NewsWe build Observatory – Your astrophotography library2023-12-02T02:10:27.855Zhttps://codeobsession.com/news/Sander BerentsHexoObservatory 2.0.4https://codeobsession.com/news/2023/12/01/observatory-2-0-4/2023-12-02T03:00:00.000Z2023-12-02T02:10:27.855Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 2.0.4 has been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>.</p>
<p>It adds a neat little feature to show the total integration time when selecting multiple images or stacks. Just select them and it is shown in the Overview Inspector, skipping rejected images for this computation.</p>
<p>The toolbar has been reorganized a bit to make it look better on large displays, and a new menu item <strong>View ▸ Canvas ▸ Show Canvas Header</strong> was added to display the image name in the new canvas header.</p>
<p>If you’re into Spotlight, you’ll like that it now indexes the <code>SWCREATE</code> and equivalent FITS keyword, and makes it available as the <code>Content Creator</code> search attribute in Spotlight.</p>
<p>Check out the <a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">release notes</a> for the complete list of enhancements. </p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 2.0.4 has been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" targ
Upgrade to Observatory 2https://codeobsession.com/news/2023/11/01/observatory-2-0-3/2023-11-01T13:35:00.000Z2023-11-02T01:20:08.192Z<p><img src="/news/img/upgrade2@2x.png" alt="Upgrade to Observatory 2"></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“I must admit … that I didn’t really understand the advantages that were on offer when I got the upgrade. I expected v2 to offer minor additional functionality plus maybe some bug fixes. … I wasn’t even aware … about the need to make a payment (well worth it by the way) to unlock the upgrade. At which point, the scope of the improvement in going from v1 to v2 became clear.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was recently brought to my attention that Observatory 1.x users may not realize the magnitude of the <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 2 upgrade. Although you undoubtedly noticed the user interface changes, many of you may not know that Observatory 2 is capable of doing way more than Observatory 1.x.</p>
<p>The Apple Mac App Store doesn’t have a good mechanism for major upgrades where existing users receive a discount, so how this is implemented for Observatory 2 is that users who previously purchased Observatory and have compatible hardware receive the new application as a regular update, but with the new features disabled. Although you received a lot of niceties like the new user interface, plate solver and merged star & deepsky catalogs for free this way, overall it still has mostly the same features as Observatory 1.x in this mode.</p>
<p>Obviously I didn’t communicate this well. It didn’t help that the upgrade information was only shown once, and that a few new features accidentally were enabled without actually upgrading to Observatory 2. Observatory 2.0.3, which has just been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a> fixes this.</p>
<p>As before, user interface elements for features that never existed in Observatory 1.x are disabled. For example limiting overlay magnitudes, quickly toggling all overlays and displaying overlays beyond image boundaries never was possible in Observatory 1.x.</p>
<p>What may not be apparent is that there are many more new features, because they are completely hidden from view unless you upgrade. My personal favorite is the 500,000 minor planets, and the fact that it works for images that were taken up to 23 years ago. With it I found minor planets in my old images of the 2000s that were only discovered a few years before I accidentally captured them. What’s also cool with this feature is that if you believe you captured an image of a minor planet but you don’t know its coordinates, you can just type the name of the minor planet in the plate solver and Observatory will calculate the position and use that as the initial estimate for the plate solver.</p>
<p>Another great new feature is the ability to select any object in an image and access additional information with the new Object Inspector. It will even include links to external resources, including SkySafari. And the new Tag Navigator, where you can select an object and Observatory will highlight the object in your image. Or the ability to have the STF and Overlay panels floating as separate windows and the canvas full screen on a second monitor. And of course, the ability to go as faint as magnitude 20 with the star catalog is simply amazing.</p>
<p>Observatory 2 is a huge upgrade, and there are many more new features than what is listed above. There is a reason why Observatory grew from a 150MB application to a 3GB application. If you didn’t upgrade from Observatory 1.x yet, read more about it and download the limited demo at <a href="https://codeobsession.com">https://codeobsession.com</a>. The limited demo does not contain the minor planets, but it will give you a good idea of the other capabilities.</p>
