changelog – WinStars 3

changelog

Version 3.0.301 (12/28/2023)

  • Various corrections and improvements.

Version 3.0.293 (10/20/2023)

  • All compilations use Qt 6.5 (except the Windows x86 version, which remains at Qt 5.11 for compatibility reasons).
  • Better support for artificial satellites.
  • The program now manages 40,000 asteroids.

Version 3.0.292 (09/13/2023)

  • WinStars 3 is now free !

Version 3.0.287 (06/17/2023)

  • Rayleigh scattering for a more realistic rendering of the atmosphere.
  • Planet orbits displayed in planetarium mode.
  • Manual adjustment of sky background brightness.
  • Qt 5.15.9 on all platforms.

Version 3.0.286 (06/05/2023)

  • Android: test all W3 features during 24h!
  • Android: Qt 5.15.9

Version 3.0.286 (04/16/2023)

  • The Hubble telescope recovers its orientation in real time in W3.

Version 3.0.284 (04/02/2023)

  • Android & iOS: Removal of the “video” function which was useless and required too many permissions.

Version 3.0.281 (03/26/2023)

  • Improved appearance of stars in “3D Navigation” mode (activate “star3d” module).
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.276 (03/02/2023)

  • Reorganization of the scientific news in the “Presentation” box.

Version 3.0.273 (02/05/2023)

  • Android & iOS: new option in the 3d submenu allowing to improve the main textures of the program (landscapes, sky background etc…).

Version 3.0.270 (12/15/2022)

  • Access the astronomical news by clicking on the i symbols that now appear on the sky charts.
  • Fixes a problem affecting the download of GaiaEDR3 data.

Version 3.0.269 (11/23/2022)

  • First 3D landscapes (you can move around using SHIFT + directional arrows).
  • Updating of the trajectory of Artemis I.

Version 3.0.268 (11/18/2022)

  • Introduction of all known exoplanets (only visible in the planetarium mode for the moment. It is possible to get the complete list by typing list exo in the search box).
  • Mission Artemis 1.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.263 (10/25/2022)

  • Upgraded to Qt 6.4.
  • Bug fixes.

Version 3.0.261 (07/02/2022)

  • Milky Way a little brighter. More stars visible at the same time (Android or iOS: reset the settings for best results).

Version 3.0.258 (06/24/2022)

  • Added a thread to load textures faster.

Version 3.0.254 (06/14/2022)

  • Added new deep sky catalogs (more than 100000 additional objects).
  • Possibility to find a deep sky object by entering in the search box – these are examples – Messier 1, M 13, NGC 1305, C 875, B 123, LDN 165, LBN 132, PGC 123343…

Version 3.0.253 (06/03/2022)

  • Enhanced calculations of object positions.
  • New optimizations.

Version 3.0.251 (05/30/2022)

  • It is now possible to walk on the surface of Mars, Moon and Earth.

Version 3.0.248 (05/14/2022)

  • Better integration of the 280b and GaiaEDR3 catalogs.
  • Updated OpenNGC catalog.
  • Qt version 5.15.4
  • New labels available for stars (HD or HIP numbers).
  • Many improvements.

Version 3.0.244 (04/30/2022)

  • Significant improvement of the DSS (Digitized Sky Survey) function.
  • Creation of a cache server to speed up the downloading of DSS images and stars from the Gaia EDR3 catalog.

Version 3.0.243 (03/23/2022)

  • Improved accuracy of the positions of the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.
  • Addition of small Saturn’s satellites Calypso, Helene and Telesto.

Version 3.0.241 (03/09/2022)

  • Optimization of the program.
  • Improvement of the camera movements.

Version 3.0.239 (12/20/2021)

  • JWST (available after launch), TESS and Kepler missions.

Version 3.0.238 (11/29/2021)

  • More detailed information boxes.

Version 3.0.236 (11/20/2021)

  • Updated images of the most important deep sky objects.
  • Local copy of the W3 database to limit the access of the program to the Internet.

Version 3.0.234 (11/05/2021)

  • Improved rendering of planetary surfaces.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.233 (11/01/2021)

  • Bug fixes.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.230 (10/24/2021)

  • Relief rendering of some satellites of Jupiter and Saturn.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.227 (10/04/2021)

  • Objects are no longer locked by default.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.225 (09/29/2021)

  • Rosetta mission.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.222 (09/15/2021)

  • Optimisation of the 3d representation of the surface of the Earth, Mars and the Moon.
  • Android (paid version) : the 3d display of surfaces is now possible, but you need a device compatible with the standard openGL ES 3.2 or more.

Version 3.0.220 (09/11/2021)

  • In the paid version, asteroids and comets are represented individually in 3D using different methods: space imagery, radar imagery or light curves (limited to identification numbers < 100 for the moment).

