Hi folks,

The "test" update is now the "for-real" update, accessible
through the usual http://www.projectpluto.com/update8.htm page.
It really ought to have been made official a long time ago.
There's only one very minor change from the last (29 March 2003)
test update, and it affects only Italian users. So if you're
running that 29 March version, and don't run it in Italian, you
don't really need to get this update.

That "very minor" change involves the translation of some files,
as described at

http://www.projectpluto.com/hee.htm

Giuliano Pinto tried out my description of how to translate
these files (used for the new "go to" functions), and found that
it didn't work; Guide insisted on remaining in English for those
functions. I've fixed this. Again, unless you're running Guide
in Italian, the 29 March version should be just fine.

Bertrand, I found a solution to your second question. Just
download the file http://www.projectpluto.com/double.nam to your
Guide directory, and the double star catalogues will be listed
with abbreviations and names, instead of just names.

The first problem will be a little trickier. The "appendix"
stars used to get the same catalogue name, but with an offset of
3000 or 4000; e.g., STTA 53 would be STT 4053, or something
similar. Guide 8 uses a newer Washington Double Star catalogue,
with this newer designation scheme. I will investigate.

-- Bill