<p>Observatory 2.0.3 adds the Object attribute, initialized with the value of the corresponding FITS keyword. You can edit it, and it can be shown in the icon browser subtitle, the list browser and used in smart albums. For existing libraries, close and reopen the library to see the new column. For older libraries, you can instruct Observatory to initialize it by selecting the image(s), choosing <code>Image ▸ Reset…</code> and in there select Metadata <em>Merge</em> and enable <em>Sync Master</em>.</p>
<p>This update also fixes a large GPU memory leak that was not apparent in our tests before. And an issue where selecting images in the browser would sometimes result in extreme CPU usage.</p>
<p>It actually has a ton of little improvements throughout, and you can read about those in its <a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">release notes</a>.</p>
<p><img src="/news/img/upgrade2@2x.png" alt="Upgrade to Observatory 2"></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“I must admit … that I didn’t really underst
Astronomy Technology Todayhttps://codeobsession.com/news/2023/10/27/astronomy-technology-today-17-8/2023-10-28T02:50:00.000Z2023-11-05T22:25:50.785Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 2.0 is featured in November 2023 <em><a href="https://astronomytechnologytoday.com/2023/10/27/code-obsession-observatory-2-0/" target="_blank" rel="external">Astronomy Technology Today</a></em> <strong>New Products / Industry News</strong>.</p>
<p><img src="/news/img/ATT_v17_i8@2x.jpg" alt="Astronomy Technology Today - Volume 17 Issue 8"></p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 2.0 is featured in November 2023 <em><a href="https://astronomytechnologytoday.com/2023/10/27/cod
Observatory 2.0.2https://codeobsession.com/news/2023/10/01/observatory-2-0-2/2023-10-01T04:35:00.000Z2023-10-01T16:24:55.158Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 2.0.2 is now available on the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>.</p>
<p>It resolves performance issues for images stored on NAS. Although you should never store an Observatory library file itself on NAS, Observatory requires quick random access to it after all, images <em>can</em> be stored on NAS. For best performance you should store the library files on your computer’s internal SSD or an SSD directly attached to it.</p>
<p>The File menu has a new “Delete Rejected Masters…” item. After an imaging session, drop the folder with your new images onto the Observatory application icon, then use the gallery browser or one with your canvas on a second monitor to quickly scan your images and reject those that are of unacceptable quality by pressing Control-Command-Zero (<code>^⌘0</code>). Afterwards in the browser bar deselect “Accepted” in the Image Type dropdown and you’ll see only those images you are about to remove. After verifying, choose “Delete Rejected Masters…” and Observatory will move all the rejected images to Finder’s trash.</p>
<p>PixInsight 1.8.9-2 was released a few weeks before Observatory 2, and has an important change buried in its release notes. Although it still accepts FITS WCS keywords when opening images, it will ignore them when saving XISF or FITS files. It now only writes astrometric solutions to PixInsight XISF files, and only using XISF properties. It’s a huge compatibility step backwards, as the FITS format and WCS FITS keywords are the standard in the astronomy community. PixInsight 1.8.9-2 still generates linear solutions in addition to its proprietary spline-based distortion corrections, and Observatory 2.0.2 adds support for these linear astrometric solution XISF properties.</p>
<p>The Quick Look preview action menu now also contains the STF option that was introduced in Observatory 2.0.1. It applies to the Quick Look preview and thumbnails. Please note that Quick Look thumbnails are cached by Finder, so changing it may not have any effect until you clear the Quick Look cache and relaunch Finder. Its main intended use is to temporary change how the Quick Look preview is displayed.</p>
<p>Observatory 2.0.2 has many more little improvements, like better asteroid magnitude estimates, a limit on image preview dimensions, a progress bar in the New Library window, and it fixes a few crashes. All changes can be found in the <a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">release notes</a>.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 2.0.2 is now available on the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" targe
Best New Apps and Updates on Mac App Storehttps://codeobsession.com/news/2023/09/16/mas/2023-09-16T15:35:00.000Z2023-09-16T14:58:41.260Z<p>Astrophotography has reached the front page of the Mac App Store! Open it and you will see <a href="/observatory/">Observatory 2</a> listed under <em>Best New Apps and Updates</em>. In the US Mac App Store it is currently shown on the front page.</p>
<p><img src="/news/img/MAS20230916.png" alt="Mac App Store"></p>
<p>Astrophotography has reached the front page of the Mac App Store! Open it and you will see <a href="/observatory/">Observatory 2</a> list
Observatory 2.0.1https://codeobsession.com/news/2023/09/10/observatory-2-0-1/2023-09-10T20:35:00.000Z2023-09-10T20:08:09.653Z<p>A small update to <a href="/observatory/">Observatory 2</a> has just been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>.</p>
