AstroGrav 4.0 Released for Windows and Mac

AstroGrav adds many new commands and improvements to its precision solar system simulator

4th July 2019 - AstroGrav 4.0 includes tens of millions of additional background stars for use with solar system simulations. Full printing facilities, keystroke commands that allow greater interaction in full screen mode, time zones on status bars, and significant performance improvements are among the many other improvements in this version. Full details are available from:

Background Stars

As in earlier versions, the AstroGrav download includes well over 100,000 stars from the Hipparcos catalogue. The new version has optional additional downloads that allow the addition of up to 36 million fainter background stars down to 15th magnitude. This is ideal for anyone wanting to see the detailed star background near faint asteroids or comets, for example. These downloads are far larger than AstroGrav itself, which is why they are provided as separate downloads; only users who are interested in these faint stars need to download the data. Once downloaded, the data file just needs to be moved to the same folder as AstroGrav itself in order for AstroGrav to make use of it.

Printing

It is now possible to print any table, view, or contents of any other window with the new 'File / Print...' command. This allows printing to either a printer or a document on disk. The new 'File / Page Setup...' command allows the specification of the size and orientation of printouts using a standard page setup dialog. These two commands provide printing facilities that are very similar to those in many other products, and so their use should already be familiar to most users.

Other Improvements

Time zones are now displayed on status bars when appropriate, and the length of trajectories can now be adjusted instead of being fixed at 50 time steps as in earlier versions. A dozen new keyboard commands make it easy to adjust the magnification, brightness, and appearance of objects while in full screen mode. Significant performance improvements have been made, new particle types for black holes have been added, and display quality has been greatly improved on high-DPI monitors. Many other improvements and bug fixes complete this major upgrade.

Upgrade

The AstroGrav 4.0 update is free of charge to all AstroGrav 3 license holders. They may download and install the update immediately from:

About AstroGrav Astronomy Software

AstroGrav Astronomy Software produces astronomical and gravity simulation software for astronomers, researchers, educationalists, and students. For more information, visit the company's website:

Press Contact:
Russell Calvert
AstroGrav Astronomy Software
russcalvert@astrograv.co.uk

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