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AstroPlanner Abbreviated User Manual

1. o oooonononononanonoccccncncnononnnnnonononnnnonananannnnnnnnnnnos 225 t52 Polar dra ds 224 15 5 Polar alignment copete D P Res RUN bens 226 15 4 Testar polir al amO ite Na 226 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 gir RR 228 Poul SSkscand Field Ob View C DArEs 2 50 99 0 900 93 0 0 0900 09090001 0 500 c touiuds 228 I5 TO By CCS 9 PADRES POCO a tuse dit bei tcd os tsbenc dina MC tta 228 6 5 Objects amp ODSeLVallOTS id 232 104 ODSEVNE TOTS mita 234 A A 23 16 6 Observing sessions amp ODSEervatlODS oooonnnccccnccconononnnnnnnnnonnnnnnanancncnnnnnnos 246 Journalen 256 Downloading and using sky IMagesS ssccsssssseccccccssssscccccocsssssscecocsssssseseesoso 258 A A tete itotent imt iniciada iot clefe teda eue itti ctr i i Ett tet ador 260 15 2 ODE csi i tds 263 Sor Tae oL VIC WC MAUL idad 266 EE A ctione idc E 267 18 5 Imabe Mana ninia 269 Highlighting amp associating list objects sssssssssescccccccocccssssssssssseseesesesssosso 275 I9 I Thshlshtmbs oD Ieets ceo oae a Poe a Pe ia 275 LOL ANSSOCIAUNG OD CCS bi 279 Usersdenined fields niic ct d ce ipeo o reve di 280 20 1 Field values vs Held definitions op as 280 ZOD WII m 280 20 3 Creating and editing a user defined field sssueseueee 281 20 4 Deleting a user defined field amp values eeseeeeseessse 288 20 5 Object list user
2. oooooonnnnnnncccononononononnnnnnnononananannnnnnnnnnnos 38 6 5 Making observations and logging them cccccccnccccnnnnnnnononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 40 0 0 Pnn TODOS AAA vett tee E 4 How TOS OC help cis is 44 MENS lsd a Uae eer E A er ae ri ae 44 SWEET Sur 44 ee NVO ascension toute das rend dat Cg eee d encre Mu cue 44 Li 44 o DIOC osse ost 44 Anatomy Of AsStroPlaMDe iia 45 MENU rc CE EN 45 BZ SDI SOUS 45 So MOOSE a Noi A eee meen eras aneees 45 SA 10 LO 8 ES ON REPO e o CO re ea oe ee eee ere eee 45 5 9 URECSOURCES at la 46 S0 1G AAO OUCS ada as 46 O7 DEDS iera O qur edu bocce cni nude 46 Common user interface elements ecce eee e eee ee eee eee ee eene eee s e ettet eeee 47 28 MEM A A PM 47 JP MESI me I 50 TS RESOULEE CHOOSES opa opp RE A N 52 94 Hierarchical options Sls used e Ea d a E ib aas 32 O AUS IME SCLC A Moris asian E etus iM A 54 10 Setting up your resources siii ias 56 10 1 Usimo the Setup wizard sois S6 10 2 Manual setup using Resources window occcccccccnnnnnnnncnnnnnononnnaninncnnnnnnnnnnos 56 11 Constructing an observing plan eese eee eee eee ee eee eee e eee ete ete 81 VET Manual COMStUCEHOTU dit 81 11 2 User contributed plans nina 90 o PACo Wia cad 90 Mee EdD be CES 255855 OEP E E E A
3. 5 3 2 Converting V1 plan documents When you attempt to open a V1 plan document via say File Open you will receive this warning It is not possible to convert V1 x documents directly under Mac OS X 10 7 Lion or later The application will need to upload your V1 x plan document to the AstroPlanner web site for external conversion which could take several hours Do you wish to do this uns een al Figure 27 Lion conversion warning You then get the usual conversion confirmation dialog with the addition of an optional e mail address Conversion Confirmation Please enter the e mail address to which to send a conversion complete message Leave blank if you don t want a confirmation message Ivi Transfer any unlogged local observations into the observation database _ Also convert any other old version plan documents in the same folder C M A Figure 28 Lion Plan Conversion dialog The file or files to be converted are uploaded to the AstroPlanner web site You receive a warning in this case no e mail address was specified Each time you restart the application in the future it will check for the presence of converted documents and when ready let you know Figure 29 Warning with no e mail address specified Every time you restart AstroPlanner it checks to see if any conversions are pending and if so it checks their status on line if there s an Internet connection
4. DO NOT create any new resources annotations or observations until then or they will be lost Figure 23 Conversion warning After a suitable amount of time anything from minutes to hours you will receive an e mail message notifying you that the documents were converted and are ready If you didn t supply an e mail ad dress you wont get notified From suppon astroplanner net Subject Your AstroPlanner documents have been converted Date August B 2011 4 57 27 PM PDT To joe Gcitizen net The V1 x documents vou submitted for conversion are now ready AstroaPlanner Resources Observation Database Catalogue Annotations To download and install these converted files vou will need to quit and restart AstroPlanner AstroPlanner Support Figure 24 Conversion e mail message In order to use the converted databases quit and restart AstroPlanner Every time you restart Astro Planner it checks to see if any conversions are pending and if so it checks their status on line if there s an Internet connection available If the files are ready it downloads them and issues the fol lowing message OK to update your databases with the converted V1 data Figure 25 Update database message Assuming you say Yes the databases are then copied into place and you are requested to quit and restart again You must quit the application and restart NOW in order to use the converted V1 data Figure 26 Restart message 19
