Astromist, Palm and Pocket PC Astronomy Software

Main changes:

Add the last new moon date on moon map (Palm & Pocket)

Fix bad orbital path orientation inside Jupiter Assistant (Palm & Pocket)

Fix Rise&Set Assistant computation bug for Sun and Moon (still a bug for moon on few dates) (Palm & Pocket)

Fix eyepiece focal rendering bug in sky charts (Palm & Pocket)

Fix object selection bug in ObjectInfo Assistant (Palm & Pocket)

Fix name management bug in Observer log (Palm & Pocket)

Fix bad constellation display in ObjectInfo when a Tycho or Hipparchos star is selected from Sky Chart (Palm & Pocket)

Fix popup list selection bug (Pocket)

Fix NightTripper selection bug when using Visibility criteria (Pocket)

Fix site management bug in location assistant (Pocket)

Fix removal of Start icon when quitting Astromist (Pocket)

Fix saturn moon position bug in saturn assistant (Pocket)

Fix display bug in skychart when using RA or AZ input boxes (Pocket)

17/11/2007: 2.5.4 Palm & PocketPC

Main changes:

Improve BBox drive support (Palm & Pocket)

Improve Takahashi drive support (Palm & Pocket)

Fix a memory trash when going from SkyCharts to NightTripper or User Catalog assistant (Palm & Pocket)

Fix Finder assistant bug: bad display of list object for extra catalogs (Palm & Pocket)

Fix display bugs in night mode (Encoder Assistant, SkyCharts) (Pocket)

14/11/2007: 2.5.3 Palm & PocketPC

Main bugs fixed:

Improve Star label in skychart: display flamseed numbers if they exists (Palm & Pocket)

Fix wrong label display for Hipparchos and Tycho stars in skycharts (Palm & Pocket)

Fix bad update of Comet&Asteroid position under Skychart if date or time are changed (Palm & Pocket)

Fix bad management of custom fonts that could cause Pocket PC hang after Power Off/On. It requires to do a soft reset before installing the new version (Pocket)

Fix memory trash in preference file that could cause Pocket PC hang. It requires to type again registration data (Pocket)

Fix bad refresh under comet assistant if the same panel is selected twice (Pocket)

Fix bad refresh of time in Astromist main screen (Pocket)

Fix corruption of serial data sent to telecope that could cause trouble to some drives like Nexstar58 or LX200 (Pocket)

Fix wrong icon of sun in Compass Assistant (Palm)

04/11/2007: 2.5.2 Palm & PocketPC

Main bugs fixed:

Improve popup message management to force them to be on top of the screen in any case (Pocket)

Fix Camera icon display bug in Horizon View or SkyMap mode (Palm & Pocket)

Fix selection bug between SkyChart and ObjectChooser when using SkyMap or Horizon view (Palm & Pocket)

Fix display bug of magnitude of Stars inside ObjectChooser (Palm & Pocket)

Fix Rise&Set Assistant bugs (Palm & Pocket)

Fix popup selection bug (Pocket)

Fix selection bug between CommetAssistant and ObjectChooser (Pocket)

25/10/2007: 2.5.1 Palm & PocketPC

Main bugs fixed:

Fix Flare and Transit no end loop depending your location (Palm & Pocket)

Fix angular precision bug in Transit (Palm & Pocket)

Fix display bug of Stars in SkyChart for FOV equal to 0.5° (Palm & Pocket)

Fix bug in LocationAssistant (rounding of position) (Palm & Pocket)

Fix Skyscan drive temporisation bug (Palm & Pocket)

Fix several other minor bugs

21/10/2007: 2.5.0 Palm & PocketPC

New Iriduim Flare simulator

New Satellite Transit simulator

New Planet Phase simulator

New BestDate simulator for comet and asteroid

New Brightest simulator for comet and asteroid

New Rise&Set Assistant available for any object from FinderAssistant

Add the last features of Palm version missing on Pocket PC:
- New set of DeepSky Object Pictures (more than 17000 now)
- New cross reference index to get the most well know name of each object within skycharts
- New support for dobsnian equatorial platform
- New skyscan/EQ6 telescope drive

Improved Moon rendering within SkyCharts

Improved Portrait/Landscape management on Pocket PC

Improved Inpout Zone on Pocket PC

Improved star symbol rendering on PocketPC

Improved Day&Night Assistant (more information)

Fix some SkyChart selection issues

Fix display bug of selected stars in SkyChart below 10°

Fix LX200 protocol bug on Pocket PC

Fix several Memory Trash on Pocket PC that can slow down the PDA if Windows Error Messaging is activated.

