What's new in SkySafari 6.8.2
Apr 22, 2021
- Fixes label drawing on non-retina displays.
New in SkySafari 6.8.1 (Apr 8, 2021)
- Fixed crash when importing Observing Lists.
New in SkySafari 6.8.0 (Mar 30, 2021)
- Jupiter Great Red Spot orientation updated.
- Fixed issue with maximum location elevation.
- Tonight's Best list sorting fixed.
- Some light vs dark mode UI fixes.
New in SkySafari 6.7.2 (Oct 21, 2020)
- Fix addressing startup bugs on certain OS versions
New in SkySafari 6.7.1 (Oct 11, 2020)
- Bug fixes and stability improvements
New in SkySafari 6.7.0 (Oct 2, 2020)
- Ready for Big Sur
- Measure tool now available on the toolbar
- Bug fixes and stability and enhancements
New in SkySafari 6.5.0 (Apr 23, 2020)
- All Apollo mission paths.
- All Apollo 3D spacecraft models (including Apollo 13 damaged service module.)
- Preset files to instantly transport you to interesting mission waypoints.
New in SkySafari 6.4.1 (Apr 14, 2020)
- Bug fixes and performance improvements.
New in SkySafari 6.4.0 (Jul 29, 2019)
- Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing with a new in-app purchase that allows you to follow the Apollo 11 crew on their historic mission! Explore all Apollo Space Missions (from Apollo 8 to Apollo 17) and place yourself at the exact spot along the lunar trajectories of the Apollo spacecraft, during the most memorable and historic moments of these flights.
- Features:
- Travel along on the Apollo Space Missions, including Apollo 11 and the first lunar landing
- Includes nine missions flown by the Apollo astronauts during the 1960's and 1970's
- View the Earth and Moon as it appeared to the crew. Land on the Moon, then blast back into lunar orbit!
- Links to key moments of the Apollo 11 Lunar Program
- Moon inbound and outbound trajectories for Apollo 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17
- Accurate 3-D models of the Apollo Spacecraft - including the Saturn V rocket, the Command Service Module and the Lunar Lander Module
- Lunar Landing site Panorama for Apollo 11
- The simulated trajectories have been made as accurate as possible, using actual data published by NASA.
New in SkySafari 6.3.0 (Apr 27, 2019)
- Improved performance syncing data with LiveSky.
- Various other performance and stability changes.
New in SkySafari 6.2.0 (Dec 16, 2018)
- Various modifications for compatibility with soon to be released Starry Night 8.
- Various stability and performance improvements.
New in SkySafari 6.1.1 (Oct 31, 2018)
- Improved accuracy of planetary position predictions.
- Improved memory usage.
- Improvements to syncing data with LiveSky server.
- Fixed a few small user interface bugs.
New in SkySafari 6.1.0 (Apr 26, 2018)
- Added the Center and Object Info menu commands to the basic app's Search menu.
- Added the Center and Object Info menu commands to the basic app's Search menu.
- Fixed bug where the in-app purchases were not showing up for some people.
- Fixed bug with selecting some items in the search results list.
- Fixed problem where the toolbar icons weren't displayed if you had the "Increase contrast" accessibility setting on.
- Fixed bug where the "Locked" setting for Saved Settings wasn't working properly.
- Miscellaneous other tweaks and bug fixes.
New in SkySafari 6.0.2 (Apr 13, 2018)
- Fixed In-App Purchases.
- Added item in Help menu to take you to the macOS Community Forums.
- Improved highlighting of items in lists.
- Fixed bug where the Object Info could go blank when animating time in Orbit mode.
- Fixed bug where the tab bar (that you see when multiple settings are open) went blank when showing and hiding the toolbar.
- Cleaned up various other rough edges from the first release.
New in SkySafari 6.0.1 (Apr 10, 2018)
- Complete support for MacOS. We got you covered and release regular updates.
- Clouds and Astronomy. Two words that rarely go together. Rewritten from the ground up, SkySafari 6 will (optionally) back up all your settings files and make it easily accessible to multiple devices as well as from our new web interface, LiveSky.com.
- Redesigned look and feel with a dark theme interface.
- Configurable font sizes
- Better control of magnitude limits
- Improved databases
- Better updating of Comets and Asteroids (more recent data)
- Better Moon display when zoomed out
New in SkySafari 5.3.4 (Sep 27, 2017)
- Fixed recently introduced problem with some settings panels not dismissing properly.