Version 3.0.219 (08/28/2021)

  • More efficient zooming
  • Android: fewer permissions needed to install W3
  • Android: use of .aab format to reduce the size of updates

Version 3.0.218 (07/15/2021)

  • Fixed a problem affecting the display of planets in planetarium mode.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.207 (05/21/2021)

  • New menu (Android 3).
  • Bugs fixed.

Version 3.0.204 (04/22/2021)

  • Improved appearance of the stars (in particular, it is now possible to adjust the color saturation).

Version 3.0.203 (04/16/2021)

  • WinStars 3 is now compatible with the Raspberry Pi 4 & 400 nanocomputers.
  • Improved interface.

Version 3.0.199 (04/06/2021)

  • DSS in color.
  • Improved interface.

Version 3.0.196 (04/01/2021)

  • New settings available in Display/Options.

Version 3.0.192 (03/21/2021)

  • Improved font and color settings box.

Version 3.0.191 (03/15/2021)

  • New presentation of the dialog boxes.
  • Android: new menu system.

Version 3.0.189 (02/13/2021)

  • New menu (classic) to remove icons.
  • Improvement of the interface.

Version 3.0.188 (01/30/2021)

Version 3.0.187 (01/21/2021)

  • Translation into Bulgarian (thank you Georgi! )

Version 3.0.183 (01/13/2021)

  • Faster text display.
  • The program regularly consults a weather website to automatically collect the pressure and temperature of the observation site.
  • Correction of a bug affecting the entry of negative numbers in dialog boxes.
    New shortcuts.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.182 (01/06/2021)

  • It is now possible to select an object by keeping a long press on it.
  • Improved 3D visualisation of the stars when moving among them.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.181 (12/30/2020)

  • Very significant improvement of graphics performance. W3 now works on the smallest Android devices.
  • Bug fixes.
  • Various enhancements.

Version 3.0.180 (12/22/2020)

  • New optimizations.

Version 3.0.176 (12/16/2020)

  • Performance improvements.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.173 (12/03/2020)

  • Improvement of the Search box (you can now type a name without diacritical signs).
  • Performance improvements.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.172 (11/28/2020)

  • What is the origin of the names of the stars? (learning module)

Version 3.0.167 (11/15/2020)

  • A new feature “Tonight” has been added (under development)
  • Various improvements

Version 3.0.166 (10/31/2020)

  • Improvement of the representation of the constellations
  • Update of the OpenNGC catalogue

Version 3.0.165 (10/27/2020)

  • Star names in Russian (thank you Sergey!)
  • Various fixes…

Version 3.0.162 (10/21/2020)

  • Icons to locate deep sky objects more easily.
  • The new ” learning astronomy ” function is developing rapidly.
  • The program speaks!

Version 3.0.159 (10/11/2020)

  • Integration of users’ suggestions.

Version 3.0.157 (10/08/2020)

  • Implementation of an astronomy education module (under development).
  • Asteroids and comets will gradually be represented with their real form.
  • Correction of defects in the interface.

Version 3.0.154 (09/20/2020)

  • The labels of the objects no longer overlap.
  • Android: fixed a flickering window problem in portrait mode.

Version 3.0.151 (09/10/2020)

  • Introduction of a new option to reduce the amount of text displayed on the starry sky. This option is useful for small configurations (phones, tablets).

Version 3.0.148 (09/04/2020)

  • Planetarium mode: corrected many defects that appear when using a high magnification (imprecise pointer coordinates, misalignment of DSS plates, difficulties in selecting an object).
  • Planetarium mode: the Moon is represented with better resolution if textures are available.
  • Planetarium mode: the planet surface is rendered faster.

Version 3.0.147 (09/02/2020)

  • WinStars uses Indi (https://indilib.org/) for controlling telescopes under macOS.

Version 3.0.146 (09/01/2020)

  • WinStars uses Indi (https://indilib.org/) for controlling telescopes under Linux.
  • Bugs correction.

Version 3.0.145 (08/24/2020)

  • The interface and 3d visualization now work at the same speed. By clicking on a window and moving it to the left, it is now possible to close it.

Version 3.0.144 (08/22/2020)

  • Correction of the interface
  • First iOS tests

Version 3.0.141 (08/02/2020)

  • Faster rendering
  • Preparation of an iOS version

Version 3.0.138 (07/01/2020)

  • Android: various improvements

Version 3.0.136 (05/12/2020)

  • Android: adjusts the display with the orientation of the mobile phone
  • Better stability

Version 3.0.134 (05/05/2020)

  • Improved font display.

Version 3.0.132 (04/30/2020)

  • Geologic map of the Moon (US Geological Survey).

Version 3.0.131 (04/28/2020)

  • Improved orbits representation.

Version 3.0.129 (04/19/2020)

  • Android: Interface improvement.

