SkyTools 4 Updates

Latest version: SkyTools 4.x.11.18

Note: the x in the version signifies your (paid) upgrade level. It is zero if you have the original version, or 1 if you have the latest version 4.1 upgrade. The rest of the version code signifies the minor (11) and release version and are independent of the upgrade level. All updates are cumulative; only the most recent update needs to be applied. Updates contain fixes and minor features, upgrades are paid and include new features.

Update Manually

If connected to the Internet you will be prompted from within SkyTools to download the latest update automatically and no further action is necessary. To update manually, close SkyTools, download the update file from the link below and run it.

Download latest SkyTools 4 update (50 MB)

Fixes in Version 4.x.11.18 (2025 September 10)

  • New version 4.1 feature: Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas chart numbers have been added to the Object Info, Nightly Planner, and Target Selection tools. Click the gear icon for the column scheme to enable the display of these chart numbers.
  • Visual: the menu for selecting an instrument for an observing log was not listing binoculars
  • Designation search: exact matches are now tagged with (exact match) in the results. A bug was fixed that would cause numbered variable stars that did not exist in the database to appear to match random variable stars.
  • Visual Log Dialog: the focus now stays on the Log window even when the real time tool is refreshing
  • A bug was fixed in the Night Dialog which could cause the Tonight and Tomorrow buttons to select the wrong date
  • Maffei I and Maffei II can now be searched as Maffei 1 and Maffei 2 (note these are properly designated by Roman numerals)
  • Imaging: a crash has been fixed that could sometimes occur on the Exposure Goals tab of an Imaging Project
  • Imaging: the Exposure Tables could sometimes generate too many percentage-of-loss columns, which would go off the right side of the dialog

Fixes in Version 4.x.11.17 (2025 July 5)

  • Fixed the save chart to a file feature
  • Fixed the copy chart to the clipboard feature
  • Searching on comet 3I/ATLAS was returning "2025 N1", which is technically correct but could be confusing
  • Imaging: fixed a crash (or program corruption) that could occur on the Advanced Exposure Calculator for certain very faint targets; may have also been affecting the other tools that use the Nightbar quality calculations.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.16 (2025 June 17)

  • A problem that caused only "Naked Eye" to appear in the list of instruments on the New Log Defaults dialog has been fixed
  • Other minor fixes have been made

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.15 (2025 May 27)

Visual V4.1:

  • Times for transits, shadow transits, occultations, and eclipses can be calculated with the Events Tool for four satellites of Saturn: Titan, Dione, Rhea, and Tethys
  • Shadows are now drawn in the planet for the four largest satellites of Saturn
  • The orbits of all planet satellites have been updated to last through at least 2030
  • The transparency and Seeing selections were not being saved after closing the Nightly Planner

Imaging:

  • Several minor bugs have been fixed for the Smart Project Builder
  • Objects with measured emission line strengths are better identified on the Object Information dialog

All products:

  • A serious bug was fixed that was hurting the performance of the Nightly Planner and Target Selection tools. The speed of refreshing the list is now much improved when applying filters.
  • A hang that could occur when updating subscriptions on startup has been fixed
  • There is a shorter wait for SkyTools to start up when an internet connection is not available
  • Corrupted jpeg images no longer cause the software to exit
  • Many many more minor fixes have been made

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.14 (2024 October 21)

  • Imaging: fixed an error that sometimes caused a crash on the Exposure Goals tab of the Imaging Project dialog

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.13 (2024 October 10)

  • Imaging: fixed an error that could occur when entering an observation on the Observations tab of the Imaging Project

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.12 (2024 October 4)

  • Visual: the seeing selection and the new transparency selection were not keeping their settings after closing a tool, and then reopening.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.11 (2024 September 27)

  • The surge in brightness due to dust forward scattering is now accounted for in predictions for Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS).
  • Visual: the visual difficulty label "Apparent" has been replaced with "Perceptible"
  • Visual 4.1 only: the weather settings have been replaced with a Transparency selection; this section has also been added to various charts
  • Fixed a problem with FITS images not loading correctly in the Image Viewer for some SkyTools versions.
  • There are now Chart Preference settings for the Earth Shadow that include color, line thickness, and line style
  • Imaging Scheduler: fixed an issue where the subs taken before a meridian flip were not counted toward the exposure goals
  • Visual Real Time: the Nightbar is now properly updated after a list/ tour update
  • Visual Real Time: changing the seeing was not immediately affecting the results
  • Imaging Advanced Exposure Calculator: the auto filter selection has been removed (it no longer did anything after other changes)
  • Visual: a problem was fixed that could binoculars and telescopes could sometimes become confused on the instrument dialog
  • Many other minor fixes and updates have been made

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.10 (2024 June 27)

