Astroart 9 SP2

[fabdev]

Hello, a new minor Astroart version is available, see: https://www.msb-astroart.com/

Version 9.0 SP2 - September 25, 2025
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* New feature. Saving of compressed FITS.
* New feature. Stars information from the Simbad web site.
* New feature. Several new commands in the Stars Window.
* New feature. Two focusers can be controlled at a time.
* New feature. 16 switches supported, with multi-state.
* New feature. Log files for instrumentation.
* New feature. Script commands for easy logging.
* New feature. Safety monitors.
* Improved. Opening the MPCOrb is 2x faster.
* Improved. "Compare" button in the DDP window.
* Improved. Selected points in Blink are more visible.
* Improved. The N/E marker is saved with antialias in graphic files.
* Improved. Option for automatic saving of processing history in FITS.
* Improved. User defined font size in reports and batch photometry.
* Improved. Several new keyboard shortcuts.
* Improved. "Connect All" dialog box with more options.
* Improved. Buttons for parking and homing the dome.
* Bug fix. Moving the mask failed sometimes.
* Bug fix. The dialog window for Resize failed sometimes.
* Bug fix. User comments in ADES reports were not compatible.
* Bug fix. The "Save JPEG" window did not show the correct zoom.
* Bug fix. Some NGC objects could not be searched.
* Bug fix. The "Merge" command was not saved in the History.

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Save compressed FITS
An option is available to save all FITS compressed (image processing and camera download), see the "Files" tab of the Options:

Compressed FITS takes less than half space (the compression is better than .zip). Astroart uses the standard FITS compression, version 2.3, defined here in 2013: https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/registry/til ... ssion.html. Unfortunately some software still does not support it, so please check if all the software you use actually supports it.
When saving an image manually (command Files/Save) there are now 3 FITS modes (default, compressed, not compressed).

Stars window
SHIFT+wheel rotate: changes the star, highlights it, and centers the field on it.
SHIFT+up/down: same behavior, using the keyboard.
CTRL+wheel rotate: zooms the image.
CTRL+plus/minus: zooms the image.
S: highlights the star, useful after up/down with the keyboard.
Copy to clipboard: new modes are available.
Simbad web site: shows in the browser all the star data from the Simbad database.

The data from the Simbad web site is also available from the Star atlas and the Image window (from their context menu).

Switches
Multi-state switches are now supported, both for reading and writing.

It's also possible to set the threshold between the "green" and the "red" state of every switch.

Log files
These are used for two tasks: manual logging from scripts and automatic logging from the instrumentation, see the Script section of the Forum: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=941

Keyboard shortcuts
See in the Guide: "Image Window".

Connect all
It's now possible to specify if the dialog window for a given device must be shown:

in the example above, the window for the telescope and the focuser will not be shown. All settings will be automatically remembered. To remember also the position of the dialog windows, enable the option in the Camera Options.

[steilv]

Thanks Fabio!
Einars

[nmac]

Thanks for the update Fabio.
Regards