Version 4.1 - 20th December 2019
The following information is intended for existing users who are already familiar with AstroGrav and want to quickly find out about the main changes.
Version 4.1 of AstroGrav is an upgrade containing a large number of improvements and bug fixes. It is a free upgrade for customers who have already purchased a license for AstroGrav 4, so that all you need to do is to download Version 4.1 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 4.1 of AstroGrav has the following new and improved features.
Small Body Searches
Version 4.1 of AstroGrav includes new JPL Search and MPC Search options, which have been added to the Edit / Import Objects... dialog. These allow you to quickly import a single comet or asteroid into a solar system simulation without having to find and select it from a large table. All you have to do is to type a name, number, or designation into one of the search fields, and AstroGrav will import the requested object. If it's unable to tell from your input whether you're looking for a comet or an asteroid, AstroGrav will ask you to choose one of them.
Evolving To Events
Version 4.1 of AstroGrav includes the following improvements to evolving to events using the Evolve / Evolve To... command.
- Occultation, Overlap (either a transit or an occultation), and Collision events have been added to the types of events that can be sought.
- The choice of objects involved in events is now much more flexible.
- Any object can be used as the viewpoint, instead of the Earth being the compulsory viewpoint.
- Some type of events now allow a limiting value to be specified, which can be useful to eliminate events that are not of interest.
- Evolving to events is now available in all simulations, instead of being restricted to just solar system simulations.
- A bug has been fixed that could cause AstroGrav to get stuck in an infinite loop when evolving to a transit.
View Window Improvements
Version 4.1 of AstroGrav includes the following improvements to view windows.
- The Home option has been added to the View / View From... dialog to make it easier to view from the home location.
- The auras surrounding very bright objects (such as the Sun and the Moon) have been made much less obtrusive.
- The drawing of view windows has been significantly speeded up.
- A bug has been fixed that could cause the area below the horizon to be improperly shaded.
- A bug has been fixed that prevented faint background stars from being displayed after loading if the 'Evolve to present' message was showing.
- The symbols indicating invisible background stars are now drawn the correct color instead of white, and their display has been greatly accelerated.
Sample Simulations
Version 4.1 of AstroGrav includes the following updates to the solar system sample simulations.
- 20 recently discovered moons of Saturn have been added to the Solar System sample simulations.
- The interstellar comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) has been added to the Solar System sample simulations.
- The Solar System sample simulations have been updated to 01/01/2020.
Other Improvements
Version 4.1 of AstroGrav also has many other minor improvements and bug fixes, including the following.
- The Edit / Remove Objects command has been greatly speeded up.
- Inner-Earth asteroids have been renamed Atiras in the Edit / Import Objects... command.
- The home location has been highlighted in location lists to make it easier to find.
- A bug has been fixed that could cause AstroGrav to exit without first querying the user about saving an edited simulation.
- A bug has been fixed that could cause various problems to arise if the name of the application had been changed.
- A bug has been fixed that prevented the faint background star file from being detected if AstroGrav was installed in a non-default location on Windows.
- A bug has been fixed that could prevent the faint background star file from being detected on a Mac.