5. it means that the object is not currently visible in the sky and is either below the horizon or is never 1 Ifit s daytime this question is theoretical unless the object is the sun or moon 2 Hidden by the site horizon e g a wall trees a house etc 33 visible at the latitude of your site If the Vis column is Yes then the object is currently visible In Figure 47 NGC6749 and Berk 82 are currently not visible and the others are all visible Additionally you can look at the Rise Time Rise and Set Time Set columns to see when the ob jects will be visible If Rise is Never then the object is never visible at the latitude of your selected observing site If Rise is Circum then the object is circumpolar i e is always visible at your ob serving site ID Images Name Type RA Dec Azimuth Altitude Rise Transit Set Vis Obs NGC6749 NGC6749 Globular 18h 05m 065 01 47 0 69 16 4 34 PM 10 45PM 4 56 AM NGC6791 NGC6791 Open 19h 20m 42s 37 51 0 44 11 1 03 PM 11 01PM 8 59 AM Yes IC1310 IC1310 0h 10m 005 34 58 0 38 3 2 2b PM 11 50PM 9 14 AM Yes Berk 82 Open 19h llm 18s 13 07 0 61 8 3 49 PM 10 51PM 5 53 AM M29 Cooling T Open 20h 23m 57s 38 30 5 33 5 1 56 PM 12 04 AM 10 12 AM Yes Berk86 Berk86 Open 20h 20m 24s 38 42 0 34 5 1 50 PM 12 00 AM 10 11 AM Yes Berk87 Berk87 Open 20h 21m 42s 37 22 0 34 4 2 10 PM 12 02 AM 9 53 AM Yes Figure 47 Visibility of objects 6 3 2 Will an object be visib
6. Many files and settings can be converted or used from your older V1 installation Choose what you want from the choices below Note that this will not disturb your V1 installation in any way Files Requiring Conversion These files have a different internal format for V2 and must be converted If you do not do these conversions AstroPlanner V2 will create new empty files vi Resources database Sites Telescopes etc v Catalogue Annotations database Observation database Global Observation Database t Find it E Files NOT Requiring Conversion These items retain the same format for both V1 x and V2 However the default location for them has changed Choose how they should be treated M Catalogues Use the V1 x item s from their current location Ivi D55 User Image Cache Use the V1 x item Is from their current location vi AAVSO Cache Use the V1 x item s from their current location USNO Data Cache COPY the item s to the default V2 location M UCAC2 Data Cache COPY the item s to the default V2 location 317KB this operation might require considerable disk space in order to duplicate the file s this operation requires no extra disk space but will make the file s unusable by V1 x I di Figure 18 V1 to V2 conversion dialog When you click OK the files will get converted copied and or moved Note that if you are running on a Macintosh with Mac OS X 10 7 Lion or later addition
7. 46 30 0 d Circum 1 57AM Circum HR8603 8 Lac SAO72509 HR8603 HD214168 Mult 22h 35m 52s 439 38 0 a 4 00 PM 2 27 AM 12 45 PM QA Highlighting Observed 2 z New Observation Lookup Show Catalogue Search Catalogue s Sort List Add Special p Delete p Figure 33 GreatDarkNorth observing plan 6 1 2 Setting up a plan manually The next plan we are going to set up is for an article in the same issue of Sky amp Telescope magazine Deep Sky Wonders The Berkeley Clusters by Sue French pages 56 to 58 September 2011 issue This time we won t assume someone else already uploaded the plan for our convenience but we ll enter the objects manually Note that the Berkeley Catalogue is available for registered users which makes this a lot easier However for the sake of this exercise we ll assume the Berkeley Catalogue has not been installed 23 On page 57 French conveniently gives us a table containing details about the objects she refers to in the article Here is a summary Object ID Magnitude Size RA Dec NGC 6749 12 4 4 19h 05 3m 01 54 NGC 6791 9 5 10 19h 20 9m 37 46 IC 1310 10 4 20h 10 0m 34 58 Berk 82 9 4 19h 11 3m 13 07 Messier 29 6 6 10 20h 24 1m 38 30 Berk 86 7 9 7 20h 20 2m 38 41 Berk 87 7 10 20h 21 6m 37 24 We re now going to enter these objects manually Create a new plan document File gt New Create
