FLO

We have added two more embeddable forecasts so you can now choose small, medium or large options To embed a Clear Outside cloud forecast in your forum signature, website or blog please go to your local forecast then click on the 'Embed forecast' button (top-left). The 'small' option is shown below in my signature but here are the 'medium' and 'large' for comparison:

Thank-you for the kind comments We have another update for the astronomy tools binocular calculator section. Manufacturers tend to specify a binocular's FOV either as metres @1000 metres or angular FOV in degrees, but rarely both. This can make comparing binoculars difficult so we have created calculators to convert one format to another. Hope you find them useful. Steve

The exit-pupli is currently available above and to the right of the image (see attached crop) but I guess if someone saves the image for later it would be useful if it were there too. Thank-you Rik

Another small but significant update. When comparing binocular FOVs using the astronomy tools FOV calculator the image text now includes exit-pupil size. You can select up to seven different binoculars and compare their magnification, objective diameter, FOV and exit-pupil size. This is true even if you are using the smaller astronomy tools window on our product description pages. Please see the Helios Apollo binocular and Opticron 80 WP binocular pages for examples. Hope you find it useful

It is normal for a forecast's accuracy to improve as the forecast time approaches but we like to think Clear Outside's multiple feeds and hourly updates give it an advantage over sites that use only a single feed and update less frequently. Having accurate location mapping helps too. We will happily take full credit for your clear sky Steve

Thank-you for taking the time to assess it over a number of days As you can imagine we have Clear Outside running continuously at FLO HQ and it is pretty accurate here too. I am looking forward to welcoming astro darkness at 01.07 tonight Not sure on the timescale atm (it will be our first app) but it will happen Steve

Thank-you Stevp FLO's sales and communications if charted would look like the Annual Darkness graphic above so we are making Clear Outside and Astronomy Tools as good as we possibly can before the busy season arrives.

Thank-you for your comments and feedback Here is another minor update following a request received earlier today. The 'Precipitation type' bar now displays a series of easy to read graphics to show how much rain is forecast.

Yes Clear Outside's calculations are based on your location, this is one of it's strengths and helps it stand out amongst similar sites using more general algorithms and less frequent updates. Even ISS passover times are calculated for your location. Steve

We have also created an annual darkness chart so you can see how night/day cycles change over the year for your location. The last bit is important, it is modelled on your location Please click on the 'annual darkness' button top-left. You can also embed it in your own website, blog or forum and, like the cloud forecasts, it is updated every hour. Below is an Annual darkness chart for my location.

The other updates are related and are in anticipation of the return of astro darkness. The daylight bar now has more clearly defined darkness indicators. For example it shows astro darkness (black) returns here in Exeter Wed 16th. Hovering over the bar shows the duration of astro darkness is 01.07 - 01.45. Cause for celebration we think

We have some more updates The first was requested a few days ago, it is a small embeddable forecast that people can put in their forum signatures or websites. My local forecast (for Exeter) can be seen in my signature below. It always starts on the current hour (updated hourly) and shows the forecast for the next 72 hours, in 2 hour increments. The thin black lines are midnight. We have made it small to suit signatures etc but is easy to read - the top row shows the usual green-amber-red cloud rating and the bottom row is the total cloud forecast (blue is minimum cloud cover, white is maximum). Clicking on the mini forecast will take you to the full forecast. To embed a forecast in your signature or website please go to your local forecast then click on the 'Embed forecast' button (top-left).

The astronomy tools Field Of View simulator now works for binoculars Simply click on 'Binocular Mode' then either enter your binocular details or select one of ours from a drop-down list. As with the telescope field of view simulator you can choose multiple binoculars and change the target displayed. You can even add telescopes for comparison. It has been released only today so the paint might be wet in places and there are only a handful of pre-entered binoculars but we will add more and you can also add your own for inclusion in the list (click the green button). A smaller version has been embedded in our Celestron Echelon 10x70 binocular page. If it proves popular we'll do the same at our other binocular pages. Hope you find it useful. If you find a bug or have a suggestion please let us know Steve http://www.firstlightoptics.com/user/products/celestron_echelon_binoculars.jpg

