MegaStar V5.x Program Updates

The most recent update is V5.0.12, released April 3, 2006. Click on "Help | About" in MegaStar to see what version you are currently running.

V5.0.12 fixes a problem downloading DSS images, due to changes made by STScI in the image access commands.

V5.0.11 made the following changes:

Support for the new Lowell asteroid file format was implemented.
A new menu item was added to the SolarSys menu. "Find Fastest or Brightest" will display a list of the 20 brightest or fastest (in apparent motion) asteroids currently visible.

To update MegaStar, unzip the following file to the folder where MegaStar is installed. The current MegaStar5.exe file must be replaced.

Download MegaStar5012.zip (V5.0.12, April 3, 2006, 725 KB)

Download the latest Help file (Last revised March 11, 2003. 160 KB)

WDS Data

A new Washington Double Star data file is available (Jan 31, 2003). This update fixes a processing problem in the original version which caused a reversal of the Declination sign for many of the entries.
Note: In order to use this update, you must be accessing the "StarData" files from your hard drive and not from the CD-ROM.
Run the self-extracting exe file below and extract the contents into MegaStar's "StarData" folder. To confirm the proper path for your installation, click the "File | Select Directories" menu in MegaStar and look at the path specified for "Non-GSC Stellar Data".

Download wds013103.zip (2.3 MB)

DSO Data

A new DSO database is available (Jan 31, 2003). This update adds 30 objects from the V4 database that were omitted in V5. You may want to click here to check the object list before downloading.
Run the self-extracting exe file below and extract the contents into the MegaStar "working" directory ("start in" folder).

Download dso013103.zip (3.7 MB)

RealSky Conversion Utility

If you frequently move around the sky with RealSky displayed, the need to swap CDROMs can become annoying. This can be avoided by putting the RealSky data onto your hard drive. To do this, you will need to use the LoadRS.exe program. Run this program by double-clicking the LoadRS.exe file in Windows Explorer, or by using the Run command in the Start menu. Click on “Help | Tutorial” in LoadRS for instructions. To load the entire RealSky onto your hard drive will require about 11 GB of free disk space. However, you can load only a portion of the sky if you want. After placing the data on the hard drive, select the Read data from hard drive option in the RealSky Options dialog box. You must also enter the path on the hard drive where the data has been loaded. A “Browse” button is provided for navigating the hard drive folders. If only a portion of the RealSky has been loaded, you may want to also select the option Use CD-ROM if HD data is not found . MegaStar will then try to access the data from the CD-ROM drive if the data is not found on the hard drive.

Download Loadrs.zip (200K)

Miscellaneous

Click here to see the complete list of previous updates

Click here to update comet and asteroid orbital elements

Go to the Software Upgrades home page

Go to the MegaStar home page