VStar 2.17.0 has been released and is available, as usual via WebStart by clicking the Download Vtar Now button on the VStar overview page or from SourceForge.
This release brings internal implementation changes that enhance reliability and performance for AID dataset loads. The other key change is that Heliocentric Julian Day conversion now uses epoch J2000.0 rather than B1950 (at last!).
Here's the change log entry for this release:
Key Changes:
- Ticket #510 VSX StarInfo and AID access: web service now used
instead of database access; enhanced AID load progress tracking,
task interruption, reliability (no timeouts) and performance; all
observation sources are now treated as plug-ins.
- Ticket #421 Use J2000 epoch coordinates for HJD conversion: instead
of B1950; my appreciation as always to "Astronomical Algorithms" by
Jean Meeus.
- Ticket #386 Use web service for discrepant reporting.
- Thanks to Patrick Wills for web service development, Sara
Beck and Francis Hemsher for discussions, and Sara for help
with testing the new discrepant reporting implementation.
As always, please post to this forum or via my contact page.
Thanks.
David
I just wanted to thank David, Sara, Francis, Patrick, and HQ Support for continuing to make Vstar an even better package. I use it almost every day. Somedays I cheap out and just use the LCG.
Gary
WGR
You're welcome Gary. There's still plenty more ideas, improvements, and fixes on the list.
If you look at the VStar SourceForge bug and feature tracker, for example, an issue like this https://sourceforge.net/p/vstar/bugs-and-features/512/ you'll see + and - voting buttons:
Feel free to vote for the features/fixes you would like to see prioritised.
David