Release: TOPCAT v4.0b, STILTS v2.5

[Mark Taylor]

Hi all,

this is to announce version 4.0b of TOPCAT and version 2.5 of STILTS.

The headline is a complete rewrite of the plotting windows in TOPCAT.
You can see an introduction here:

   http://www.starlink.ac.uk/topcat/v4_graphics.html

and full documentation here:

   http://www.starlink.ac.uk/topcat/sun253/plot2.html

Note however this functionality is somewhat experimental in this release
(hence the "b" on the version number).  There are probably bugs and
the user interface may undergo some revision based on user feedback.
For this reason the new plot windows are available only from
the Graphics menu in the main control window, and the existing
plot windows are still in place with no changes, so you can continue
to use the classic versions if you like.

Feedback on the new functionality of any kind (even saying just that
you're using it, or that you think it's rubbish) would be very welcome,
either to me direct, or to the topcat-user mailing list.
Nice screenshots gratefully accepted too.

Other items of note:

 - TOPCAT gets a new logo for its tenth birthday!  I never had any 
   legal right to use the Hannah-Barbera cartoon image, and my
   conscience finally got to me.  It's still a yellow cat.

 - Sky pixel functionality: TOPCAT and STILTS use MOCs to interrogate
   VizieR for multi-cone searches, which can make it a lot faster.
   Also new tools pixfoot (generates MOC files) and pixsample (samples
   from HEALPix files) in STILTS.

 - VOTable 1.3 fully implemented, including STILTS votlint validation

 - K-Correction code using Chilingarian/Zolotukhin algorithm

 - IPAC format can now be written as well as read

These releases also contain multiple bugfixes and smaller enhancements;
it's been more than a year since the last public releases.  Sorry about
the wait.  See the web pages and version histories for details:

    http://www.star.bristol.ac.uk/~mbt/stilts/
    http://www.star.bristol.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/

Happy Easter!

Mark

--
Mark Taylor   Astronomical Programmer   Physics, Bristol University, UK
m.b.taylor at bris.ac.uk +44-117-9288776  http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/