The new version of NightCal Astronomical Observing Software (version 0.7.2) has been released today (6th January 2006). YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT FREE NOW FROM www.nightcal.co.uk . NightCal is a simple, practical tool for basic observation session planning. It produces a single A4 sheet monthly calendar telling the user when it gets dark, when the Moon rises and sets and what the Moon should look like when it does make an appearance. It also provides data on the elongation of the inferior planets and a quick aide mémoire for planetary conjunctions. The output is designed to be printed so that you can stick it on your notice board at home or at work or saved as a graphics file for inclusion in newsletters or publishing on the web. We hope you find it useful.
This new version (0.7.2) contains many improvements including:
- Full installation program.
- Ability to view help files from within NightCal.
- New special greyscale calendar printing option optimised for viewing printed output in red light.
- Southern hemisphere users can now have the Moon graphic rotated.
- Implementation of options window to allow you to control the display of calendar information and to alter some default values, including:
- Option to input/display latitude and longitude in decimals.
- Option to start calendar on any day of the week.
- Option for which form of evening twilight to display (Civil, Nautical or Astronomical)
- Half hour increments introduced for time zones.
Plus numerous other enhancements, tweaks and minor bug fixes. Please note that the minimum operating system specification has been raised from Windows ‘95 to Windows ‘98.

If you like NightCal software, please feel free to rate it and post comments about NightCal at http://www.astrotips.com/Downloads-index-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-673-ttitle-NightCal.phtml.

Robert and Michael Morris