Recent history
Click here for index
Since the Project Pluto Web pages are updated very frequently,
it can get a little difficult for people to determine what changes
have been made since their last visit, and what items should be
downloaded or read.
There is also a list of files on this site,
in reverse chronological order.
- (6 September 2011) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
has another long list of new features. You can see the full list
(and download the update) at this page.
Many bug fixes have also been made.
- (22 July 2010) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
has another long list of new features. You can see the full list
(and download the update) at this page.
Many bug fixes have also been made.
- (21 June 2008) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
has a very long list of new features (it's been a while since
an update was posted!) You can see the full list (and download the
update) at this page. Many bug fixes
have also been made.
- (24 March 2007) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
includes a long list of new features. One can now
use Guide to control scopes via ASCOM;
download and display data from the
CMC-14 star catalogue;
put an indicator on the
screen that continuously updates to show where the scope is pointed;
find stars from their UCAC-2
or A2.0 designation, and several other features described in
detail on the updated software
page.
- (29 Jan 2007) Updated version of Find_Orb posted:
The new version of Find_Orb includes
improved ability to include/exclude observations, set weights,
display of extra data in ephemerides, setting of magnitude
parameters, and more. Click
here for details.
- (29 May 2006) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
includes a long list of new features. There's a
fix for six-digit asteroid numbers;
the ability to add user-specified
location names; some
new functions for controlling Meade telescopes; the
ability to use "raw" B1.0
data from a hard drive; and
many more new features.
- (23 Feb 2005) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
now includes supergalactic coordinate
input and readout; the ability to
download and display UCAC-2 data, with
UCAC-2 stars shown adjusted for proper motion; display of the
Moon's age/elongation in the legend;
better name and magnitude data for
artificial satellites; and
display of images with WCS data.
- (23 Feb 2005) Updated Find_Orb software posted:
The Find_Orb open source software for
determining orbits from astrometric data has undergone quite a bit of
improvement. It's somewhat easier to use now, and some powerful new
features have been added. Details provided at the above link.
- (2 Oct 2004) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
now includes an improved ability to
add/update artificial satellite (TLE) elements; a
new 'centering' button to center
objects after clicking on them; a way to
omit small images; and a way to
switch amongst multiple horizons.
- (21 May 2004) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
now includes an improved ability to
add/update comet and asteroid elements; a
revised method for adding lines
in overlays; an 'undo' toolbar button
and hotkey; and you can
display 'new
Uranometria' pages in the legend.
- (18 September 2003) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
now includes a progress
indicator for catalog downloads (to be extended to include
image downloads), the abilities to
show Delta-T in the legend,
Phobos and Deimos with their
actual shapes and images,
UCAC-2 and 2MASS in color
with the color derived from infrared photometry,
several options for downloading
DSS images, a new
UTC option as a "time zone", the
ability to reset the format used
for dates/times in Guide, and the
use of JPL DE ephemerides for planetary
positions.
- (24 August 2003) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
now includes UCAC-2 display,
new controls over the "arrow" cursor
keys for panning, the display
of an alternative time in the Legend,
display of the airmass (sec(z)) in the Legend, the
ability to select line widths,
and a few miscellaneous small
changes.
- (18 April 2003) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
now includes display of DSS images
in color, options to download
and display USNO-B1.0 and 2MASS data, some
improved "go to" functions,
better perspective
display of planets, a new
way to display J002E3 (a rocket stage from Apollo 14 now in
temporary Earth orbit), and the
ability to control telescopes through ports COM5 and COM6.
- (4 February 2003) Guide 8 in Polish: Marcin Siekierko
has kindly provided the file required to get most of Guide to run
in Polish. You will have to download the
currently-posted Guide 8 software to get this to work. Once
you do so, click here for information
as to how it works.
- (6 December 2002) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
The updated software available on this site
now includes
keyboard/toolbar options to "go to" compass points; a greatly improved
'go to satellite' function;
better tooltips;
a bug fix for AVIs; display of
SIMBAD data for some stars;
the use of SDP4 for high-altitude
artificial satellites; and several
minor changes.
- (5 June 2002) List of asteroid occultations for 2003 under
Guide's "Miscellaneous Tables": Masaki Kouda has provided a
list of these events, which can be downloaded for use in Guides
7 or 8. Click here for details.
- (5 June 2002) New C/C++ source code for artificial satellite
ephemerides: The new code supports all five of the major satellite
motion models, and is in many ways a great improvement over the code
previously provided on this site.
Click here for details.
- (25 March 2002) Updated software for Guide 8 posted:
You can now set the colors to
be used in Help/Tables/More Info screens, and the
Go To Comet function has
been improved a little.
- (25 March 2002) Japanese manual for Guide 8: Masaki
Kouda has produced a Japanese-language version of the Guide 8
user manual. It can be downloaded in
Word format (about
100 KBytes) or in
PDF format (about 516 KBytes.)
- (25 March 2002) Italian manual for Guide 8: Giuliano
Pinto has produced an Italian-language version of the Guide 8
user manual, in PDF format. You can
click here to download
it (about 529 KBytes.) Included are directions on printing it to
get a manual resembling the English-language one.
- (25 March 2002) List of Jovian mutual satellite events for
2002 and 2003: It's getting to be that time of Jupiter's "year"
where its satellites occasionally eclipse and occult each other.
A list of these events, which will start in October 2002 and run
into September 2003, is now available in a format making for easy
use in Guide. Click here
for details.
Click here for the history of the site
from 2 September 1998 to 26 February 2002.
Click here for the history of the site
previous to 2 September 1998.