SpaceEngine News

Hey folks!

Thanks again for your diligent Beta testing! Today we're bringing the High-Resolution Screenshot Tool to public, enabling you to take a screenshot of any reasonable (or unreasonable!) resolution, even if you have less than stellar hardware! The new tool can be found on the left tool bracket and shares an icon with the default screenshot button.

In case you missed it: we celebrated five years on steam with the Beta launch of the new tool; the accompanying blog post includes a brief look back on our development as well as a guide on using said tool. Read up on it here: https://spaceengine.org/news/blog240611/

We're still on the lookout for any bugs that sneak through. Keep us posted in the Troubleshooting Discussion threads!

[h3]Changelog:[/h3]

[h4]New Additions[/h4]

• Fixed a bug in the Star Browser where planet/moon temperature and temperature class results didn't match the actual system when visited
  
• Fixed several bugs and issues with the high-resolution screenshot tool
  

[h4]Additions from Beta[/h4]

• Added high-resolution screenshot tool (See linked blog post for a how-to!)
  
• Improved integration of Settings and Tools windows with the main menu
  
• Updated exoplanet and host star catalog
  
• Updated binary asteroid catalog
  
• Improved the appearance of Eris and Sedna (for real this time!)
  
• Miscellaneous catalog fixes, such as the distance to galaxy and black hole S5 0836+71
  
• Added button to video capture dialog to open the output folder
  
• Added missing gamma correction to several tone mapping options
  
• Added new tone mapping options: AgX Punchy, Reinhard SE, Rec 709, and sRGB
  -Rec 709 and sRGB are mainly for reference, they are not designed for HDR content and clip harshly with bright pixel values; manual exposure adjustment recommended for best results.
  
• Fixed some settings not saving while in the main menu
  

Hey folks!

It's been five years to the day since SpaceEngine was released on Steam. We're celebrating this milestone with the addition of a high-resolution screenshot tool, letting you capture the universe in greater detail than ever before!

We've put together a blog post with a how-to for the new tool, as well as a retrospective of our development! Check it out here: https://spaceengine.org/news/blog240611/


We're also expecting some bugs with this Beta, so be sure to report any you find in the Troubleshooting and Bug Reports Discussion tab on Steam or #bug-reports on the official Discord! (Remember to include as much detail as possible!)

[h3]Changelog[/h3]

• Added high-resolution screenshot tool (See linked blog post for a how-to!)
  
• Improved integration of Settings and Tools windows with the main menu
  
• Updated exoplanet and host star catalog
  
• Updated binary asteroid catalog
  
• Improved the appearance of Eris and Sedna (for real this time!)
  
• Miscellaneous catalog fixes, such as the distance to galaxy and black hole S5 0836+71
  
• Added button to video capture dialog to open the output folder
  
• Added missing gamma correction to several tone mapping options
  
• Added new tone mapping options: AgX Punchy, Reinhard SE, Rec 709, and sRGB
  -Rec 709 and sRGB are mainly for reference, they are not designed for HDR content and clip harshly with bright pixel values; manual exposure adjustment recommended for best results.
  
• Fixed some settings not saving while in the main menu
  

Thanks to everyone who partook in the Beta! The public release has a few more additions which will be highlighted along with the patch notes from the Beta. Dr. Megan highlighted one of the new exoplanets, as well as two new black hole systems, in celebration of our new celestial neighbo(u)rs!

Read all about it here: https://spaceengine.org/news/blog240417/


[h3]Changelog:[/h3]

[h4]New Additions[/h4]

• Added AgX tonemapping mode
  
• Added Gaia BH2 and BH3 black hole systems
  

[h4]Additions from Beta[/h4]

• Updated rotation models for moons in our solar system to be more precise (DE436 model for Earth's moon, and IAU rotation for other moons in the Solar system)
  -Known issue: rotation begins to drift at the distant past or future (around the 20,000 year mark from the present)
  
• Date/time field on the Navigation toolbar now accepts input in Julian date format (for example: J2460409 was the day of the 2024 eclipse)
  
• Added a new stellar limb darkening function (WIP)
  
• Updated spectral types for 60,000+ catalog stars
  
• Updated distances for 100,000+ catalog stars, as well as some black holes and their hosts (mostly minor, only a few thousand are more significant)
  
