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All The Dates Are Out Of Sync!

Something has happened with Sky Safari 6. All the dates in the early AD period and BC period are inaccurate. The days do not fall on the accurate days of the week, nor do the lunar phases fall on the accurate days. I'm trying to inform the creator of Sky Safari about this issue, and I have not had any luck. This is a major problem because how can people depend on Sky Safari for accuracy if the days in the early AD period and BC period are off? Please, whoever is in charge of Sky Safari, check all the dates of the early AD period and BC period. Look at any calendar that goes as far as the BC period and compare it all the days of the BC period in Sky Safari, you will notice that all the days do not fall on the accurate days of the week. You will also see that the lunar phases do not fall on the precise days of the month. This was not always the case. I have been usung Sky Safari since last year and everything was perfect. Beginning on January 16th, all of the dates of the past have been off. I don't understand why. Please, someone do not ignore this message because this is very troubling. I don't think the creators of sky safari realizes this issue. I wish there was a way I could direcrly contact them.
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12 comments

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    Keiron Smith

    Issac, 

    I will discuss with the developers.

    Thanks!

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    Keiron Smith

    Issac, 

    1. What device and OS are you using?
    2. What version of SkySafari?  Look in Help > Scroll to the bottom.

    Thanks!

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    Keiron Smith

    Issac, 

    Please also provide a few examples of how SkySafari 6 dates are inaccurate.  Please provide comparisons using other reputable sources, i.e. NASA, to help explain not just that you believe the dates are incorrect, but showing what the correct date should look like.

    Thanks!

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    Isaac Stain

    I'm using Android Samsung Galaxy 6, and I'm using Sky Safari Pro 6.

    Just to give you some examples of what I'm noticing:

    For the year 3967 B.C., it shows that October 4th fell on a Wednesday. This is incorrect. If you look at any B.C. calendar, October 4th, 3967 B.C. fell on a Saturday.

    For the year 3960 B.C., it shows that September 17th fell on a Saturday. That is incorrect. If you look at any B.C. calendar, you'll see that September 17th, 3960 B.C. fell on a Friday.

    When it comes to the lunar phases, for the year 30 AD, Sky Safari Pro 6 used to show that the New Moon began on March 22nd, which was accurate. But now it's showing the New Moon beginning on March 24th, which is two days off.

    Like I said I don't know what has happened. All I know is that all of this started happening on January 16th of this year. Prior to that day, all the days of the week of the early AD period and BC period fell on the accurate days of the week, and the lunar phases fell on the accurate days of the month. Since January 16th, everything went out of sync. All of the dates of the modern period and future period still look the same. But the past periods are all screwed up.

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    Ros Hartigan

    Thanks for letting us know about this Isaac!

    Can you tell us the complete version of SkySafari 6 Pro?  You can find it if you go to the help section and scroll all the way to the bottom. It should say something like SkySafari 6 Pro 6.8.0.0

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    Isaac Stain

    Here are B.C. calendars that you can compare to Sky Safari's BC calendar:

    1. Rosetta Calendar
    https://www.rosettacalendar.com/

    2. Julian Day Civil Date Calculator
    https://core2.gsfc.nasa.gov/time/julian.html

    3. Fourmilab's Calendar Converter
    https://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/calendar/

    Check each of the above calendar sites, and you will see that all of the dates of the BC period in Sky Safari Pro 6 are out of sync (they do not fall on the accurate days of the week)

    Here are two prominent lunar phase sites:

    1. Moon Calendar
    http://www.paulcarlisle.net/mooncalendar/

    2. Six Millennium Catalog of Phases of the Moon
    http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/phasescat/phasescat.html

    If you look at the early AD periods and perhaps some of the BC periods on these Web sites, you will see that the dates of the lunar phases do not match the dates of the lunar phases of Sky Safari Pro 6.

    For instance, according to to both astronomical sites, the New Moon in March of 30 AD began on March 22nd. This is exactly what Sky Safari Pro 6 showed on its program up until January 16th of this year. Now it shows the New Moon in March of 30 AD falling on March 24th, which is two days off.

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    Isaac Stain

    Thank you for letting me know.