  • Visual: Fixed a problem with the Plan feature of the Nightly Planner that sometimes led to blank plans
  • Imaging Smart Project Builder: the Auto choice was removed from the Binning selection because it was confusing and inconsistent with how other parts of SkyTools worked. When color composite mode is selected and Binx1, options will be presented that include Binx2 for color filters (RGB), just like the Auto selection did previously.
  • Imaging Smart Project Builder: The "region" label for stellar objects (stars, quasars, minor planets, etc.) consisted of garbled characters.
  • Imaging Schedule: a printed schedule sometimes overwrite one line with another.
  • Imaging Scheduler: added a feature to copy the schedule to the Windows clipboard in addition to printing it
  • Imaging 4.1: the help system has been improved for many new version 4.1 features or changes, and entering Gain Settings in particular.
  • Various minor fixes

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.09 (2024 May 15)

  • PNG files in a wider variety of internal formats are now supported
  • Various minor fixes

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.08 (2024 May 10)

  • Fixed a bug that caused the SkyTools Visual 4.1 upgrade to not always be offered on the Upgrade Your Product page
  • V4.1: a missing DLL has been included to support images in .png format

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.07 (2024 May 3)

  • Update Your Product now allows for the purchase of early access to version V4.1 of SkyTools Visual
  • V4.1: support has been added for images in .png format

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.06 (2024 April 22)

  • The "New Folder" button on the list selection dialog now functions again
  • Improved startup behavior if there is no valid internet connection (will open much faster)
  • Imaging: More filters have been added to the filter pool, now available to assign to your imaging system
  • Imaging: The "No Filter" filter has been fixed. To apply the fix: delete the "No Filter" filter from all of your imaging systems. Delete this filter from the "My Filters" database (selection at top of left side of the filter dialog). Assign the updated filter from the Filter Pool to your imaging systems, or choose the Color filter for color cameras, or the Clear filter, all of which are functionally the same.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.05 (2024 April 12)

  • A fix was made to an issue that could make some upgrades fail
  • Fixed an issue where plottable background images, when drawn on the charts, had thick black borders that could hide parts other background images.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.04 (2024 April 6)

  • Imaging: the filter plan label has been extended to 32 characters
  • Changing top level settings on the Nightly Planner and Target Selection tools did not always update the data for the selected object on the nightbar
  • The Observing List / Target List Picker did not open in the right location when the main window was on a second monitor

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.03 (2024 April 2)

Narrow Band Imaging Update

We're providing a significant update tailored for the narrow band imaging community. We've embarked on a rigorous campaign of narrow band photometry to map out the emission line strengths of H-alpha, OIII, and SII band passes for commonly images nebulae. In this update we release the data for the first 25 HII nebulae and Supernova remnants. This first-of-its-kind data release is integrated directly into SkyTools Imaging, offering much improved accuracy in modeling signal-to-noise ratios for your astrophotography projects. More data releases will follow.


Visual & Imaging

  • Get DSS image dialog now properly inherits the attachment folder when opened
  • On the Designation search, entering an NGC number that points to both a cluster and a nebula will default to the nebula
  • A one hour delay has been added before subscriptions will be checked for download after the last check
  • Copy objects from the Nightly Planner / Target Selection tools was not properly inheriting the folder selection
  • The Attachments Manager dialog was not handling attachment folders properly

Imaging

  • Cameras shared via our server were not appearing in the list to be downloaded
  • The gain and CMOS status was not being properly imported from the Camera Pool
  • The Smart Project Builder (SPB) was showing objects that never rise
  • The SPB now inherits the focal changer selection from the Target Selection tool
  • The SPB could sometimes become confused about whether it is editing an existing project or creating a new one
  • The Tiles check box was not being properly set on the SPB
  • The source of a possible crash on the SPB has been fixed
  • Target Selection: some targets were not properly displaying a value in the Exp column
  • The plottable images folder selection was not always working properly on the Composition tab of the Imaging Project dialog
  • Target Selection: the observation status filter was not working properly
  • Opening the NINA configuration from the Scheduler before configuring the NINA folders from the top-level menu now properly returns an error instructing the user to see the top level menu

Visual

  • Pro: objects with no magnitude or size data were too often being drawn on the charts, causing clutter. A control has been added to the View Controls to enable/disable the display of these marginal objects.
  • Added a button to read shared log files (in .stx format) to the Log Browser.
  • Fixed a bug that could scramble shared log files that were shared from the Log Dialog
  • The help link for the Real Time Tutorials has been fixed
  • The Event Finder was not remembering the last location selected

Plus many other minor fixes!

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.02

  • V4.1 Imaging only: The previous update errantly reset the new format used for long lists of Attachment Folders. It has been restored.
  • The Download DSS Image dialog was not properly setting the Attachment Folder selection.
  • Imaging: Setting a project to have the complete status was not removing it from the Scheduler right away.
  • V4.1 Imaging only: positions passed to N.I.N.A for negative Declinations were not properly formatted
  • A crash was fixed that could occur when opening a FITS image in the SkyTools Image Viewer

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.x.11.01

  • The subscriptions for current comets, minor planets, and novae/supernovae are once again working properly
  • An intermittent crash has been fixed when changing values on the Exposure Goals tab of the Imaging Project tool before filters have been added
  • The height of the Upgrade Your Product dialog has been shortened to allow full display on lower resolution monitors

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.0k / 4.0.11

This update prepares SkyTools 4.0 to be upgraded to version 4.1 by updating your databases, and adding the option to upgrade to version 4.1 via the Upgrade Your product selection of the Setup menu.

