to expect in the updated version when it is released. As usual, a 'point release' update like this one will be provided at no charge to owners of the major version being updated (in this case version 5). For the record, the update is not feature complete, but it is in early field testing.

Why so long?

First, the code base has been migrated through two compiler upgrades. The compiler upgrades included support for Unicode which affected all text strings in the program. That one alone took all of last summer. On the positive side, some nice new tools and features came along with the upgrades. For example, a new Regular Expressions library allows greater flexibility in looking up an object designation in the database. A user can enter 'n7000' and get a proper match for NGC 7000. This designation finder isn't a mind-reader, but it allows much more flexibility in user input.

Second, there have been some changes in the office. Thanks to my son, we've built two new computers this spring to serve development and testing needs. Getting these ready for prime time has taken a little time but the productivity improvements have already begun.

What is in the update?

This question will be answered more thoroughly in the coming weeks, but the biggest change will be the new plan document. Generally speaking, the plan document can contain a mixture of objects from any source. Object information in a plan can be entered manually or looked up in the database and transferred automatically. Once a plan is composed, it can be run while observing so that ephemeral data is refreshed automatically. This is an extensive change and will be the subject of future posts.

Summer Double Stars Plan

Astrophotography Poll Results

A poll has been open for several months on the Knightware website that asks the simple question:

Do you do astronomical imaging?

The results are:

No, never: 21%

Yes, mostly webcam: 7%

Yes, mostly DSLR: 42%

Yes, mostly dedicated CCD: 28%

Yes, film camera: 0%

It is surprising to me that DSLR usage came in first. It is a very accessible imaging device and this must account for its top ranking. Dedicated CCD is the most popular device among my own astro-imaging friends, but obviously not among astro-imagers in general.

The last place finisher is film camera. That is really no surprise. My Nikon FM2 hasn't been used for years on anything, much less astrophotography. I keep it for archival black & white work - just in case.

I expected higher usage of webcams. Most of my imaging friends don't do much webcam work, but I have seen some outstanding results from the few that do. Based on the views we are having of Saturn lately, maybe the webcams need to come out and play!