Luminos

This update brings significant stability improvements. It addresses an issue where tapping on deep space images could sometimes lead to crashes. Additionally, the display of Hubble images in the sky view has been corrected. The update also fixes a crash when searching on devices running iOS 12.

This update fixes two bugs: visible flyovers of satellites were not always calculated corrected and this has been fixed, and distances to galaxies in the NGC/IC were sometimes wrong and these have been corrected as well.

This update fixes a bug which causes the app to crash when it's no longer available in the App Store

This update adds numerous cross-references to the deep space database, improves Meade and Astro-Physics mount coordinate updates, adds 60 new surface features, and has updated predictions for Jupiter's Great Red Spot. This update also fixes a bug which often caused the LX200 protocol to refuse to perform gotos.

Here is the complete list of changes:

Feature - Added numerous deep space cross-references including ESO, LBN, LDN, Collinder, Melotte, Trumpler, King, Cederblad, Gum, PN, PK, Stock, vdBH, Markarian Galaxies, Markarian Clusters, UGC, MCG, and Harvard.
Feature - Meade and Astro-Physics mounts update their coordinates much faster by computing the non-native coordinates (ie, az and alt on an eq mount) instead of fetching them from the mount
Feature - Added 60 new surface feature names for features on The Moon, Mercury, Mars, Pluto, Europa, and Titan
Feature - Adjusted Jupiter Great Red Spot predictions based on current obervations
Feature - Added support for Apple Watch Ultra
Fixed - The LX200 Compatible telescope protocol slews reliably
Fixed - Astro-Physics mounts set the meridian offset to zero before parking

This update adds the first four images released by the James Webb Space Telescope to the Deep Space image gallery

This update fixes issues which prevented some people from being able to install the complete UCAC4 catalog.

This update softens the edges around deep space images in the sky view for better blending, plus it updates the SynScan library which fixes alignment problems on SynScan telescopes which use an auxiliary encoder.

A couple of minor bugs have also been fixed: calculated values on browser pages will update correctly after a location change, and the LX200 protocol is more robust when used with mounts that sometimes inject garbage into the data stream.

Clear skies,
- John

Welcome to Luminos 9.9.7! This update is just bug fixes, specifically it fixes a rare crash which could occur while tapping on satellites while satellite data is downloading, and it fixes lists so that new lists can be created once again. Thank you for sharing your crash reports! Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.9.4!

This update adds several new features, including that you can hide the motion-tracking identification circle I added a couple of updates ago. I've also changed deep-space object labels to always label Messier objects. Also this update also adds support for iPad trackpads, which can now be used to pan the sky view and spin the time and fov wheels. For telescope users this update uses the latest SynScanLink library and adds satellite tracking to those SynScan mounts which support it, plus Astro-Physics Mach2GTO mounts now have a Home position for the Park command to place those mounts in their absolute home position.

Several bugs are also fixed, including that the date picker can be set to 1 BC without problems, plus moon orbits are now shaded like the planets and those orbits intersect the moons reliably. There are other bug fixes too, but they're somewhat esoteric so I won't detail them all here – look for the Release Notes in Luminos' Support section for a complete list of the bugs fixed in this update.

Clear skies,
John

Welcome to Luminos 9.9! This update adds iCloud Drive support, giving you direct access to your observation and equipment lists, plus the interface has been freshened with new icons and a new settings interface. Also, many lists now support sorting by name, size, and magnitude, and motion tracking now has an identification reticle, plus custom location names are used for location announcements in the sky view, satellites show altitude and orbital period, and much more. The three updates since the initial 9.9 release fix several bugs and usability issues, check the release notes for the complete list of features as well as fixes in the updates! Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.9! This update adds iCloud Drive support, giving you direct access to your observation and equipment lists, plus the interface has been freshened with new icons and a new settings interface. Also, many lists now support sorting by name, size, and magnitude, and motion tracking now has an identification reticle, plus custom location names are used for location announcements in the sky view, satellites show altitude and orbital period, and much more. The two updates since the initial 9.9 release fix several bugs and usability issues, check the release notes for the complete list of features as well as fixes in the updates! Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.9! This update adds iCloud Drive support, giving you direct access to your observation and equipment lists, plus the interface has been freshened with new icons and a new settings interface. Also, many lists now support sorting by name, size, and magnitude, and motion tracking now has an identification reticle, plus custom location names are used for location announcements in the sky view, satellites show altitude and orbital period, and much more. The 9.9.1 update fixes several bugs and usability issues, check the release notes for the complete list of features as well as fixes in this update! Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.9! This update adds iCloud Drive support, giving you direct access to your observation and equipment lists, plus the interface has been freshened with new icons and a new settings interface. Also, many lists now support sorting by name, size, and magnitude, and motion tracking now has an identification reticle, plus custom location names are used for location announcements in the sky view, satellites show altitude and orbital period, and much more. Check the release notes for the complete list of features as well as fixes in this update! Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.8.5! This maintenance update fixes several cosmetic issues such as showing orbit lines for comets while on Earth, always turning moon orbits off when they're de-selected, and smoothly updating satellite positions in the sky view. A crash with the Goto button on the selection action bar is also fixed, plus a couple of rare crashes have been found and fixed using your shared crash reports, thank you for sharing them! Please see the release notes for a detailed list of fixes. Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.8.3! This update adds dwarf planet orbits to the orrery view, adds the time zone of your location setting to the time picker, and includes a setting for which direction you want the sky view facing when Luminos starts up. Numerous bugs are also fixed, please see the release notes for the complete list. 9.8.4 update: comets, asteroids, and satellites are shown correctly in the sky view again. Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.8.3! This update adds dwarf planet orbits to the orrery view, adds the time zone of your location setting to the time picker, and includes a setting for which direction you want the sky view facing when Luminos starts up. Numerous bugs are also fixed, please see the release notes for the complete list. Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.8.2!

