New Objects Added to iSkyGaze

I have added two more objects from the constellation Taurus. The bright red star Aldebaran and the open cluster Pleiades. These are both fairly bright objects which can be seen by almost everyone this time of year.

iSkyGaze Speed Increased

iSkyGaze is already pretty fast at this point, even over EDGE. I try and minimize the graphic content since it is mostly about the data. I went ahead and implemented GZIP compression today which should reduce the perceived load time of pages. Enjoy!

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

A kind person reminded me that there is a lunar eclipse this evening. I had forgotten about it with my busy schedule at work this past couple of weeks. The entire event is visible from South America and most of North America (on Feb. 20) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21). This site offers great information on when you can see it from your location:

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2008Feb21/TLE2008Feb21.html

iSkyGaze does not calculate lunar eclipses at this point, but I will make an effort to either include upcoming events in the system message area or provide links to other sites from within the program.

1.04 Released

I have released a new version that addresses some bugs which crept into the last update. Here is what was added or resolved:

• Program errors if the moon did not reach transit the current day
• The program now checks to see if cookies are enabled.
• Added the binary star system Sirius in constellation Canis Major
• Resolved issues where iSkyGaze reported that objects were not visible when they actually were. This effected users outside the east coast of the United States.
• Resolved postback issues between ASP.NET and the IUI Ajax library that caused perceived delays in updates of longitude and latitude

Thanks for all the feedback!!

iSkyGaze 1.03 Released

The new version has been posted. Please report any problems. In addition to some performance improvements, I also added the following objects in the Orion constellation:

Rigel

Betelgeuse

Orion Nebula

Orion is easy to spot this time of year. iSkyGaze will provide an image to help you locate the constellation.

More objects coming soon!

iSkyGaze Update Status

I am very close to releasing a new version. This version has faster calculations, but the increased amount of data from the new objects has diminished some of the returns. I have some ideas on how to recoup the speed, but it will take some time. I may release it as is so you can have access to the new objects.

iSkyGaze Released

The initial version of iSkyGaze was released and I have received a lot of great input. I appreciate the support! I am working on the next release which addresses two things I really want, speed and more objects. This new version is over twice as fast. In addition, I have redesigned the internals of the program to make adding objects easier. My goal with iSkyGaze was to make it easy for casual stargazers to use. That means making the interface simple, using easily understood english, and restricting the object list to lot of things most everyone can see. The Orion Nebula and stars in key constellations will be first in the update. The details page will also have some pictures to help identifying where the objects are in the sky.
I am working on it as much as I can, but I do have a real job :) Expect a new version in the next two weeks! If you haven't tried iSkyGaze, just point your iPhone or iPod touch's safari browser to: http://www.mobilefission.com/iskygaze

I also made a small video of the application which you can see by clicking here