What’s New in 3.1.0
- Interactive Framing Assistant – visually frame your targets with your own rigs, rotation, and quick-link restore.
- Rig FOV Indicator – always see your selected rig’s sky coverage.
- Improved Stability – no more disappearing overlays, safer URL handling, and smoother UI consistency.
I’m excited to announce Nova DSO Tracker v3.1.0!
Just days after the 3.0 milestone, this release brings another major feature: an interactive Framing Assistant that makes it easier than ever to compose your astrophotography shots with your own rigs.
This new tool builds directly on the redesigned configuration and rig system introduced in 3.0 — together, they turn Nova into a complete planning and framing solution.
Major New Feature
Interactive Framing Assistant
- Accessed directly from the object details screen (where the altitude graph is shown).
- Opens an interactive Aladin Lite view centered on your target.
- Overlays your selected rig’s field of view, with full support for rotation.
- Provides a quick-link restore function, so you can save and reopen exact framing setups (rig + rotation + center).
- Includes a live “FOV (Rig)” indicator in the corner to remind you exactly how much sky your setup covers.
With this assistant, you can visually test how your targets fit into your rigs and adjust orientation before a night in the field.
Recap of Major Features from 3.0
- The Outlook Tab
Automatically finds the best imaging opportunities for your project targets, scoring nights by altitude, duration, moon phase, and separation. - Redesigned Configuration Page
A clean, tabbed layout for General, Locations, Objects, and Rigs, harmonized for a professional feel. - Comprehensive Rig Management
- Define telescopes, cameras, reducers/extenders in a component database.
- Combine them in the Rig Builder, with automatic calculation of effective focal length, f/ratio, FOV, and image scale.
- Interactive sampling calculator with instant feedback and tips (like binning suggestions).
- “Framing With Your Rigs” Table
In each object’s detail page, shows how well the target fits into each rig (Good Fit, Wide Field, Fits with Rotation, Mosaic Required). - Automatic Update Notifications
Nova now alerts you in the header when a new version is available on GitHub.
Improvements & Fixes
- Stabilized rig FOV frame drawing (no more disappearing overlays when adjusting rotation).
- Improved handling of saved framing URLs with safer parsing and fallback logic.
- Minor UI harmonization tweaks to keep the framing assistant consistent with the rest of the app.
Thank you for using Nova DSO Tracker!
With v3.1.0, Nova has evolved from a planner into a full plan + frame assistant for astrophotographers. We can’t wait to see how you use it in your next imaging sessions.