New in SkySafari 5.3.3 (Sep 25, 2017)
- Updated for macOS 10.13 compatibility.
New in SkySafari 5.3.1 (Apr 2, 2017)
- Fix for faint stars in night vision mode.
- Miscellaneous stability fixes.
New in SkySafari 5.3.0 (Mar 14, 2017)
- Fixed bug where the image viewer window, which is shown when clicking an image link, would disappear after showing the image.
New in SkySafari 5.2.0 (Feb 10, 2017)
- Added the ability to revert to the default sort order in an object list.
- Implemented tabbing between Time/Date fields.
- Fixed bug where the left zoom button was moved partially offscreen when a left panel was closed.
- Fixed bug where thumbnail images were missing from the Tonight at a Glance view.
- Other minor stability and performance improvements.
New in SkySafari 5.1.3 (Jan 6, 2017)
- Fix problems related to double- and variable-star data.
- Many other miscellaneous small bug fixes and cosmetic UI tweaks!
New in SkySafari 1.8 (Jul 18, 2013)
- Chart center coordinates are now remembered correctly when app relaunches after exit.
- Improved performance when drawing many faint solar system objects. Default solar system magnitude limit is now 20, as opposed to unlimited; settings files now restore unlimited (infinite) magnitudes correctly.
- Now displays orbit epoch for satellites and solar system objects in Object Info. Conjunction, opposition, eclipse dates in Object Info now show the first such event taking place any time in the next 2 years, and the math runs much faster now.
- Fixed bug where two or more automatic solar system data updates could happen simultaneously, which could result in missing objects in some categories. Discards partial solar system data updates; all files must now download successfully before SkySafari will accept the updated data.
- Fixed small error in position computation for some geosynchronous satellites.
New in SkySafari 1.6 (Oct 30, 2012)
- Supports OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Added entire Hipparcos catalog of 120,000 stars. Some binary stars attached to wrong primary star have now been fixed.
- Added the Night Sky Network to the Help menu. Find two months' worth of star parties and other astronomy events in your area, anywhere in the United States!
- Updated constellation descriptions. New maps of Mercury, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Umbriel. Added Curiosity (MSL) to Mars surface features.
- Fixed problem that made the screen occasionally go blank, with a coordinate display of NaN, NaN in the upper left corner. When stepping time and the selected object is locked, the center coordinates label is now correct.
- Fixed problem importing satellite orbit files containing corrupted lines. Julian Dates now saved to 1 second precision in Settings files.
- When searching for an object, the text you type is no longer replaced with the name of the object you selected. When the mouse is clicked while panning to an object, the object is centered immediately.
- Fixed crash that by entering non-ASCII characters into the Location Lon/Lat fields. Show Asterisms Names checkbox is no longer erroneously disabled when Show Asterisms is unchecked.
- Fixed rare bug where the app would sometimes draw stars and constellations on top of an opaque horizon. Fixed problems displaying some Milky Way and Horizon panoramas on some MacBook Air models that can't support large OpenGL textures.
New in SkySafari 1.5 (May 17, 2012)
- A new Moon map is based on imagery from NASA's 2009 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The Moon is always shown as a disk with its correct phase. The Moon's dark side now shows faint earthshine, and appears sky-colored in daylight. The sky darkens when solar eclipses take place.
- Venus - or any other planet - now always shows as a black dot when transiting the Sun. Planet surface grids are drawn more accurately.
- Object Info descriptions for the planets and constellations have been rewritten. Learn about the mythology of the planets, the transit of Venus, and total solar eclipses! Object Info also shows opposition, conjunction, eclipse, and transit dates for solar system objects.
- You can now search for objects by typing a number without any catalog prefix. Searching for "104" will now find Messier 104, NGC 104, star HR 104, and asteroid (104) Klymene.
- Improved app icon and splash screen.
New in SkySafari 1.2 (Apr 18, 2012)
- SkySafari now shows satellites! For example, you can now see the International Space Station by searching for "ISS". Object Info for any satellite shows when it will pass overhead. SkySafari automatically downloads new satellite, asteroid, and comet orbit data every week.
- Made the app smaller by eliminating extraneous faint stars. Updated star distances from new 2007 Hipparcos reduction.
- Two-finger scrolling in the Object Info window no longer zooms the adjacent sky chart.
New in SkySafari 1.1.1 (Feb 23, 2012)
- You can now import and display your own custom horizon panoramas! You can also now turn the horizon glow on or off.
