VStar 2.25.0 was released on May 25 and is now available for download along with the current set of plug-ins.
See VStar | aavso for links to platform-specific downloads.
The release page on GitHub is Release 2.25.0 · AAVSO/VStar · GitHub
The previous release was on Jan 31 2024.
This is the 66th release of VStar, the first having been on November 13 2009.
Below is a summary of changes. Note that I have added “(Max)” after particular contributions (see acknowledgements below).
Model Creation
- New piecewise linear model plug-in from current mean series
- Loess fitter generated incorrect model representations (in Analysis → Models)
- DFT and Spectral window plug-in (Max)
- Small fix to DCDFT power values (Max)
User Interface
- Chart font and other appearance improvements (Max)
- “Plot Control” checkboxes sometimes went out of sync
- Custom axis titles (Max)
Data access
- VSX and AAVSO URL changes
- Changed authentication URL to copy-to-clipboard button
Observation transformer plug-ins
- Refined series selectable for Observation Transformer plugins
- Fixed Magnitude and Time Shifter plug-in counterintuitive behaviour
Observation source plug-ins
- Text box entry option for text based observation sources instead of loading from a file or URL
- Undo/redo for the code editor VeLa observation source code editor (Max)
- AAVSO Upload Format observation source complained about DSLR observation types
- Photometry search export format (CSV) observation source plug-in
- Fixes to the Gaia DR2/DR3 observation source plug-in (Max)
Observation sink plug-ins
- Download Format Observation Sink plug-in: problem with “Space” delimiter
- Flexible Text File Format Observation Sink plug-in (Max)
Other plug-ins
- VSXQuery plug-in extension: star’s vicinity image, SIMBAD link (Max)
- JD ↔ BJD-TDB time transformation (Max)
VStar expression Language (VeLa):
- Lambda symbol (λ) can now be used wherever the reserved word function is used (see generated loess model function for examples)
- Anonymous function when printed should say “function” not “anonymous”
- Simple numeric expression containing only literals yielded error in a particular circumstance
- Actual integer function parameter not always being coerced in the presence of a real parameter
- Generating more VeLa error messages
- Invalid “Dyadic optimisation error”
- Added arithmetic operations over lists in VeLa
- Functions with no return value, output “No value present” in VeLa dialog
- Alternative VeLa selection syntax (if)
- Stress testing function application (Y combinator) in VeLa yielded errors
- For more about VeLa, see VeLa · AAVSO/VStar Wiki · GitHub
The detailed change log is here: VStar/ChangeLog.txt at 2.25.0 · AAVSO/VStar · GitHub
Thanks as always to Maksym Pyatnytskyy (Max) for working on many of the features and bug fixes. We also review most of each others code contributions (via GitHub pull requests).
Thanks to Bert Pablo for installing the plug-ins on the appropriate AAVSO server, updating VStar | aavso and for patience in correspondence.
Interactions with Aru Bhoop were also appreciated as were conversations with Ari Das who was kindly tolerant of a new release close to the start of the current VStar CHOICE course.
Enjoy and feel free to provide feedback in the forum.
David