Last night Grant embedded the Astronomy Tools Field of View Simulator into our Baader Hyperion eyepieces page and pre-populated it with the Hyperion eyepiece FOVs. We have set the Skyliner 200p Dobsonian (our bestselling telescope) as default but you can choose another telescope. You can also remove or add other eyepieces to the display, including your own for comparison. You can even add a camera - ever wondered which eyepiece FOV most matches your camera's? Currently it only appears on the Hyperion eyepiece page but after it has been tested it will appear on other product pages. Not only eyepiece pages but telescopes and cameras too. These are early days (astronomy tools was launched only three days ago) so we have more work to do. In particular we need to add more scopes, eyepieces and cameras to the list. But we have made a start and hope you find it useful Steve

Funny you should say that because that option has already been built but isn't switched on. Grant was saying only yesterday it is his preferred view and it does make sense so we we'll make it live soon. Perhaps even later today. The 'Centre on Midnight' and 'Centre on Midday' options will remain Steve

Most of the attention at the moment is on the Astronomy Tools website launched yesterday but we haven't forgotten Clear Outside We have made some minor changes intended to make the forecast easier to use and faster to load: A number of people have asked for the Moon info bar to be larger, so that has been done. If you hover over the day bar you will see a popup with the Sun rise/set times. This feature now also works on touch devices (rather than hover, on touch devices you touch the bar for info). The same is true if you hover/touch on the Moon phase box. Clear Outside now auto-updates ISS passover details for locations that have been viewed in the past 7 days (the server will check every minute for locations that have been viewed in the past 7 days to see if it’s ISS data needs to be regenerated and if it does, it will do it). Previously the data was calculated/updated each time the page was loaded, which caused a delay. This will benefit those who check their forecasts at least once a week, they will notice the page loads much more quickly. The next significant update will be embeddable images that people can put in their forum signature or personal website showing their location's forecasts. Thank-you for using Clear Outside and for recommending it to friends

We will, and more We have also included a button that enables you to add new eyepieces, cameras and telescopes of your choice.

Sara, we dismissed the idea in an earlier stage of development, mostly because the images were slow to load, but I have asked Grant to put the function back so you can try it If you go to the FOV calculator page you will find a new search box (top-right) that loads images from the Digitized Sky Survey. Loading images will be slower but you now have access to the entire NGC, IC, Caldwell and Messier catalogues. Please try it then let us know what you think. HTH, Steve

Ah, we tried using live DSS images but had reservations because they can be quite slow loading. We will look into it again sometime but for now our preference is to add our own catalogue images to ensure they load quickly. What catalogues would you most like us to include Sara? I am also a fan of David Campbell's 12Dstring FOV calculator having found it useful a number of times over the years Steve

Hi Sara We can add whatever you like but this is only day one and we were confident the Messier objects would be most popular so launched with those. We will add more over time. I'm not sure what you mean by "In others they seem to link up to the DSS"? Please keep in mind we are not competing with other sites. The Astronomy Tools website is non-commercial so if it proves popular our reward will be only the personal satisfaction of knowing we contributed. Steve

For the imagers we have just added a CCD Calculators page with a CCD Resolution calculator, CCD Pixel Size calculator and a CCD Chip Size Calculator. The latter not only provides vertical and horizontal measurements but also the diagonal measurement often missed from manufacturer's product descriptions - useful when considering a telescope's imaging circle and when choosing filters.

We have just added Limiting Magnitude and Light Grasp calculators to the Telescope Capabilities page The Light Grasp calculator is fun. You can use it to compare two telescopes of different apertures, a telescope vs binocular or even a telescope vs your eye. For example the Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dobsonian gathers approx 6.44x more light than an Evostar 80ED, 16.48x more than a 10x50 binocular and 841x more than the human eye!

We launched it only an hour ago and already 10x new telescopes, 4x new cameras and 2x new eyepieces have been submitted. Thank-you Steve

Thank-you Our weather forecast for astronomers website took longer. We are all astronomers here at FLO (except the ladies in dispatch) so it has been a joint effort but Grant (our IT Manager) is the man behind the technical wizardry And Steve Richards (aka Steppenwolf) kindly agreed to kick it's tires during development. Thank-you Steve

Yes Over time we will enter details for all our telescopes, eyepieces and cameras. We have also included a button that enables you to add your own equipment. It doesn't need to be equipment available at FLO, we have made it a non-commercial stand-alone website so please feel free to add whatever equipment you like. Steve