Version 3.0.128 (04/12/2020)

  • Integration of the DE438 planetary model from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  • Code refactoring of the source code.
  • Bug fixes.

Version 3.0.121 (03/06/2020)

  • Displaying the Starlink megaconstellation.

Version 3.0.118 (02/24/2020)

  • Introduction of tessellation: the surface of planets in 3D.

Version 3.0.115 (02/11/2020)

  • New “Search” dialog box
  • Improved video mode.
  • Windows, Linux: reduction in the amount of data to download during an update.

Version 3.0.113 (02/07/2020)

  • Better sky color according to the time of day.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.110 (01/25/2020)

  • Switching to OpenGL 3.3 graphics standards for desktop versions and OpenGL ES 3.0 for mobile versions.
  • Use of Vertex Array Objects to speed up the display of the stars.
  • Improvement of the Saturn representation.
  • Fixed a bug affecting the search of the objects.
  • Android: dialog boxes never accepted text input from the virtual keyboard !
  • Fixed a bug that caused stars with magnitude greater than 13 to be displayed several times and slowed down the program considerably.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.106 (01/15/2020)

  • Fixed bugs affecting the fullscreen mode.

Version 3.0.105 (01/12/2020)

  • By double-clicking on the name of an object you can now select an object.

Version 3.0.104 (12/26/2019)

  • Real-time magnitude of Betelgeuse.
  • Modification of the Animations box.
  • New icon in the menu system used to reverse the time.

Version 3.0.102 (12/11/2019)

  • Fixed a problem with the Presentation box.

Version 3.0.101 (12/10/2019)

  • Introduction of the delta T time correction by Espenak and Meeus (2006).
  • Reverse the double left and right mouse clicks for better use on PCs with touch screens.
  • Updated libraries used by WinStars (Assimp, Quazip, zlib, Freetype).
  • Online documentation.
  • Various improvements.

Version 3.0.100 (11/19/2019)

  • Performance improvements

Version 3.0.99 (11/15/2019)

  • Performance improvements

Version 3.0.98 (11/13/2019)

  • Performance improvements
  • Android: better display of menus

Version 3.0.97 (11/05/2019)

  • Improved interface

Version 3.0.96 (10/22/2019)

  • Better font rendering
  • Increased framerate

Version 3.0.94 (10/19/2019)

  • Improved interface (font size and colors, adjustable width of the “Information” box).
  • Improvement of the “Ephemeris” box.
  • Android : improvement of the “virtual reality mode”.

Version 3.0.93 (08/10/2019)

  • Improvement of the Russian version of the program.

Version 3.0.90 (07/20/2019)

  • Apollo 11 module : A small homage to the first steps on the Moon.
  • Translation of WinStars (website and software) into Russian. Thanks Sergey !

Version 3.0.89 (07/19/2019)

  • Android: compiled versions optimized for arm64-v8a and x86 processors
  •  High-precision calculation module DE406

Version 3.0.88 (07/16/2019)

  • Galactic Module: Explore in 3D large clusters of galaxies

Version 3.0.86 (06/17/2019)

  • Real time Hubble’s orientation

Version 3.0.85 (06/10/2019)

  • The German version is complete (thank you Pedro!)
  • Preparation of the 3D navigation among the galaxies of the EDD catalogue

Version 3.0.84 (06/01/2019)

  • The AD/Dec and Azi/hau grids finally have labels

Version 3.0.83 (05/28/2019)

  • New deep sky catalogue (OpenNGC)

Version 3.0.81 (05/21/2019)

  • Source code refactoring
  • German translation (thanks Pedro Gomez!)

Version 3.0.79 (05/02/2019)

  • Improved 3D navigation among stars
  • Optimized module decompression

Version 3.0.78 (04/27/2019)

  • Rotation around objects is now easier with the mouse
  • Bug fixes

Version 3.0.75 (04/19/2019)

  • Addition of the Gaia DR 2 catalogue
  • Update of the SAC catalogue
  • Various improvements

Version 3.0.74 (03/27/2019)

  • Improvement of the rendering of the surface of the planets
  • Enhanced display of 3D objects
  • Bug fixes

Version 3.0.72 (03/07/2019)

  • The satellites are visible in the planetarium mode.
  • Still in planetarium mode, the Moon’s surface is now represented using high resolution textures. Place names are also displayed.
  • 3D object display improved

Version 3.0.68 (02/14/2019)

  • Displays the position of many artificial satellites around the Earth.
  • WinStars will work even in the case of a main server failure.