Fix several display bugs using Night Mode on Pocket PC

Fix several bugs in Satellite Assistant

Fix bugs in ObserverLog (bad saving of data)

Fix bugs in ScopeAssistant on Pocket PC

Fix bug in LocationAssistant (rounding of position, map management)

13/05/2007: 2.4.3 Palm

fix a memory trash that could cause a soft reset in some cases when user clicks on an object with a common name inside skycharts.

fix a bug inside skychart to prevent in some cases change of selected object when user zoom after selecting the object from the map.

08/05/2007: 2.4.2 Palm

fix bug to enable messier and planet photos access from SkyCharts

fix bug to enable access to user catalog from finder and object chooser.

05/05/2007: 2.4.1 Palm

Add new set of DeepSky Object Picture (more than 17000 now)

Add new cross reference idx to get the most well know name of each object within skycharts

Add support for dobsnian equatorial platform

Add new skyscan/EQ6 telescope drive

Add new SkyCommander telescope drive (only based on encoder)

Add high precision mode support for LX200 telescope drive

Add switch to dedicated assistant from ObjectInfo when pressing ? button on some objects (comets, moon, mars, jupiter, saturn)

Add selection of particular date by a single tap on the PlanetAssistant Charts and Twilight charts

Add more information in DayNight Assistant in 320x480 mode

Add adjustable serial temporisation during communication with telescope in Preference 6/6

Add new look&feel of the buttons

Add Bluestar device support

fix bug when using ? icon from CometAssistant to go to ObjectAssistant on the selected commet

fix bugs in CompassChart (selection produce popup messages)

fix bugs in SatelliteAssistant (bad display for satellite at east longitude)

fix bugs (rounding) in night tripper when advanced selection is done using magnitude or visibility criteria

fix bugs in object catalog (several object types has been updated)

fix bugs using Finder Assistant (erase of Dreyer information, search of star inside Tycho and Hipparchos catalogs)

fix bugs using skychart control (display and managelent of handpad)

fix bug using improve pointing function from SkyChart when using intergrated Astromist 2 StarAlignment

26/03/2007: 2.4.5 Pocket PC

Fix several bugs with the Ok Button management (now quit screen and application in the right way),

Fix a hang when selecting a non existant stellar catalog in Preference 3/6,

Fix a Memory trash in SkyChart (when using Swap selector) that could cause some hang,

Fix a Memory trash in SkyChart setup (internal) that could cause trouble at launch,

Fix bug in Preference 4/6 (Zoom Setting management was no correct below 10°),

Fix bug in Preference 5/6 (Telrad data modification was disabled),

Fix bug in Preference 6/6 (GRS and DeltaT modification was disabled),

Fix bug in LocationAssistant (Enable DayLight setting),

Fix bug in SkyChart (lost of the selection, telrad not display in night vision),

Fix bug in SatteliteAssistant (date management between asistants),

Improve busy cursor management (use WM standard now),

Improve DayNight Assistant (more information),

Improve ObjectInfo Assistant (usage of ? icon to switch to relevant Assistant if any for the current selected object),

Improve NightMode selector (add button to restore WM 2003 and 2005 colors in case of trouble),

Improve SkyChart usable height (Reduce bottom bar size),

Improve design of some icons.

10/03/2007: 2.4.4 Pocket PC

Greatly improve overall stability,

Validate bluetooth telescope control ( tests made with Celestron, Meade, Takahashi, Sidereal Technology and SkyCommander devices),

Validate compatibility with BlueStar boxes (new exclusive 10% rebate available for Astromist Pocket PC registered users),

Validate compatibility with new Aircable boxes (with integrated battery),

Enable observation logs export to text file,

Fix bug inside FinderAssistant while user search Tycho or Hipparchos stars,

Fix bug inside Comet/Asteroid Assistant (switch to ObjectInfo),

Fix bug inside LocationAssistant (bad GMT if a location is selected from list),

Improve 640x480 screen support,

Improve design of some icons,

Release 2.4 documentation.

02/03/2007: 2.4.3 Beta Pocket PC, last beta version before release

Bugs fix

Fix crash when loading a bad formated observation log,

Fix several memory leak that could cause random crash,

Fix several typo inside Help.

Improve 640x480 screen support.