- Implemented "Sandboxing" as required by Apple. Added option to rate SkySafari on the Mac App Store.
- Multiple constellation display options can now be turned on at the same time. For example, you can now display traditional constellation lines overlaid with mythical figure images, or modern constellation lines and boundaries at the same time.
- Rearranged Object Info so it no longer blocks the main sky chart when visible.
- A new searchable location database now includes every city worldwide with more than 100,000 people - 4092 cities in all (vs. less than 1500 previously).
- You can now search for all objects in a star or deep sky catalog by typing just the catalog name or its standard abbreviation. For example, you can find all the Caldwell objects by searching for just "Caldwell" (or "C") without a specific object number.
- Constellations are now searchable by common name (like "Southern Cross"). Searches for variable stars are now no longer case-sensitive.
- Fixed problem with displaying and setting times in the hours past 12 AM and 12 PM. Fixed positions and magnitudes of certain nebulae. Corrected inability to select small nebula symbols by tapping on them. Secondary components of double stars are no longer labelled until you're zoomed in enough to see them.
- Fixed various memory leaks and corruption problems. Fixed miscellaneous crashes and graphic rendering problems.
New in SkySafari 1.1 (Feb 9, 2012)
- You can now import and display your own custom horizon panoramas! You can also now turn the horizon glow on or off.
- Added option to rate SkySafari on the Mac App Store.
- Multiple constellation display options can now be turned on at the same time. For example, you can now display traditional constellation lines overlaid with mythical figure images, or modern constellation lines and boundaries at the same time.
- Rearranged Object Info so it no longer blocks the main sky chart when visible.
- A new searchable location database now includes every city worldwide with more than 100,000 people - 4092 cities in all (vs. less than 1500 previously).
- You can now search for all objects in a star or deep sky catalog by typing just the catalog name or its standard abbreviation. For example, you can find all the Caldwell objects by searching for just "Caldwell" (or "C") without a specific object number.
- Constellations are now searchable by common name (like "Southern Cross"). Searches for variable stars are now no longer case-sensitive.
- Fixed problem with displaying and setting times in the hours past 12 AM and 12 PM. Fixed positions and magnitudes of certain nebulae. Corrected inability to select small nebula symbols by tapping on them. Secondary components of double stars are no longer labelled until you're zoomed in enough to see them.
- Fixed various memory leaks and corruption problems. Fixed miscellaneous crashes and graphic rendering problems.
New in SkySafari 1.0.4 (Oct 7, 2011)
- The sky chart is now drawn correctly (instead of appearing as a garbled screen) on Macs where Arial and Arial-BoldMT fonts cannot be loaded. SkySafari now uses the default System font in this case.
- The Help menu items "Keyboard Shortcuts" and "Basic Concepts" now work properly. Added new Help menu item leading to "This Week's Sky at a Glance" column on Sky & Telescope's web site.
- User-defined locations are no longer overwritten after reading in a Settings file. Added Pacific Star Party, Wiruna (New South Wales, Australia) to list of star parties.
- The object list panel (Planets, Stars, Tonight's Best, etc.) now stays visible after choosing an object. Searching for an object by name no longer corrupts the list of objects (Planets, Bright Stars, etc.) in that panel.
- Cardinal points now stay visible if turned on when the horizon is shown as "transparent with line". Horizon fill and line should not be shown if both are turned off.
- Momentum is smoother after releasing the mouse button when panning the sky chart.
New in SkySafari 1.0.3 (Sep 20, 2011)
- Fixes problem with version 1.0.2 expiring on September 15th, 2011.
New in SkySafari 1.0.2 (Aug 30, 2011)
- Fix for crash when sliding out side panels (particularly Location).
- Fix crash due to memory corruption when context-menu clicking on the sky chart.
- Fixed crashes due to running out of memory because OpenGL textures were not being freed properly.
- Swapped t and n hotkeys. Now t means change time by one minute, and n means set time to Now.
- Toolbar now resizes correctly if you make your window wider than 2000 pixels.
- Changed the zoom direction when using scroll wheel or scrolling via trackpad.
- Fixed misspelling of Fort Myers, FL in Location list.
- Fixes accidentally displaying chart center azimuth outside the range 0 to 360 degrees when panning to selected object.
- All field of view indicators in the Telescope Display dialog are now saved to hundredths of a degree.
- Fixed problem with running out of memory at program startup when asteroids are turned on.