** VERSION 1.3.4 CHANGELOG

1. Views EQT and HOR: Ecliptic turned its color into ORANGE. Both Ecliptic and Celestial Equator are now more visible.
2. HOR View: added as optional the Equatorial Grid.
3. HOR View : added as optional the Ecliptical Grid.
4. HOR View: all grids visible do not contain degrees indications just to avoid maps being too crowded of symbols. On the other hand, all necessary coordinates for the mouse pointer are always present, Equatorial, Horizontal and Ecliptic (just added).
5. Rise/Set of Planets and Stars: panels containing dates have become active. If you will click inside a panel the Application goes to the date shown.
6. Main Form : a button called “Track Ref. Stars” has beed added. Just a quicker way to go tracking the twenty reference stars.
7. HOR View : declination of map center has been added. I found it useful when looking for a point of known declination between the mountains of a horizon profile in order to lock it.

8. Time Flow Panel: the box showing values (Minutes, Hours, etc.) contains new values. Pay attention to the fact that names are now different: “Minute” instead of “Minutes” and so on. If you have already saved events it means that values don’t match, so you have to update the current value and save the event again.

9. MacOS Dark Mode : checked again this mode to get consistent values of backgrounds and text colors inside the Application.

10. Locations File : added some Etruscan Sites.

11. USR_PATH : when the Application will run for the first time the directory containing all user files will be renamed from Uruk1_USR to UrukFSP_USR.

12. Options Form : added into the General section the possibility of setting Kv, the Atmospheric Extinction Coefficient. Values vary from 0.1 (perfect sky) up to 0.4 (the worst sky you can imagine). Normally a value of 0.2 is used to show extinction for tracked objects (EXTI). If you change the value of Kv, it won’t be retained after an Application Exit. You’ll find it again at 0.2.

13. The Tool CLOSEST LOCATION now refers to the map center. It’s no more necessary set the point to be analyzed to CURRLOC.

14. EARTH View : some change to the Orthographic View. White background and the sphere colorized with gradient. Uhm, I like it better.

15 – DeltaT calibration for DE441: it’s a matter of fact that F.R. Stephenson is rather skeptical about solar eclipse records prior to 750 BCE. Of course, he has its good reasons for being so, questioning whether the infamous KTU 1.78 tablet found at Ugarit actually refers to a total eclipse of the Sun observed in situ. We have several translations as well as interpretations on this tablet that if it really referred to an event that happened in 1223 BCE in Ugarit would create an anomaly in the trend of the DeltaT curve around that time. But after 1989 two relevant articles were published, questioning the reliability of KTU 1.78.

https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2008JHA….39..229S/0000241.000.html

https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/04-Guerrero.pdf

The first paper was written by Stephenson himself and the second one (the original text is in Spanish) by Marcelino Guerrero. In addition, there are studies regarding the relative stability of oceans level (see graph below) in the 6000 years preceding the current epoch suggesting that there should be no major deviations from the curve predicted for this period.

Credits : Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0

My conclusion is that if no new theses are made to clarify what exactly the content of this clay tablet refers to, it ceases to represent a key point for me, leading me to the conclusion that neither the eclipse of 1375 BCE nor that of 1223 BCE were total at Ugarit. Obviously my RC curve continues to show small differences compared to those adopted by NASA(2006) and IMCCE due to the fact that UrukFSP is the only one (for now) to use the DE441.

16 – Totality Path : contribution of atmospheric refraction can be switched off, just for comparison with standard representation. See Options -> Lunar & Solar Eclipses. My suggestion is to keep it on, though.

17 – Lunar Eclipse Navigator : now shown times can be set between TT, UT, LST/DST, LMST.

18 – HORIZONTAL VIEW : background color now depends on altitude of the Sun.

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19. Tools – Search for SS Alignments: improved computing and visual representation of results.

a) One only row for each event, containing the least distance found from reference point.
b) Old column P.A. changed with the altitude of the Sun. One can immediately realize if it is a diurnal or nocturnal event.
c) I adopted a variable step scanner (from 6s to 1hour) for increasing calculation speed and precision. The job won't take more than few seconds even on a I3 based machine.
d) Circle of analysis is now 1° of diameter, meaning that all least distances <= 30' are shown.

I will expand this topic on UrukFSP’s page on Facebook.

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20- New Tool : Heliacal and Achronic events for the 20 reference stars and Venus. The User has to choose the object altitude above the Horizon (compatible with the local profile, of course) and evaluate the correct Sun altitude below the Horizon, after computing is done. There are two groups of dates, RISING and SETTING, in order to analyze the corresponding events. The true magnitude (mag + atm. extinction) is shown, included the Kv parameter applied. Kv can be changed via the Options Form.

As an example it’s shown below :

1 – Sirius, Giza, 2000 BCE. ACHRONIC SETTING

2 – Sirius, Giza, 2000 BCE. HELIACAL SETTING

3 – Sirius, Giza, 2000 BCE. ACHRONIC RISING

4 – Sirius, Giza, 2000 BCE. HELIACAL RISING

I’ve chosen a Sun altitude of about -6°, corresponding to an Arcus Visionis of 9°, just to show how the simulation works.

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21 – New Tools : some useful real time clocks about Sun / Moon and Reference Stars.

Important prerequisites are:

• The computer running UrukFSP must have its internal clock updated by an NTP server. Normally Windows, Linux and MacOS satisfy this condition, as long as they are connected to Internet.
• The Current Location must be set accurately with the WGS84 coordinates where the computer lies. A GPS can help. All time infos are picked up from the computer internal clock, geographic position from CURRLOC, so accuracy of Local Sidereal Time, Topocentric Computing and Horizontal Coordinates depend on this data.

There are two separate windows for Sun /Moon and the 20 reference stars.

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New version is ready to be released on SEPT 23, day of the Autumn Equinox.

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NOTE : if you already have an earlier version of UrukFSP the new location file will not overwrite your local file contained into UrukFSP_USR/Locations. If you want the new file to be installed you have to rename the one already present into the above path. Location files are plain text files, so if you added a lot of new locations in your renamed file they can be transferred via copy and paste.

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NOTE : Unlike most programs, in UrukFSP moving in the EQT, HOR and STEREOGRAPHIC EARTH VIEW windows doesn’t require holding down the left mouse button and dragging it to the destination. Simply click the left mouse button on the new position that needs to be placed at the center of the window. Alternatively, it is possible to rotate the current window by moving the mouse over the boxes indicating AR, DEC, ALT, AZM, LON, LAT if enabled, and acting on the mouse wheel. This can be done in steps of 10°, 1°, 1′, 1″.

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