Improve design of some icons.

Moon Map: Add Rise & Set in information box.

25/02/2007: 2.4.2 Beta Pocket PC

Bugs fix

Fix bad cursor position on Location Map in 480x640,

Fix several refresh bugs in skychart (espacialy using SkyMap).

Fix list selection bugs in CompassAssistant.

Fix bad star color display in skycharts.

Fix refresh bugs in SatalliteAssistant when tracking.

Fix minute input bug in DateTime Assistant.

Adjust position under Polaris under PolarAssistant.

Improve navigation key support.

20/02/2007: 2.4.1 Beta Pocket PC

Bugs fix

Fix hang when user switch off/on the PDA when Astromist is launched,

Fix hang when external picture are displayed and user tap twice on screen.

18/02/2007: 2.4 Beta Pocket PC

First release of Pocket PC version.

1/10/2006: 2.3.3 Update

Bugs fix and minor enhancement

Fix sporadic reset when using object list within SkyChart after selecting a star,

Fix negative rise hour of the moon on the wizzard page for some days and locations,

Fix bad M103 image thumbnail,

Fiw Dreyer description display issue if a star is selected inside NightTripper,

Release new high resolution Messier image library in complement the low res one (Thanks to Carlo Mascellani for this !),

Add upload of bright stars by default to enable common name identification on click inside sky charts,

Change display mode of images within skychart to get 65000 colors instead of 256.

10/09/2006: 2.3.2 Update

Bugs fix and minor enhancement

Fix hiparchos index database header to avoid trouble when hotsync in memory with the hip 110k catalog. Registered users need to upload again the file in hipparchos archive.

Fix bad object magnitude limit management below 10° field of view

Rise value of the moon for some days was not at --- in Moon Rise&Set or Dark Hour assistant

Bad skyChart refresh when go back from ObjectInfo to skychart if SkyMap mode was selected

The display of object names in ObjectInfo was mixed after Messier or Caldwell list browsing

Better go back management between NightTripper and SkyChart

Fix longitude for some US location. Register users need to upload again the custom tool to replace locationdb program and the location database.

Fix small picture reference (M103 many other open cluster from the big database had wrong thumbnails)

Give the correct the asteroid file link in documentation to update the database

Picture of configuration in page 15 of the US doc included astromist_object_1k.pdb and must not.

Fix several display differences (colors, font size) between old charts (SkyMap and Horizon) and latest ones

Fix compass rise&set chart where the values were not correct

Fix saturn satellite position display that was no longer correct

Add a specific message in about dialog box once registered sucessfully.

Change some icons to follow some user advices

Add BlueStar and PicAstro box compatibility using the LX200 drive

Release "South Hemisphere" version.

02/09/2006: 2.3.1 Update

Bugs fix and minor enhancement

Add button in Feature and Terminator assistants to load moon images,

Fix wrong alt and az in CompassChart,

Fix wrong size of CCD field of view in sky Charts.

27/08/2006: 2.3.0 Version Release

The new features:

New SkyChart design,

New dynamic object selection inside skycharts (the more you zoom the more objects you discover),

New Star Color and Black&White scheme within SkyChart,

New SkyChart toolbar design with hide/show buttons,

New Rey constellation lines support (Classic and Rey lines available now),

New Compass assistant,

New Lunar Eclipse simulator,

New WorldWide map to easily locate your place without a GPS,

New Rambaut pole alignment method for user close to the equator,

New Moon Visiblity Assistant to find days when you can see the moon,

New Slide show mode for NightTripper to display the photos of the selected ojects,

New PnoJpegLib support to enable real time load of images,

New SkyCommander drive support,

New Persistant telescope connection mode if you quit astromist (even in bluetooth mode)

New Automatic save/restore of aligment data

New DeltaT estimation formula selector to better match Nasa prédiction for old eclipses

New Meteor Showers catalog support,

New External Bright Stars list catalog support. More than 200 available now,

New Location catalog support,

New Eyepiece catalog support,

New program to create custom eyepiece database (eyepiecedb.exe),

New program to create custom location database (locationdb.exe),

New 2.3 English Doc (Huge thanks to Christopher Erickson),

New 2.3 French Doc.
The Improvements:

Improved SkyChart rendering speed using external catalogs

Improved CometDb.exe program (add Asteroid support),

Improved Wizzard shotrcuts

Improved 2-Star Aligment process

Improved N-Star Aligment process

Improved SkyChart Object selection management

Improved Telescope control using sky chart (specifc cursor)

Improved Night mode support (better contrast)

Improved Jupiter Assistant (swap view selector)

Improved Saturn Assistant (swap view selector)

Improved NightTripper (Reset buttons, improve window sequence)

Improved ObjectChoser (Add Meteor and User Object support)

Improved MoonAssistant (Draw shadowed moon within Feature and Terminator assistant),

Improved Comet Assistant (Better Asteroid support, better background).