<p>Observatory 2.0.1 fixes the “System is critically low on memory” alert a few users were reporting. This alert was implemented all the way back in Observatory 1.1 and intended for systems with a harddisk as their main storage device. Observatory 2 uses significantly less memory than Observatory 1.x and this alert is now obsolete, hence it has been removed.</p>
<p>There’s also a new “STF type” option in the General Settings for changing the default STF used by the canvas, thumbnails, exporting and sharing. This is useful if you only have processed images in your libraries. </p>
<p>Other changes can be found in the <a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">release notes</a>.</p>
<p>A small update to <a href="/observatory/">Observatory 2</a> has just been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory
Welcome to Your New Observatory!https://codeobsession.com/news/2023/09/05/observatory-2/2023-09-05T15:35:00.000Z2023-11-05T22:48:36.124Z<p><img src="/img/observatory/mbp@2x.png" alt="Observatory 2"></p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.0 was released on April 25, 2016, when OS X 10.11 El Capitan reigned. It has received many updates over the years, adding many new capabilities while maintaining compatibility with OS X 10.11 all the way to the upcoming macOS 14 Sonoma. Its most recent incarnation is Observatory 1.6.7, released earlier this year, and like many releases before it it runs natively on Intel and Apple silicon Macs.</p>
<p>Today we unleash the next major version of Observatory. It requires macOS 11 Big Sur or later. If you purchased Observatory 1.x and have a compatible system, you will automatically receive it.</p>
<p>A lot has changed.</p>
<p>Observatory’s user interface has been completely overhauled, making it more modern, powerful and much easier to use. Advanced searches can now be performed without creating a smart album, image calibration has been streamlined, and the new plate solver automatically adjusts itself to your imaging setup. Stacks are now cached, and there’s no need for creating a managed master from them to add adjustments, plate solve or use them for calibration. The orientation of images also has changed, to match other software. Importing performance has greatly improved and you can now continue using Observatory while importing or plate solving is in progress. The new rendering engine is Metal based instead of OpenCL. USNO-A2.0 and UCAC4 catalog support has been replaced by an internal Gaia catalog up to magnitude 16*.</p>
<p>But that’s not all. Observatory 2 has many more new features:</p>
<ul>
<li>Tagging and overlaying the positions of our solar system’s planets and 500,000 asteroids in images from the year 2000 onwards;</li>
<li>New watched folder features for keeping your libraries in sync with the file system, automatically importing images, creating albums and stacks;</li>
<li>An enhanced Quick Look extension with image metadata and for plate solved images, scale, orientation & grid overlays;</li>
<li>A Tag navigator to manipulate tags and display all images with a given tag. With a tag selected, Observatory even highlights the selected object in your plate solved images and displays additional information in its new Object inspector;</li>
<li>Dual monitor support: display images in a separate window or on a second monitor;</li>
<li>Magnitude limits for overlays and automatic tagging;</li>
<li>Display the most relevant image information in the new Overview inspector;</li>
<li>Select multiple images and export them as a movie;</li>
<li>Floating overlay, STF and activity panels; When dropping images onto the Observatory icon, they can now automatically be combined into a single library; Virtual Observatory adds ZTF search; there’s a new magnifier panel; and much, much more.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you purchased Observatory 1.x before, these new features are available for a deeply discounted “Upgrade from Observatory 1” In-App purchase. If you are new to Observatory and 2.x is your first purchase, then these features are included already.</p>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Enjoy!</a></p>
<p>* <em>With an optional In-App purchase the internal Gaia catalog can be extended all the way to magnitude 20. That’s more than 800 million stars in total!</em></p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p><img src="/img/observatory/mbp@2x.png" alt="Observatory 2"></p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.0 was released on April 25,
Observatory 1.6.7https://codeobsession.com/news/2023/01/14/observatory-1-6-7/2023-01-15T03:35:00.000Z2023-01-15T15:58:58.498Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.7 has been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>.</p>
<p>It improves the handling of WCS FITS headers generated by PixInsight. This fixes the overlays for images that have been plate solved with PixInsight.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.7 has been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" targ
Observatory 1.6.6https://codeobsession.com/news/2022/11/27/observatory-1-6-6/2022-11-28T04:05:00.000Z2022-11-27T20:15:25.439Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.6 has been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>.</p>
