Version 4.4.3 - 6th December 2021
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 4.4.3 of AstroGrav is an upgrade containing a large number of improvements and bug fixes. If you already have a copy of AstroGrav, all you need to do is to download Version 4.4.3 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 4.4.3 of AstroGrav has the following new and improved features.
Importing Objects
Version 4.4.3 of AstroGrav includes the following improvements to importing asteroids and comets with the Edit / Import Objects... command.
- The data source (JPL, MPC, or Lowell) and the epoch can now be appended to names independently of each other.
- The asteroid and comet tables have been resized so that they just fit horizontally, without the need for any horizontal scrolling.
- The algorithm for detecting Trojan asteroids has been improved.
- A bug has been fixed that caused orbital elements to fail to be calculated after importing objects with the Fast Import option.
- The asteroid and comet tables now auto-resize their columns as specified in the Auto-Resize Columns setting of the table preferences.
- An asteroid with an absolute magnitude greater than 50 now has its absolute magnitude set equal to 50, to avoid creating unrealistically small asteroids.
- A bug has been fixed that sometimes caused the progress bar to bobble back and forth while evolving to an import epoch.
Ephemeris Generation
Version 4.4.3 of AstroGrav includes the following updates to generating ephemerides with the Tools / Generate Ephemeris... command.
- An ephemeris table now maintains the positions and widths of its columns when a simulation is saved and re-opened.
- The default width of the Epoch column of an ephemeris table has been increased to accommodate the longer date formats.
- The accuracy of an ephemeris table's refraction calculations has been improved.
- A bug has been fixed that left a single row ephemeris table unchanged after changing the viewing location.
- A bug has been fixed that left a single row ephemeris table unchanged after changing one of the Planetary Aberration, Refraction, or Use JNow settings.
Other Improvements
Version 4.4.3 of AstroGrav also has many other minor improvements and bug fixes, including the following.
- The Solar System sample simulations have been updated to 01/01/2022, and also have several other minor improvements.
- A bug has been fixed that caused the latest solar system sample simulations to open with views from London instead of from the home location.
- A table now always displays its vertical scroll bar, row scroller, and help button, regardless of the table's contents.
- The calculation of orbital elements has been greatly speeded up in simulations containing a large number of low-mass objects.
- A bug has been fixed that could cause the three animated dots on a status bar to continue animating after evolution was completed.
- A bug has been fixed that caused date/time formatting to simply drop any excess digits, instead of rounding to the nearest millisecond.
- A bug has been fixed that could cause orbits to be drawn in the wrong place when View / Show / PlanetaryAberration was switched on.
- Orbital elements are now recalculated when necessary after using the Evolve / Settings... command.