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How Come Asteroid Positions Are Not Correct In SS5 Pro, But Are Correct In SS6 Pro & SS3 Pro? (User Needs Community Support)

J Oltion

April 12, 2021 22:35

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Several asteroids aren't positioned correctly in SkySafari 5 Pro. Vesta, Juno, and Metis, are quite a ways off. This occurs with both the Android and iOS versions. I've updated the minor body orbit data, set the date and time correctly, set my location, set precession to the current epoch, and enabled "light time" as well as all the other corrections. I've checked its position in SS 6 Pro (both Android and iOS) and it's correct, and it's correct in SS 3.8.5 Pro, so this seems to be an SS 5 issue.

Any suggestions? I don't think reinstalling is the answer, since it's occurring on both my Android and iOS platforms. (At least it's consistent, eh?) Updating isn't a good answer, since I already have SS 6 and prefer the way 5 works. I'm hoping I've simply got something set wrong. Thanks!

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  J Oltion November 09, 2021 04:08

  I may have found a clue: I noticed that Ceres is displaying improperly in SS 3 and in SS 5, but is correct in SS 6, so I looked at the "orbital epoch" in the "info" panel for Ceres under each version. In SS 3, the epoch is 12/9/2014, despite having recently updated minor body orbit data. In SS 5, the epoch is 2/16/2017. In SS 6, it's 10/13/2021. And sure enough, Ceres's position is farthest off in SS 3, off a little bit less in SS 5, and is correct in SS 6.

  So apparently the major asteroids' positions aren't updated when you update minor body orbit data in versions 3 and 5, and there's enough accumulated error over the years to affect their placement within SkySafari.

  Is there any way to force an update of the *major* body orbit data in versions 3 and 5? (I realize old versions are no longer supported, but hope springs eternal.)

  BTW, This problem is cross-platform. I get the same results with the android and iOS versions.