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SAOImage DS9 Changelog

What's new in SAOImage DS9 7.4

Jan 7, 2016
  • New Features:
  • Image Blocking
  • Reorder Data Cube Axes
  • New Colormaps
  • Other Enhancements:
  • Improved FITS compression support
  • Increased Smoothing performance for data cubes and mosaics
  • Improved SkyView support
  • many many bug fixes

New in SAOImage DS9 6.2 (Oct 17, 2010)

  • Plot - New to all plot tool windows is the ability to display basic statistics for the current dataset.
  • Postscript - New postscript level 3 driver has been added. This driver encodes images with FLATE and ASCII85 postscript filters.
  • Catalog - Catalogs now support tables in image or physical coordinates in addition to WCS.
  • Circle3d Region - The Circle3d region provides a real time plot of a cut of the data along the 3rd axis. All pixels within the radius of the circle are sum/average for each slice along the 3rd axis.

New in SAOImage DS9 6.1 (May 20, 2010)

  • Windows Installation:
  • There have been several changes to the windows installation procedure. The new name of installation application is SAOImage DS9 Install.exe and DS9 is now installed at C:\ds9 by default to avoid the administrator permission problems of Windows Vista and Windows 7. In addition, a short cut to the DS9 executable is automatically created on the desktop at installation.
  • Backup and Restore:
  • New to DS9 is support for backup and restore. When a backup is invoked, DS9 will save in a backup set, all files needed to restore DS9 to that state, including data files, colormaps, catalogs, contours, and regions. Please see Backup and Restore for further information.
  • SAMP:
  • DS9 now supports SAMP MType table.load.fits and attempts to processes it as a FITS Events Bin Table.
  • Coordinate Grid:
  • The user may specify a custom numeric format for each axis within the Coordinate Grid Dialog. The format syntax is documented here.
  • Documentation:
  • A new section has been added to the references documentation, How It Works. This page covers algorithms used within DS9 such as scales and smoothing.
  • Printing:
  • When printing postscipt and both the colorbar and colorbar numerics are visible, the overall scale is reduced so that the numerics are not clipped. For MacOSX and Windows printing, the overall image scale is reduced slightly.
  • Web Browser:
  • The Web Browser and Help windows now support find and find next functions.
  • MouseWheel:
  • The mouse wheel can be enabled (default) to zoom in / out images and bin in /out event tables. The zoom/bin factor may be specified via the preferences.
  • SkyBot:
  • Support for the SkyBot catalog server has been added to DS9. To use, your image must have a valid observation date and time in the FITS header. It is available under the Archive:Catalogs:Database menu option.
  • Log and Pow Scale:
  • The current implementation of the log and pow scale function has been enhanced. Previously, DS9 would try to determine the value of the exponent, a, based on the dynamic range of the data with limited success. Now, the user may specify the exponent a. The default value of a is 1000. Typically, optical images respond well at 1000, IR images as low as 100, and high energy bin tables up to 10000. A value of 10000 closely matches the log function of SAOImage.
  • Colorbar:
  • The user may now select the colorbar numerics distribution: equal distance or equal value. Equal distance displays tick marks on the colorbar at a equal distance along the colorbar. Equal distance is now the default display mode. Equal value displays tick marks on the colorbar at equal values of the dynamic range of values of the data. Not all color scales can be properly displayed in equal value mode. The size of the colorbar can now be set by the user. All colorbar parameters have been moved from the View menu to the Color menu.

New in SAOImage DS9 6.0 (Jan 18, 2010)

  • Mosaics - The default load mosaic image mode is now WCS (previously, it was IRAF). IRAF mosaic images are now laid out base on the first segment loaded, just as with WCS mosaics.
  • Datacube - DS9 now supports FITS images up to 10 dimensions. If more than 3 dimensions of data are available, DS9 will display a modified datacube dialog which allow the user to select which values for each dimension to select the appropriate image to display. In addition, the user can specify which axis to be used as the current axis when stepping through the datacube.
  • RGB Frames - Contours are now implemented on a per channel basis. In addition, if a datacube is loaded, the current slice is also implemented on a per channel basis.
  • WCS CAR projection - DS9 will correctly display CAR projection grids for images which conform to the FITS WCS standard.
  • Analysis - Two new macros have been added: $filedialog(open) and $filedialog(save), which when invoked will display the standard open file or standard save file dialog box and return the selected filename.
  • I18N - DS9 will now search for environment variables LC_MESSAGES, LC_ALL, and LANG to determine the GUI language.

New in SAOImage DS9 5.7 (Oct 16, 2009)

  • The DS9 for MacOSX (Aqua and X11) can now filter FITS Bin Tables without XTools installed This feature is only supported for intel based platforms.
  • The DS9 for Windows can now filter FITS Bin Tables without cygwin installed.
  • DS9 now supports two private SAMP methods, ds9.get and ds9.set.
  • DS9 Regions can now be loaded, saved, and broadcasted via samp as a votable.

New in SAOImage DS9 5.6 (Apr 16, 2009)

  • VOTable Catalog: The Catalog tool can now load and save catalogs in VOTable format.
  • SAMP: DS9 now supports SAMP (Simple Application Messaging Protocol). FITS images and Catalogs may be exchanged with other application who support SAMP such as TOPCAT and ALADIN.

New in SAOImage DS9 5.5 (Jan 24, 2009)

  • Improved IRAF IIS support.
  • Re-implemented the ‘Examine’ function.
  • Improved native MacOSX support.
  • Implemented some GUI Enhancements.

New in SAOImage DS9 5.2 (Apr 15, 2008)

  • User configurable Button Bar - The user may now configure the button bar using the preferences dialog box. All menu items are now available as a button.
  • Catalog Enhancements- Catalogs can now be edited. Users may manipulate the catalog regions on the image or edit rows and columns within the dialog box. Also, catalogs now are tied to the frame in which it was created, allowing multiple copies of the same catalog, one per frame.
  • GUI Enhancements- Frames can now be rearranged in order using the Frame menu.