• Added 810 new brown dwarfs
  
• Added a few dozen new exoplanets/host stars
  
• Added missing 'B' components of exoplanet-hosting binaries
  
• Updated naming conventions for some stars and nebulae
  
• Added an accretion disk to T CrB B (aka, The Blaze Star)
  
• Updated Uranus and Neptune's new moons, and tweaked their atmosphere colors to be more accurate
  
• Improved the appearance of Eris, Dysnomia, and Sedna
  
• Updated greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth's atmosphere
  
• Adjusted shadow and totality mask of the recent eclipse
  
• Tweaked atmosphere visuals for Galilean satellites
  
• Fixed Europa's classification/composition (it's a terra, not an aquaria)
  
• Updated albedo of Dione
  
• More climate model bug fixes, largely related to wind speeds
  
• Fixed eclipse shadow sizes being larger than they should
  
• Fixed carbon star spectral types for catalog planets always presenting as C-R
  
• Updated the asteroid (16) Psyche
  
• Fixed visibility distance of star cluster particles
  
• Removed flags from the language selection list
  
• Pruned duplicate catalog entries
  

Hey folks!

Hope you enjoyed the eclipse! The ongoing refactoring process still demands high commitment, but we wanted to get something out to address the new science and add our newest exoplanetary neighbors as our work continues!

Dr. Megan's pick this round is our newly discovered neighbour, TOI-715 b. Discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), this super-Earth is only 137 light years from our Solar System. TOI-715 b orbits within a conservative habitable zone around its cool, red host star, meaning it could potentially host liquid water! That's not to say TOI-715 b is a hospitable world; it is on a tidally locked orbit, so the same hemisphere always faces its host star, giving it a hot front-side and a cold back-side. TOI-715 b is 0.08 AU from its host star (closer than Mercury is to the Sun!), and its orbital period is only 19 days!



This may just be the beginning of the exciting news from the TOI-715 system, as it is suspected that another, smaller planet may also be present. If this second planet is confirmed, be sure to be on the look out for its future appearance in SpaceEngine!

Additional reading: NASA Press Release https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/discovery-alert-a-super-earth-in-the-habitable-zone/

Remember to opt in on Steam to access the Beta build! Right click Steam in your Library, click Properties>Betas, and select 'beta- public beta branch' from the dropdown list!

As always, please share any bugs or inconsistencies you find in the relevant channels: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports on Steam or #bug-reports on the official Discord!

[h3]Changelog[/h3]

• Updated rotation models for moons in our solar system to be more precise (DE436 model for Earth's moon, and IAU rotation for other moons in the Solar system)
  -Known issue: rotation begins to drift at the distant past or future (around the 20,000 year mark from the present)
  
• Date/time field on the Navigation toolbar now accepts input in Julian date format (for example: J2460409 was the day of the 2024 eclipse)
  
• Added a new stellar limb darkening function (WIP)
  
• Updated spectral types for 60,000+ catalog stars
  
• Updated distances for 100,000+ catalog stars, as well as some black holes and their hosts (mostly minor, only a few thousand are more significant)
  
• Added 810 new brown dwarfs
  
• Added a few dozen new exoplanets/host stars
  
• Added missing 'B' components of exoplanet-hosting binaries
  
• Updated naming conventions for some stars and nebulae
  
• Added an accretion disk to T CrB B (aka, The Blaze Star)
  
• Updated Uranus and Netrune's new moons, and tweaked their atmosphere colors to be more accurate
  
• Improved the appearance of Eris, Dysnomia, and Sedna
  
• Updated greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth's atmosphere
  
• Adjusted shadow and totality mask of the recent eclipse
  
• Tweaked atmosphere visuals for Galilean satellites
  
• Fixed Europa's classification/composition (it's a terra, not an aquaria)
  
• Updated albedo of Dione
  
• More climate model bug fixes, largely related to wind speeds
  
• Fixed eclipse shadow sizes being larger than they should
  
• Fixed carbon star spectral types for catalog planets always presenting as C-R
  
• Updated the asteroid (16) Psyche
  
• Fixed visibility distance of star cluster particles
  
• Removed flags from the language selection list
  
• Pruned duplicate catalog entries
  

This small patch adds another check to the shader compiling process, and automatically disables old Workshop addons which have invalid or incompatible shader pak file encryption.

[h3]Changelog[/h3]

• Workshop addons with incompatible shaders or shader pak files are automatically disabled with a popup message
  
• Minor catalog update