    I am using SkySafari Pro, Version 6.7.8.1

     

    ### Follow Up ###

    Hi, this is Isaac again. The following post is a repost in response to the questions that I was given about the issues I raised regarding the dates in Sky Safari being out of sync. The reason I am reposting this is because I wasn't sure how to properly reply back, so I wasn't sure if my posts got read. Just in case it didn't I went ahead and reposted my response below. If any of you have already read my response posts, then you can ignore this post. But if any of you were unable to see my responses, please continue reading below: My Response: I'm using Android Samsung Galaxy S6, and I'm using SkySafari Pro, Version 6.7.8.1 Just to give you some examples of the issues I'm noticing: For the year 3967 B.C., it shows that October 4th fell on a Wednesday. This is incorrect. If you look at any B.C. calendar, October 4th, 3967 B.C. fell on a Saturday. For the year 3960 B.C., it shows that September 17th fell on a Saturday. That is incorrect. If you look at any B.C. calendar, you'll see that September 17th, 3960 B.C. fell on a Friday. When it comes to the lunar phases, for the year 30 AD, Sky Safari Pro 6 used to show that the New Moon in March began on March 22nd, which was accurate. But now it's showing the New Moon beginning on March 24th, which is two days off. Like I said, I don't know what has happened. All I know is that all of this started happening on January 16th of this year. Prior to that day, all the days of the week of the early AD period (all the dates before the modern era) and BC period fell on the accurate days of the week, and the lunar phases fell on the accurate days of the month. Since January 16th, everything went out of sync. All of the dates of the modern period and future period still look the same. But the past periods are all screwed up. Here are B.C. calendars that you can compare to Sky Safari Pro 6's BC calendar: 1. Rosetta Calendarhttps://www.rosettacalendar.com/ 2. Julian Day Civil Date Calculator https://core2.gsfc.nasa.gov/time/julian.html 3. Fourmilab's Calendar Converterhttps://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/calendar/ Check each of the above calendar sites and you will see that all of the dates of the B.C. period in Sky Safari Pro, Version 6.7.8.1 are out of sync (they do not fall on the accurate days of the week) Here are two prominent lunar phase sites: 1. Moon Calendarhttp://www.paulcarlisle.net/mooncalendar/ 2. Six Millennium Catalog of Phases of the Moon http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/phasescat/phasescat.html If you look at the early AD periods (all the dates before the modern era) and perhaps some of the BC periods on these Web sites, you will see that the dates of the lunar phases do not match the dates of the lunar phases of Sky Safari Pro, Version 6.7.8.1 For instance, according to both astronomical sites, the New Moon in March of 30 AD began on March 22nd. This is exactly what Sky Safari Pro Version 6.7.8.1 used to show on its program up until January 16th of this year. Now it shows the New Moon in March of 30 AD falling on March 24th, which is two days off.

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    Isaac Stain

    Hello, this is Isaac. I apologize for reposting my last response. I just wanted to make sure that my last response got read. I wasn't sure how to properly reply back to a comment. If any of you were able to read the response I made yesterday at 10:38 a.m. CDT, I would much prefer that you all copy and paste the links I posted in that comment than from the "Follow Up" comment because I noticed that the links I posted in the "Follow Up" comment are all munched together, making it difficult to copy and paste them. I provide those same links in the comment I made yesterday at 10:38 a.m. CDT. That was the original penultimate comment I made on this page. The links are important because they answer the questions that you all need to resolve the current issue.

    I just want to take a moment to thank you guys for all the hard work that you are doing; I know it's not easy. You guys are very nice and patient, and I really appreciate that. Sky Safari Pro is truly the best astronomical software I've ever used, and I want to continue using it for my astronomical research.

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    Keiron Smith

    Issac, 

    Please check you are running the latest version of SS6 and let us know if the issue with date syncs is resolved.

    Thanks!

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    Isaac Stain

    Hello, Keiron. The issue still exists. I even uninstalled the version I was using and installed the latest version, but the problem is still there.

    I was originally using Sky Safari Pro 6 version 6.7.8.1

    I unistalled the previous version and installed the latest version of Sky Safari Pro 6, which is 6.8.0.6

    The issue exists in the latest version as well.

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    Keiron Smith

    Thanks, Issac! 

    I will update here shortly.

    We are working on it!

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    Jmh

    Has this been fixed?  I'm not so much interested in the days of the week as the correlation of dates to lunar phases.

    I just cross-checked the Babylonian new lunar month observations for Nisanu 1, 71 SE against the Julian date April 8, 241 BCE and the simulation in Sky Safari was pretty much spot on - certainly well within the margins of error for the visual observations.  So that is one data point that indicates that the current dates are accurate with respect to lunar phases.  But... it doesn't go back to 3000 BCE either.

    I'm using Sky Safari Pro 7 with the location set to Baghdad to explain how the Babylonians did astronomy.  Eventually I will enter Babylon as its own location, but Baghdad is only 30-40 miles off, and that's good enough for now :).

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