This update adds support for Takahashi Temma mounts, adds Astro-Physics park position 5, adds a list of the 58 stars used for navigation, and improves Uranus' rings with forward-scattering and properly aligned rings. Numerous bugs are fixed too, with Wikipedia links now opening in your native language, better behavior at high elevations, and improved spaceflight animations. Please see the release notes for a complete list of the changes.

Clear skies,
- John

Welcome to Luminos 9.8.1!

This update adds support for French plus I've changed the date picker to use separate tumblers for the year digits, making it easier to dial in distant dates. Crashes on iOS 9 are also fixed, and bugs in the display of comet orbits, surface feature highlights, and eclipse and moon phase labels, are also fixed.

Clear skies,
- John

Welcome to Luminos 9.8!

This update adds several new features including over 100 new and updated deep space images from CCD-Guide, ESO, and NASA, including for the first time several dark nebula from the Barnard catalog. Those who watch satellites will appreciate being able to use compressed TLE sources (.zip and .gz supported), while telescope users will appreciate being able to sort the Messier, Caldwell, and Herschel lists by size or magnitude, and will also appreciate several usability improvements in the telescope controls such as remembering your flipping settings for the centering pad. Finally, everyone will appreciate that several obscure crashes have been fixed, thank you for sharing your crash logs! For a detailed list of the features and fixes, see the Release Notes in Luminos.

Clear skies,
- John

Welcome to Luminos 9.7! This update adds several new features as well as fixes numerous bugs: the grid settings are more intuitive and include an option for a stand-alone horizon line, objects show their transit altitudes alongside the rise, transit, and set times, the telescope Goto confirmation dialog can now be turned off, some animations are now skippable, and a shutter timer has been added for Sky-Watcher users to control their mount's SNAP port. The 9.7.1 update also adds a few more fixes for crashes and for searching for stars by their Bayer designations, see the release notes for the complete list of new features and fixes. Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.7! This update adds several new features as well as fixes numerous bugs: the grid settings are more intuitive and include an option for a stand-alone horizon line, objects show their transit altitudes alongside the rise, transit, and set times, the telescope Goto confirmation dialog can now be turned off, some animations are now skippable, and a shutter timer has been added for Sky-Watcher users to control their mount's SNAP port. Numerous bugs and crashes have also been fixed, see the release notes for the complete list of new features and fixes. Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.6.3! This update contains several fixes and, though most are minor, there are a couple of major bugs fixed too. The two major bugs fixed are that Vesta is once again visible in the sky view and the ”Don’t sleep while connected” feature for telescope users is working properly again. Several minor bugs are also fixed – mostly layout issues, but also a rare crash should be gone now. Clear skies, - John

Welcome to Luminos 9.6.2! This update fixes several bugs, including correctly identifying Messier 24 as IC 4715, connecting Messier 87 to NGC 4486 and not the A/B variants, displaying satellite catalog data correctly on iOS 13, and fixing Pluto and Charon to render their surface detail like they're supposed to. Also, Comet Arrokoth now has its new name (formerly Ultima Thule). I only found one crash in your crash reports this time and I think I've fixed it, so Luminos is more stable than ever -- thanks for sharing those crash reports! Clear skies, - John

This update adds several user-requested features: you can now see meridian transit times for objects, you can switch the constellation stick figures to the classic style, and there's now an optional Field of View button in the sky view for easier zooming with a stylus. I've also fixed a few more dark mode bugs, and made the crosshairs and text of objects easier to see against bright backgrounds like the sun, plus cleaned up a few other issues as well. Check the release notes for the complete list. Clear skies, - John

This update adds new features, adds convenience, and fixes bugs too! The biggest new feature is new images for nearly every Messier object. We’ve also added several user-requested features and changes too: Luminos can optionally prevent your device from sleeping while you’re connected to a telescope, the white "home bar" now disappears after a short delay, equipment fields work with localized numbers, and taps are more responsive. Also, star catalogs install correctly now, and we’ve gone through your crash reports and fixed everything (thanks for sharing them!). In particular, you should notice that Luminos no longer quits sometimes while it's in the background, and that updating asteroid and comet data works correctly. Clear skies! - John

This quick update fixes a couple of problems: First, our previous update accidentally disabled rendering of satellite models (oops!) and this restores those. Also, a Luminos user discovered that a handful of the deep space images were distorted in the sky view (NGC 1788, NGC 3572, NGC 3166, and NGC 134), and those are now rendered correctly. Thanks for all of your great feedback!

This minor update sneaks in a few new features as well: Jupiter has a new high-resolution texture with new polar detail from the Juno mission, iOptron telescopes have all-new support, and new Celestrak categories for Active, Analyst, Starlink, and SatNOGS satellites are now supported. For fixes, we’ve corrected asteroids so that searching for Ryugu doesn't crash anymore and we’ve also gone through your crash reports and fixed several rare-but-real crashes that were happening when memory was running low, thank you for sharing your crash logs! Clear skies, - John

This update adds support for Sky-Watcher mounts (via the SynScan app), adds the ability to slow down animations, adds the Indian ASAT test debris to satellites, along with dozens of other features and fixes! Check out the release notes for a comprehensive list or watch the overview video for a summary of the changes.