Hi folks,

Andrea, thanks for mentioning this B1.0 problem. I had heard a
comment from John Greaves that the NOFS system had altered
the format a bit, but just now realized that the copy of 'usno_b1.tdf'
on my Web site had not been updated to match. I've just fixed this.

The "changes" appear to involve adding some fields describing
how the star looked on each of up to five plates. When you click
on "more info" for a B1.0 star, you'll get some description of
what all the new data means.

So grab the new B1.0 file, from the same place:

http://www.projectpluto.com/extras.htm#b1

and you should be all set in that regard.

Now, as for A2.0: here we have a couple of oddities for which
I intend to come up with fixes.

First, if you go into "Display... Star Display", you will see
a "Mag label limit" field. Set this to zero, and labels will be
removed for almost all stars.

One exception will be A2.0 stars gathered with the "A2.0 from
Internet" option. These are shown as a user-added dataset, and
their labels are controlled much as any other user-added dataset:
the simplest way is to right-click on an A2.0 star, then on
"Display". Then you can shut off their labels.

Strange, I admit. The display of A2.0 data is very odd, because
there are three ways to display A2.0 (by extracting data from CDs;
copying A2.0 files to the hard drive; or going through the
"A2.0 via Internet" option). Each of the three is handled just a
little bit differently.

Bernd, about the 'ecliptic line style/asteroids' bug: I have
no real clue about this one, and can't replicate it. Have you seen
anything else that might be a clue?

Glenn asked about Guide 9: This is not at all close to
release. With each new version, I attempt to come up with a few
things that will persuade people to take crowbar to wallet and
send in an upgrade order; I've not come up with much in that
category yet for Guide 9.

In any case, even if it were coming up soon, I try to avoid
the "I just bought version N, and you _already_ want money for
version N+1?" problem. Anyone ordering Guide within a few months
of an upgrade release gets an automatic free upgrade.

Mark Huss wrote:

"...Don't worry, Glenn. Bill warned us that Guide 8 was
just around the corner for more than a year (;-) and he
hasn't even mentioned G9 yet."

Well, yes... I was _far_ too optimistic about Guide 8's
release date! And I don't even have a marketing department
on whom to shift the blame.

-- Bill