<p>This update fixes an issue with Observatory’s FITS/XISF/SBIG Quick Look plugin on macOS 13 Ventura.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.6 has been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" targ
Observatory 1.6.5https://codeobsession.com/news/2022/04/30/observatory-1-6-5/2022-04-30T21:05:00.000Z2022-04-30T20:03:03.265Z<p>Earlier this week blind plate solving temporarily stopped working in <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> because of a server change at <a href="https://nova.astrometry.net" target="_blank" rel="external">astrometry.net</a> that made the use of a secure connection mandatory. This change was swiftly reversed, but today we released Observatory 1.6.5 with minor enhancements that include the use of a secure connection for astrometry.net.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this week blind plate solving temporarily stopped working in <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> because of a server change a
Observatory 1.6.4https://codeobsession.com/news/2021/11/03/observatory-1-6-4/2021-11-03T16:11:06.000Z2021-11-03T15:11:54.989Z<p>After releasing <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.3 last week we received reports that this new version was crashing on macOS (née OS X) 10.11-10.13. Today‘s Observatory 1.6.4 fixes this issue.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p>After releasing <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.3 last week we received reports that this new version was crashing on macOS (
Observatory 1.6.3https://codeobsession.com/news/2021/10/26/observatory-1-6-3/2021-10-27T03:42:06.000Z2021-10-29T21:23:58.661Z<p>Check the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>, because we’ve just released <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.3. </p>
<p>It supports macOS 12 Monterey, and resolves an issue with SDSS image downloads in Virtual Observatory. This was caused by a change in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Archive service. It also addresses a pesky issue with the histogram. When adjusting it, Observatory could occasionally stop responding.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p>Check the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>, because we’ve j
Observatory 1.6.2https://codeobsession.com/news/2021/06/12/observatory-1-6-2/2021-06-12T13:42:06.000Z2021-10-23T11:29:26.035Z<p>We’ve just released <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.2 on the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>, a minor update focused on bug fixes.</p>
<p>It resolves an issue with Quick Look on Apple silicon, and missing metadata for the Keck Observatory Archive in Virtual Observatory. The latter was caused by a change in the Keck Observatory Archive service, and it could also lead to an error when saving the library.</p>
<p>Initial tests of Observatory on the first beta of the next major macOS version that will be released this fall, <a href="https://www.apple.com/macos/monterey-preview/" target="_blank" rel="external">macOS 12 Monterey</a>, didn‘t uncover any issues, so unless Apple breaks something along the way, I am hopeful that this will be a good upgrade from macOS 11 Big Sur.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p>We’ve just released <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.2 on the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" ta
Catalina Security Update 2021-002 breaks Observatoryhttps://codeobsession.com/news/2021/04/28/catalina-security-update-2021-002/2021-04-29T03:05:17.000Z2021-10-23T11:29:26.035Z<p>On April 26, 2021, Apple released Catalina Security Update 2021-002 (19H1030) for macOS 10.15.7.</p>
<p>This security update breaks OpenCL, a framework from Apple used by Observatory for processing images. After installing this update, Observatory will display the error message “<em>An error occurred while initializing OpenCL</em>“ upon launching, and terminates.</p>
<p>The release notes for the security update do not mention OpenCL, and I’m baffled how this got through Apple’s internal QA. Every application using OpenCL directly or indirectly is affected by this, not just Observatory. I’ve immediately filed a bug report with Apple but have not yet received a response.</p>
<p>Big Sur 11.3 (20E232) and Mojave 10.14.6 (Security Update 2021-003, 18G9028) have not been affected by this bug. Older macOS versions didn’t receive a security update so they too have not been affected. The regression exists only in the Security Update for macOS Catalina. Before applying it, OpenCL works correctly, but after applying it, it does not anymore.</p>
<p>I would normally never recommend this, but until this is resolved by Apple, please do not install Catalina Security Update 2021-002.</p>
<p><strong>Update 2021-05-06:</strong> Catalina Security Update Developer Beta 2021-003 fixes the issue, so I expect it to be resolved in the upcoming Catalina Security Update 2021-003.</p>
<p><strong>Update 2021-05-24:</strong> Today Apple released Catalina Security Update 2021-003 (19H1217) for macOS 10.15.7. Whereas the beta fixed the OpenCL regression, this public release does not. Apple retroactively breaks functionality in macOS, doesn‘t admit it, doesn‘t respond to a detailed bug report (FB9090655) that includes sample code to demonstrate the regression, and most importantly, doesn‘t fix it. What gives?</p>
