Telescope Reviews: New VMA Pro 4.0 version

Dear colleagues,

The Virtual Moon Atlas exists now since 6 years. During this period, it as been downloaded near 500 000 times by amateur astronomers worlwide. It is also used by some professional observatories, research institutions, astronomical magazines and Web sites.

For the 6th anniversary of its creation, we are happy to announce you the new version "Pro" 4.0, important evolution of the Virtual Moon Atlas.. It presents :

THE NEW MODULE "POCKETLUN" ©:
It’s the translation of VMA "Light" version on Pocket PC ! It allows you a more easier field use of VMA (in your hand !) and becomes a real interactive partner with the audio
comments it can handle. This module is an exclusive complement to the CD PRO 4.0 version,

THE NEW PICTURES MANAGER MODULE "PHOTLUN" ©:
We release "PHOTLUN", a pictures manager that allows you to select formations pictures, to view, rotate and process them about luminosity or contrast, and to
magnify them. And you can record the selected setup to find them later.

THE NEW « LUNAR ORBITER » HIGH RESOLUTION TEXTURE :
USGS has recently released new Moon surface map built on Lunar Orbiter pictures partially destripped. We have improved these datas to provide to VMA users a new exclusive texture that shows the highest lunar surface resolution available in computerized lunar atlases.

THE NEW « CLEMENTINE RATIO » and « ALBEDO » SCIENTIFIC OVERLAYS :
These new high resolution overlays based on exclusives datas from Clementine probe show very clearly soils composition and albedo differences.

THE NEW « PYROCLASTIC DEPOSITS » SCIENTIFIC DATABASE :
Beyond traditional databases compiling public IAU officially named formations, it exists peculiar formations with a huge scientific interest that have to be included in VMA databases. After the "Historical sites" database, here is now the "Pyroclastic deposits" database presenting volcanic ashes deposits on lunar surface compiled by Lisa Gaddis and her team. Sure, these deposits are localized
on the map and can be sorted with DATLUN © VMA database manager.

THE NEW « BEST OF AMATEURS » PICTURES LIBRARY INCLUDING :
The new "Best of Lazzarotti" pictures :
Paolo Lazzarotti is presently the most prolific lunar imager releasing his high resolution pictures to others amateurs. In this new library, more than 450 pictures formations have been extracted from Paolo production.

The new "Best of Higgins" pictures :
Wes Higgins is back to lunar imaging with his 18" Dobson since some monthes.. In this new dedicated library, more than 250 pictures formations have been extracted from Wes production..

The new "LOPAM Destripped" pictures library :
A routine provided by Niels Hoordhoek blows away those disgracious stripes on original LOPAM pictures. It was possible to produce the new "LOPAM Destripped" pictures library that shows now the extracted pictures in all their beauty and resolution.

These new pictures libraries grow the collection to near 4000 pictures available to VMA users.

We hope that all these new features will improve a lot the VMA functionalities and make them still more useful for lunar observers and for scientists working on our satellite.

Find all detailed informations about this new release on our completely new Web site :

http://ap-i.net/avl/en/start

We thank you in advance for your eventual support

Best regards,

Christian Legrand and Patrick Chevalley

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