Version 1.8.2 - 10th May 2010
Version 1.8.2 of AstroGrav is an upgrade containing a range of minor improvements and bug fixes. This information is intended for existing users who are already familiar with AstroGrav and want to quickly find out about the main changes. This is a free upgrade for customers who have already purchased a license, so that all you need to do is download Version 1.8.2 and use it in place of your old version. If you have any problems with this new version, please don't hesitate to contact us so that we can help you out.
Version 1.8.2 of AstroGrav has the following new and improved features.
Orbit Calculations
Version 1.8.2 of AstroGrav includes a complete re-design of the way that orbits are calculated, with the following improvements.
- A smaller object is no longer shown as orbiting a larger object when it is too far away to be retained in orbit for long.
- A smaller object is no longer shown as orbiting a larger object when it is really just passing close by. [Eg, near-Earth objects.]
- Complex multi-level object structures are replaced with simpler structures with fewer levels.
- There are fewer orbital discontinuities visible during evolution.
- The calculation of orbits has been significantly speeded up in most situations.
The above changes in no way affect the way that simulations evolve. Only the calculation of orbits is affected.
Units
Version 1.8.2 of AstroGrav includes the following improvements and bug fixes related to units.
- A Units... button has been added to the general preferences, allowing you to specify your own default selection of units to use in place of the SI units.
- A Default Selection button has been added to the Edit / Units... dialog, allowing you to change a simulation's units to the default selection of units defined in the general preferences - much faster and less error prone than having to change each unit individually.
- A bug has been fixed that caused an undo of a change to a time step unit (made with the Evolve / Settings... command) to be ignored.
Sample Simulations
Version 1.8.2 of AstroGrav includes the following updates to the sample simulations.
- The Planets, Moon and Planets sample simulations have been corrected, because in version 1.8.1 the objects were shown at their locations on 22/12/09 instead of 01/01/10.
- The orbits of moons 2003J4 (Jupiter) and Tarvos (Saturn) have been corrected in the 'Solar System' and 'Planets, All Moons' sample simulations.
- Minor corrections have been made to the sample simulation notes, both in the simulations themselves (viewed with Edit / Notes...) and in the corresponding documentation.
- The non-English sample simulations now have their notes (viewed with Edit / Notes...) translated to the appropriate language, instead of appearing in English.
Other Improvements
Version 1.8.2 of AstroGrav also has many other minor improvements and bug fixes, including the following.
- A bug has been fixed that caused version 1.8.1 to crash when opening a simulation with a table that was last modified with version 1.6.3 or earlier.
- A bug has been fixed that caused an undo of an evolver settings edit made during evolution to sometimes not work.
- A bug has been fixed that caused double-clicking on a Mac data file to result in the startup preference activating as well as the file opening.
- The Edit / Add Child... command has been improved to not add the new object to the system until after the dialog has been accepted.
- The algorithm used to set the brightness of a new View window has been improved to take account of the number of luminous particles.
- Several minor speed improvements have been made - primarily on Windows.
- There are major improvements to the quality of the Italian translations of menu items, button names, text labels, messages, etc. Thanks to Danilo Attard Barbini from Rome for providing these.