After installation a new version scheme is introduced. Your new version will be 4.0.11, if you haven't purchased a V4.1 license and 4.1.11 if you have.

It is recommended to perform a Backup from SkyTools before installing this update.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.0j R22

Visual & Imaging

  • Atlas: changing the Plottable Images Attachment folder was resetting many of the chart label View Controls.
  • Atlas: the Moon Shadow label color/font preferences were not being properly applied to what was specified in the chart Preferences and there was no check box to enable the label separately from the Major Planets.
  • Searching for objects from the NSV catalog was always returning NSV 1.
  • Scheduler: changing the date when Before or After filters are applied would leave the filters in place, but the schedule would ignore them as if they had been reset.
  • Nightly Planner and Database Power Search: the list of catalog designations was improperly sorted alphabetically, placing "w" before "v" in some cases.
  • Minor Planet numbers that are greater than 621999 will now be read properly from MPC data sets. The code has been updated to work with the new standard that was recently introduced.
  • The messages that appear when you right-click to delete a Minor Planet or one of its sets of elements have been made more clear.

Imaging

  • The Camera View was inadvertently being enabled when a new target object was entered
  • Scheduler: a project that uses Total Exposure time could fail to fill the entire night
  • iTelescope plans were inadvertently including a #WAITFOR command
  • Database Power Search: it is now possible to set the minimum SNR for a search on a specific night to "None" which disables the SNR test.
  • Database Power Search: filtering Minor Planets by minimum SNR on a specific night has been greatly speeded up.

Visual

  • Nightly Planner: changing the date while the list was refreshing could sometimes cause erratic results
  • Nightly Planner: changing the "Plan" check box while the list was refreshing could sometimes result in a misalignment of the columns and column headers

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.0j R21

Visual & Imaging

  • The MPC NEA Today minor planet download was not correctly replacing orbital elements with future epochs with that of the daily update.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.0j R20

Imaging

  • The process for adding gain settings for a new variable gain CMOS camera has been simplified: the user must only enter sets of Gain Setting, gain (e-ADU), and offset values without any intermediate calculation. This process will now work for any CMOS camera. Existing cameras will continue to function normally.
  • Scheduler: a project that uses Total Exposure time could fail to fill the entire night

Visual & Imaging

  • Column sort on Alt ID in the Nightly Planner / Target Selection tools was causing a crash on an obscure star ID
  • The direction indicators on the printed Atlas were not always drawing properly

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.0j R19

Imaging

  • A bug was fixed that caused a crash when scheduling a project in the Scheduler
  • In some cases the Scheduler could schedule an observation beyond the end of the available time period.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.0j R17

Visual

  • A rare situation was causing log files to multiply exponentially when backups were restored regularly. As a result, the Restore/Sync process could take much longer than normal. This had to do with log entries for supplemental deep sky objects. The problem occurred when a supplemental deep sky object had its object type changed (e.g. from galaxy to open cluster) after a log entry had been created for it. To address this issue, it is no longer possible to change the object type after a log entry has been created for the object. A Restore of a backup should automatically remove the duplicate log files. To be certain of this: create a backup, delete the log folder in your "SkyTools 4" folder, usually found in C:\Users\"your user name"\AppData\Roaming\Skyhound\SkyTools 4, then restore the backup.
  • For some users, the Sun, Moon, and planets were not being plotted at the correct position in the Thumbnail charts. This should be fixed by the update. If you see this problem occur again please report it.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.0j R16

Visual & Imaging

  • When the date was changed on the Object Info the popup text on the NightBar didn't reflect the new date.
  • Plottable Images dialog, Import Images sub dialog: when importing a FITS file with a WCS (plate) solution, the WCS data wasn't being properly saved unless the user selected the WCS data tab before closing the dialog. This would cause the image to not display properly in a chart background.

Visual

  • Nightly Planner: the Plan mode slew/find time and View times were not retaining their set values after closing the dialog.

Fixes/Additions/Changes in Version 4.0j R15

Visual & Imaging

  • After a Sync, the chart preference schemes were being duplicated. The issue is fixed and the duplicates have been removed.

Visual

  • Database Power Search: the Visual Detection Difficulty Filter is now available when selecting ideal conditions
  • The Vela Supernova Remnant was being mistakenly returned by the Showpieces search in the Nightly Observing List Generator.
  • The Print Logs for Observing Reports feature formatting has been improved
  • A zero or blank can now be entered for the size of the Dobson's hole to disable it
  • A control has been added for the number of double star pairs read by the spoken Object Information
  • Some events had either no magnitude associated with the objects, or a garbage value
  • The screen blank when Nightvision is enabled is now enabled separately via the Preferences
  • Various minor improvements have been made to the Real Time tool