Version 3.0.67 (01/27/2019)

  • New menu option (Maintenance) for reinitialising all settings, clearing the cache or uninstalling the program

Version 3.0.66 (01/25/2019)

  • Faster line drawing

Version 3.0.65 (01/23/2019)

  • Faster text display

Version 3.0.64 (01/21/2019)

  • More accurate selection of objects in planetarium mode
  • Improvement of the interface

Version 3.0.63 (01/18/2019)

  • Improvement of the interface

Version 3.0.62 (01/14/2019)

  • Compatible with the blender 3D object format
  • Detailed model of the International Space Station
  • Fixed minor bugs related to asteroids and comets

Version 3.0.61 (01/12/2019)

  • New “Geographical position” dialog box

Version 3.0.60 (01/07/2019)

  • New landscapes
  • Interface improvements
  • Fixed a problem with white boxes displayed on Intel HD Graphics

Version 3.0.58 (01/04/2019)

  • Fixed a problem with textures on 3D objects
  • Improvement of the fisheye effect

Version 3.0.57 (01/02/2019)

  • New optimisations
  • Bug fixes

Version 3.0.56 (12/22/2018)

  • This version manages objects in fbx format and improves the 3D rendering speed.

Version 3.0.55 (09/04/2018)

  • Fixed a crash at startup

Version 3.0.53 (09/02/2018)

  • Android : new system menu
  • Faster star rendering
  • Improvement of program behavior in windowed mode

Version 3.0.52 (08/25/2018)

  • New planetary surface rendering technique
  • New textures
  • Sun reflection in the oceans
  • Displays the names of craters, plains and fissures visible on the surface of planets and satellites
  • Fixed a bug affecting comets and asteroids

Version 3.0.51 (08/09/2018)

  • New “time and date” dialog box
  • Symbolic representation of deep sky objects
  • Many interface improvements
  • New icon to adjust the sky view according to the device’s sensors
  • Fixed a bug affecting the saving of parameters
  • Spanish Translation
  • An x86 version is now available

Version 3.0.42 (07/27/2018)

  • Many improvements, especially for the Android version

Version 3.0.32 (07/19/2018)

  • WinStars 3 full version becomes free for Linux
  • Fix OpenGL issues
  • Improved font display
  • Modification of “Asteroids” and “Comets” boxes
  • New textures
  • Better display of the relief on the Moon and Mars

Version 3.0.31 (07/16/2018)

  • Software performance optimization
  • “news” dialog box
  • Brighter sky for a better usability
  • Bug correction

Version 3.0.30 (06/18/2018)

  • The “observer position” dialog box has disappeared due to the update to version 5.11 of Qt.
  • In planetarium mode, the display disappeared if you searched the Earth.

Version 3.0.29 (05/28/2018)

  • First stable version of WinStars 3
  • Optimization of the Android version
  • Bugs fixed

Version 3.0.26 beta (05/19/2018)

  • Adding a video module
  • Eyepieces management
  • Changing menus in the Android version

Version 3.0.24 beta (04/26/2018)

  • Faster line drawing
  • Display menus faster
  • Correction of errors concerning the precession of equinoxes
  • Calculation optimization
  • New “Ephemeris” dialog box
  • Various adjustments (zoom limitation, ability to copy text from the information box and ephemeris)

Version 3.0.23 beta (2018/04/07)

  • Better moon surface rendering
  • Faster rendering of the “information” dialog box
  • Adjusting the screen brightness
  • Night mode
  • Fixed an issue with loading fonts

Version 3.0.22 beta (2018/03/30)

  • New module “Oumuamua”
  • Various improvements

Version 3.0.21 beta (2018/03/16)

  • Full screen mode
  • Access to Wikipedia pages for main objects
  • Improved fonts and colors
  • Improved module management
  • Many bugs fixed

Version 3.0.20 beta (2018/03/09)

  • Fixed a bug that causes a crash of the program when comets and/or asteroids are activated

Version 3.0.19 beta (2018/03/09)

  • Activation of telescope control (ASCOM interface) under Windows
  • Draws a line representing the horizon if a landscape is not displayed
  • Fixed “license” dialog box
  • Better rendering of the atmosphere of the planets
  • Bugs fixed

Version 3.0.18 beta (2018/02/27)

  • Improvement of the textures
  • Improvement of the “normal mapping” technique simulating the planets’ surfaces
  • Ability to select and track a star in the Tycho2 catalogue
  • Bugs fixed

Version 3.0.17 beta (2018/02/20)

  • “Brunier” module ( Improvement of sky rendering)
  •  Bugs fixed

Version 3.0.16 beta (2018/02/16)

  • SSL connection error fixed

Version 3.0.15 beta (2018/02/15)

  •  Help menu
  • 3D Models of phobos, Deimos and asteroids
  • Many bugs fixed

Version 3.0.8 alpha (2018/01/09)

  • Textures update for the Sun and Pluto
  • Correction of a huge memory leak in the menu module
  • Menu amelioration
  • Many bugs fixed
  • Runs now on macOS & Ubuntu