<p>If you haven‘t installed Catalina Security Update 2021-002 yet, then you can safely install Catalina Security Update 2021-003. It contains all of the 2021-002 changes, but doesn‘t break OpenCL. Apple excluded the fix for the 2021-002 OpenCL regression that was in beta 19H1210 from it though, so applying 2021-003 after 2021-002 still leaves you with broken OpenCL. Interestingly, this also means that macOS 10.15.7 19H1217 on one system now may not be the same as macOS 10.15.7 19H1217 on another system. What a mess.</p>
<p><strong>Update 2021-06-03:</strong> If you have already installed the Catalina Security Update, you can solve the issue by restarting your Mac in macOS Recovery (press <code>⌘R</code> upon restart) and choosing <em>Install macOS</em>. This reinstalls macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H15). It will not erase any data, but do make a Time Machine backup beforehand anyway. You could then install Catalina Security Update 2021-003. The OpenCL issue may be hardware specific though, as on a Late 2013 MacBook Pro Catalina Security Update 2021-003 breaks it as well.</p>
<p><strong>Update 2021-08-12:</strong> Observatory is supported on macOS version 10.11 (El Capitan) all the way to the latest beta of upcoming macOS 12 (Monterey), but in the latest security updates on Catalina 10.15.7 Apple introduced a regression on some older hardware for which the only workaround is to revert these security updates, or upgrade macOS.</p>
<p>For example, Observatory runs fine on macOS 10.15.7 and the latest Catalina Security Update 2021-004 on a 2019 MacBook Pro and also on a Mid 2012 MacBook Air. But on a Mid 2012 and Late 2013 MacBook Pro it only runs with macOS 10.15.7 up to build 19H524, but not on any 19H1<em>xxx</em> build. It may be a coincidence, but these machines each have a NVIDIA GPU. The GPU shouldn’t matter, and OpenCL should at least be working on the CPU, but it doesn’t anymore since these last few security updates. The above mentioned workaround works well on these machines, and both the CPU and NVIDIA GPU are then supported.</p>
<p>To reiterate, the workaround on this older hardware is:</p>
<ul>
<li>Reboot the machine, press and hold <code>⌘R</code> to get into Recovery mode;</li>
<li>Choose “Install macOS”.</li>
</ul>
<p>This returns it to the original Catalina 10.15.7 (19H15), without affecting any data or applications. Of course, do make a Time Machine backup beforehand anyway.</p>
<p>If you are running macOS Catalina 10.15.7 on older hardware, before purchasing Observatory make sure to try the demo. It will show you if your system is affected by this issue.</p>
<p>On April 26, 2021, Apple released Catalina Security Update 2021-002 (19H1030) for macOS 10.15.7.</p>
<p>This security update breaks OpenC
FITS/XISF/SBIG Acorn image plugin 1.2https://codeobsession.com/news/2021/03/18/acorn-plugin-1-2/2021-03-18T04:25:00.000Z2021-06-11T22:27:57.363Z<p>Today <a href="https://flyingmeat.com/acorn/" target="_blank" rel="external">Acorn</a> 7 was released. Acorn has a new interface and is now fully optimized for Apple silicon Macs. We have updated our FITS/XISF/SBIG Acorn image plugin today as well, and like Acorn 7 it now also runs natively on Apple silicon.</p>
<p>After installing the plugin, you can open FITS, XISF and SBIG images with Acorn as easy as a JPEG or TIFF while maintaining the dynamic range in your images. The plugin is free, but you do need <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> and Acorn to use it. It’s a great addition to Observatory’s Quick Look and Spotlight plugins for the same image formats.</p>
<p>More information about the plugin and the download link can be found in the User Guide. Full release notes are <a href="/observatory/releasenotes_acio.html">here</a>.</p>
<p>Today <a href="https://flyingmeat.com/acorn/" target="_blank" rel="external">Acorn</a> 7 was released. Acorn has a new interface and is n
Observatory 1.6.1https://codeobsession.com/news/2021/02/23/observatory-1-6-1/2021-02-23T22:31:37.000Z2021-06-11T22:27:57.363Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.1 is now available on the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>.</p>
<p>In this update we have fixed a regression in the Library Navigator that was causing its overzealous closing of folders.</p>
<p>When importing images, Observatory now automatically handles the incorrect scale in the WCS solution generated by ASIAIR PRO. Overlays and tags in Observatory will now be correct if you use this device to plate solve your images.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.eso.org/" target="_blank" rel="external">ESO</a> has fixed a regression in their service to access raw observational data. As a result, access to the ESO archive using Observatory‘s Virtual Observatory has been restored. To better serve our needs in Observatory, we took this opportunity to adjust what data is returned. Results are now limited to the following instruments:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/lasilla/instruments/emmi.html" target="_blank" rel="external">EMMI</a>/LaSilla: A multipurpose instrument for observations in the visible wavelengths at La Silla Observatory in Chile, retired in 2008.