04/02/2006: 2.2.1 Update

Bugs fix and minor enhancement

Fix message "Can't find hipparcos record number 7879". Registered users have to upload again hip_110k catalog

Fix display bug in Satellite Assistant Info panel (inverted curve)

Fix import TLE bug (soft reset) if TLE file is not in the right format when using replace mode (no trouble for update)

Fix bad memory allocation management on low res palm when try to display Satellite Globe (no error message an loop)

Fix display bug in Datetime assistant (screen empty on some handled)

Fix selection issue with Finder Assistant using big object catalog (several impacts: NightTripper, SkyChart, ObjectChooser)

Fix selection/Display issue with Finder Assistant using Hipparcos and Tycho catalogs

Fix delete function bug in NightTripper (disable for some catalogs, bad list refresh when delete one object for some catalogs)

Fix bad hour selection for Moon Terminator computation in Moon Map assistant

Fix bad RA selection when using the RA button from the Skychart toolbar

Fix bad reverse management in SkyChart for FOV below 10°

Fix color issues in night mode with white background inside SkyChart

Fix some spelling issue inside messages

Change the behaviuour of visibility selection criteria in NightTripper. Only select the catagory and no longer the category and all the easiest ones.

Takes Nebula criteria as a generic one in NightTripper to gather all kind of "nebula". Previously the value was dedicated to object without type (usefull for custom made). So nothing was retreived with provided catalogs

Lets constellation line instead of remove them all when using the on/off grid button from SkyChartToolBar

25/01/2006: 2.2.0 Version Release

New features:

New SkyChart toolbar,

New Satellite assistant (path on earth, tracking, position on globe, compute next pass, find next visible ones, plot pass on skychart, etc..),

New Finder Assistant (HR, Hiparcos, Tycho, Comet, Constellation, Planet, Birght Stars, User catalog search added)

New MoonAssistant (Rise&Set of sun on feature, new map, terminator assistant),

DaveEk box support now certified,

New program to create satallite database (satellitedb.exe),

New user catalog of object support (palm text memo, AstroPlanner support, several custom database),

New program to create custom user object database (userobjectdb.exe, no limit of size, you can browse on your palm as many catalogs you what and upload them),

New Export function for ObserverLog (using Palm Memo),

New Import function for object list (using Palm Memo),

New Export function for object list (using Palm Memo),

New NightMode selector

New moon image library (1200 picture) to be installed in /PALM/Programs/Astromist/moon (new folder)

New English Doc (fully reviewed and corrected)

New Spanish Doc
Improvements:

Improved Comet Assistant (Asteroid support),

Improved support of SiderealTechonolgy box (goto, slew, etc.),

Improved support of Dobson using encoder (point to object using skyhart no longer need to use delta or encoder values),

Improved Rise&Set computation for sun and moon (always one minute precision now)

Improved Pluto position computation,

Improved NightTripper (selection improvment, dynamic filtering of catalogs upon the object database available)

Add moon terminator drawing in skychart at low zoom level,

Now complete NGC image library (7480 instead of 6500),
Fix: - Fix NigthTripper Selection bugs, - Fix DaveEk drive bugs, - Fix Night mode display bugs in planet assistant. Minor enhancement

Fix a bug in Canon DSLR control part,

Add a specific Canon DSLR part in bluetooth documentation.

23/12/2005: 2.1.4 Update

Minor enhancement

Fix a bug in Canon DSLR control part,

Add a specific Canon DSLR part in bluetooth documentation.

19/11/2005: 2.1.3 Update

Minor enhancement

Add ObserverLog export to Memo capability

Add terminator drawing to the moon in skychart at small Field Of View

Add Quit menu to stop astromist

New T|X suport: Remove key control on Wizzard screen to let users exit Astromist by pressing a key.

