explored Stellarium 0.12

Stellarium 0.12.0 is out! Ha. I had only downloaded a fairly new version (to me) a week or two ago. Started looking for differences. Did not see a lot, from 0.11.4 to this... At first.

Took a closer look at the Observability feature. It shows, for the selected object:

for today:

• rise time
• set time
• culmination time

and for the year:

• largest Sun separation
• nights above the horizon
• and a few other remarks.

I don't think I've seen this ability before: keyboard shortcuts may now be edited. That'll be interesting...

I think I found a few more new "standard" shortcuts:

• forward 1 sidereal month: Alt Shift ]
• backward  1 sidereal month: Alt Shift [
• increase time speed a little: Shift l (L) **
• toggle nebula background images: i
• copy selected object information to clipboard: Ctrl c
• show Keyboard Shortcuts window: F7

** I had this noted as Shift k in my older notes. Is that a typo on my part; or did they change it?

Holy cow. Shadows, from moons, may now be displayed on planets!

Shadows are possible now due to a new rendering engine. However, the frame rate tanks, if you zoom in really close! And some artefacts may appear on the screen. Still, this is a welcome change. The feature is turned on via the Configuration window, Tools tab: Render Solar Shadows. Yeh!

I noticed a small change in the Search tool with the Lists tab.

And I think there's no splash screen anymore, as the application starts. I don't why but I kinda miss that.

More updates are noted over at Launchpad.