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/fors.html" target="_blank" rel="external">FORS1</a>/VLT: An instrument at Paranal Observatory in Chile, retired in 2009 to make space for XSHOOTER.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/fors.html" target="_blank" rel="external">FORS2</a>/VLT: An instrument mounted on the VLT 8.2m UT1 Antu telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/omegacam.html" target="_blank" rel="external">OMEGACAM</a>/VST: A camera for the VLT Survey Telescope, a 2.6m telescope designed specifically for wide-field imaging at Paranal Observatory in Chile.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/decommissioned/vimos.html" target="_blank" rel="external">VIMOS</a>/VLT: A wide field imager mounted on the VLT 8.2m UT3 Melipal telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/lasilla/instruments/wfi.html" target="_blank" rel="external">WFI</a>/LaSilla: The Wide Field Imager is permanently mounted on the 2.2m MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/xshooter.html" target="_blank" rel="external">XSHOOTER</a>/VLT: An imager mounted on the VLT 8.2m UT2 Kueyen telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile.</li>
</ul>
<p>A change in the <a href="https://archive.stsci.edu/hst/" target="_blank" rel="external">HST</a> service prevented Observatory‘s Virtual Observatory from searching HST images. This has been resolved.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6.1 is now available on the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" targe
Apple Siliconhttps://codeobsession.com/news/2020/11/17/apple-silicon/2020-11-17T14:06:30.000Z2021-02-20T23:34:27.534Z<p><img src="/news/img/AppleSilicon@2x.png" alt="Apple silicon"></p>
<p>Apple silicon has arrived, and so did <a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.6! Observatory is now a macOS Universal app, which can run natively on both Apple silicon and Intel-based Mac computers.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p><img src="/news/img/AppleSilicon@2x.png" alt="Apple silicon"></p>
<p>Apple silicon has arrived, and so did <a href="/observatory/">Observ
Observatory 1.5.3https://codeobsession.com/news/2020/10/14/observatory-1-5-3/2020-10-14T13:00:00.000Z2020-11-11T17:51:11.373Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.5.3 has been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>.</p>
<p>The Calibrate adjustment now tolerates small differences in ISO speed, pedestal, gain and exposure duration for its calibration frame validation. This solves the issue where the calibration frame selections sometimes didn‘t list the expected master calibration frames.</p>
<p>The adjustment also gained the new option to skip most of the validation altogether. So if some of the metadata is incorrect, or you want to calibrate your image with a flat taken at a different sensor temperature, now you can without having to manually edit the metadata.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.5.3 has been released to the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" targ
Observatory 1.5.2https://codeobsession.com/news/2020/09/21/observatory-1-5-2/2020-09-21T22:01:14.000Z2021-02-20T23:34:27.534Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.5.2 is available on the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_blank" rel="external">Mac App Store</a>.</p>
<p>New in this release is that Observatory now always reopens libraries upon launching. Previously this behavior was determined by the “Close windows when quitting an app” setting of the General System Preferences, but since this setting is turned on by default, many users were not aware of this feature in Observatory.</p>
<p>Another improvement is related to the decrease in contrast of successive macOS releases. These changes affected the legibility of inspector, browser and editor labels in Observatory. This has been fixed.</p>
<p>The largest change however is one that becomes relevant only later this year. <strong>Observatory is now compatible with Apple silicon!</strong> Right now Apple doesn‘t allow us to release a universal binary that runs natively on Apple silicon and natively on Intel-based Mac computers, but Observatory is now compatible with Rosetta 2 translation on Big Sur.</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/releasenotes.html">Release notes</a>.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.5.2 is available on the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/observatory/id1037215068" target="_
Astronomy Technology Todayhttps://codeobsession.com/news/2020/07/02/astronomy-technology-today-14-6/2020-07-03T02:50:00.000Z2020-09-20T03:57:15.436Z<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.5.1 is featured in July 2020 <em><a href="https://astronomytechnologytoday.com/2020/06/18/code-obsession/" target="_blank" rel="external">Astronomy Technology Today</a></em> <strong>New Products / Industry News</strong>.</p>
<p><img src="/news/img/ATT_v14_i6@2x.jpg" alt="Astronomy Technology Today - Volume 14 Issue 6"></p>
<p><a href="/observatory/">Observatory</a> 1.5.1 is featured in July 2020 <em><a href="https://astronomytechnologytoday.com/2020/06/18/code-