30/10/2005: 2.1.2 Update

Bugs fix and minor enhancement

Release a 150x150 pixel version of the images libraries for low res palm

Add second field input in DateTime selector

Add Moon picture at the right scale for small field of views

Add a yellow disk for the sun at the right scale for small field of views

Add "New Observer Log" shortcut in Sky screen

Add object shapes in the new sky charts for small field of views

Small speed improvement in new sky chart rendering (8%)

Force computation of topocentric positions for planets in sky charts

Improve Treo buttons management to wake up the device

Force the palm to not shutdown when computing Eclipse Map on slower palms

Remember the last zoom level of sky chart when exiting Astromist

Fix selection issue when switch from sky screen to object chooser

Fix color issue when displaying stars as pixel

Fix "Sys 0505" message when using Goto function on some palms (Sony Clie mainly)

Fix loading issue for the mars catalog when using a memory card

Fix selection criteria issue in NightTripper

08/10/2005: 2.1.1 Update

Bugs fix and minor enhancement

Add Sun Eclipse view in Eclipse/Map

Add Load/Save List menu

Add list width adjustment in ObserverLog, EclipseAssistant, LocationList on 480x320 displays

Improve speed in Mars/Size and Planet/Chart when position correction is set to Topocentric

Fix Night Mode issue in sky chart (orientation not diplayed)

Fix refresh bug in EclipseAssistant

Fix Planet Image display bug in ObjectChooser

Fix rounding error in Mars/Size panel

Fix white text background in Mars/Map label

Fix refresh bug on Clie

Fix refresh bug when using Wide Screen mode in Left Handed mode

Fix Key Lock issue on Treo

Remove useless refresh on iQue3600

Remove external DLL need for cometdb tool

Fix memory leaks in Mars Assistant which could disable globe map display

Fix Night Mode display bug in EclipseAssistant

01/10/2005: 2.1 Version release

New features:

Mars Assistant including mars atlas with more than 900 images,

Eclipse Assistant,

Sidereal Technology box support (still beta),

First release of CometDB tool (for registered users only) to produce custom comet databases.
Improvements:

Add View orientation selector per zoom level,

Add color of star when selecting Pixel Stars mode,

Add scroll bar in long list,

Add Azimuth display in scope control,

Improve accuracy of Sun position computation,

Improve accuracy of Moon position computation,

Improve accuracy of Planet conjunction computation,

Improve accuracy of New and Full Moon time computation,

2 time faster moon ephemeris,

Enlarge fonts in Jupiter and Saturn assistants,

Fix Event selection issue in planet assistant,

Fix Time display issue in Jupiter and Saturn assistant,

Fix Memory trash in date time selector,

Fix bug in Finder assistant when selecting Abell object greater than 999,

Fix Moon rise and set computation bug,

Fix GPS data gathering bug,

Fix refresh bug in CCD assistant panel.

14/05/2005: 2.0 Update

Bugs fix and minor enhancement

Add new magnitude criteria for Object in preference 4/6 panel (All and Scope for all field of view),

Add Finder access in SkyChart menu on top of finder access using the Palm find function,

Adjust selection from wizzard upon the active skychart,

Compatibility with Littlefoot addon for HEQ5 and EQ6,

Add Date, Time and object time in new sky charts,

Add a new chart: Equatorial Chart,

Fix display bugs,

Fix an aligment bug for Dobson users.

26/04/2005: 2.0 version released

New features:

New sky charts including real time rotation availables on top of the previous ones,

Comet Assistant including ephemeris, 3D solar view, dedicated Sky View for comet motion in the sky,

Astronomy oriented date time selector (local or UT time, moon phases, Julian Date, wider year range),

Camera control (Canon DSLR) including timer, log management serial or bluetooth control,

New Planet Assistant Sky View to see planet moves in the sky,

New real time Azimuth/Altitude locator in all sky charts,

Interruptible object list creation process,

6500 DeepSky Object Images library released,

New documentation.
Improvements:

Far faster sky chart rendering (at least 2 times),

Faster rendering in PlanetAssistant, Jupiter Assistant, Saturn Assistant and Twilight Assistant,

Add Drop Down list to pick object in ObjectChooser,

Add constelation in ObjectChooser selector,

Add comet in ObjectChooser selector,

Add integrated sky view in ObjectChooser for handled with 320x480 display,

Add ObjectList Save/Load function on the wizzard page,

Up and Down Palm keys better implemented in FinderAssistant (jump the hole in object list numbering if any),

Add Sort capabilities in NightTripper panels (by Name or Magnitude),

Reworked overall menu.