SIPS camera driver handling code had to be reprogrammed in version 3.7 to implement new functionality. One overlooked problem was the reason SIPS v3.7 could suffer from random crashes during the course of acquiring images from camera(s). The probability of the problem occurrence was higher in 64bit version compared to 32bit version and it also increased on slower PCs. On faster PC running 32bit version of SIPS the probability of the crash could remain so low that users did not meet it at all. As we understand the importance of reliable camera control, the version 3.7.3, fixing this bug, was released as soon as we were able to identify the problem. Honestly, bad weather in Europe these months did not help us much, as the probability of the problem occurrence in laboratory conditions is very low and the bug more often surfaced when SIPS run the whole observatory including guiding and context cameras, telescope mount, dome controller etc.

New SIPS version also fixes one important bug, which could cause crashes during astrometry and photometry processing. This bug could appear when found stars and/or matched catalog stars were shown within the image during the course of astrometry/photometry processing performed by background tasks. Again this problem appeared only randomly and probability of its occurrence increased on slower PCs.

SIPS is a freeware and can be downloaded from the Download section of this web site.