8. 1 25 Meade Series 4000 26mm Plossl 26 50 1 25 Meade Series 4000 32mm Plossl 32 49 1 25 Meade Series 4000 40mm Plossl 40 43 1 25 Eyepieces already defined Eyepiece Name SuperView 50mm NoName Ploss Give your eyepiece a short and informative name e g 9mm Plossl etc Focal length Apparent Fow Supply these values For Focal length you can enter the measurement in Da m gt inches by suffixing the number with Barrel I 1 25 E Click this button to create a new eyepiece resource on the list Previous Cancel Finish Figure 11 Setup Wizard Eyepieces 4 3 5 Catalogues When you enter the Catalogues part of the wizard you ll be asked if you want to install your cata logues from an AstroPlanner CD DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive if you have such a thing If you do make sure the disk is inserted and ready to read Then click Yes If you d rather access the on line inventory and download any catalogues you might need click No m Do you wish to install catalogues from a CD DVD ROM or USB flash drive If so make sure the installation CD DVD ROM or USB flash drive is mounted and available and click Yes Otherwise click No and catalogue information will be downloaded from the Internet if available NOTE If the CD ROM is for V1 x of AstroPlanner DO NOT use the installer on that CD ROM to install catalogues Figure 12 Catalogues from DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive 12 A list of available ca
9. 11 iLanga Inc NE ess SUN amp TWILIGHT Alt 42 3 MOON Next Rise 7 12 PM us 9l SSS Telescope Orion ED 80 APO i Set 8 21PM __ Rise 6 03 AM Next Set 4 53 AM Site Home 7 3 LO Fix Date Telescope not connected Fa Age 13 0 d e Civil 9 02 PM Civil 5 24 AM NY Phase DEN EE Ne specie y ET Te Telescope not controllable Naut 9 44 PM Naut 4 42 AM py j Highlight ror Astr 10 33 PM Astr 3 51 AM Sa T Observations Field of View Sky PF o 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Ma ID Images Name Type RA Dec Azimuth Altitude Rise Transit Set Vis Obs Rating ODM Mag Mag2 Sep Diff Idx NGC6749 NGC6749 Globular 19h 05m 06s 01 47 0 79 7 4 45 PM 10 57PM 5 01 AM 27x 11 1 NGC6791 NGC6791 Open 19h 20m 42s 37 51 0 53 18 1 15 PM 11 12 PM 9 00 AM Yes 27x 9 5 IC1310 IC1310 20h 10m 00s 34 58 0 47 9 2 38PM 12 02 AM 9 19 AM Yes n a Berk 82 Open 19h 11m 18s 13 07 0 Fl 0 4 00 PM 11 03PM 6 01AM Yes 28x 9 0 Highlighting Observed 11 New Observation Lookup Show Catalogue Search Catalogue s Sort List Add Special Delete ID a Right Ascension Magnitude Pos Angle Notes it User defined Fields Berk 82 19 h 113 m 00 s 9 0 Field Value Name Declination Magnitude Separation QM M7 Moo F Type Period Size Spectral Open Fi
10. Cancel Finish Next gt Figure 8 Setup Wizard licence information 4 3 2 Observing site data AstroPlanner requires you to specify information about your observing site or sites This informa tion is used to figure out visibility at those sites At least one site must be specified You ll need to know the latitude and longitude where your site is situated and its time zone However if you live in the USA or Canada AstroPlanner includes a database of place names and their geographic locations Note that you don t have to be particularly accurate with defining the lat itude or longitude Even if you re out by a degree or two it won t make much difference Enter the site information in the given fields The world map will show where the site is in case you give E W or N S mixed up and will tell you if your GMT offset is acceptable Click the Add this site button to add the site data to the resources Read the text on the right side of the dialog for additional instructions Note that you don t have to enter all of your possible observing sites at this time since you can enter and edit them later Just add your main site When you have finished click the Next button to continue Setup Wizard Observing Sites AstroPlanner uses observing site information to calculate the current sky position from a given observing site It is important to have at least one site with correct information You can change these settings
11. Date Time above is GMT UT 212223242325 27 Julian 2455788 74285 28293031 1 2 3 45 6 7 8 910 No Date Time y C Cancel y __ _ AS Figure 58 Observation date time dialog e The observation is added to list of observations for this object It s now up to you to fill in the ap plicable fields for the observing session this observation is the first observation logged for this session You should also log a description of what you saw This is a short cut for switching to the Observations tab and clicking the button under the list of observations 40 Objects Observations Field of View Sky Object Observing Session Data Observations logged in this session 1 ID Images Name eee ree NGC6749 5 NGC6749 Start Today at 10 49 PM Site Home H4 r4 Field Value Name 8 14 2011 at 10 NGC6791 ff NGC6791 C End Today at 11 04 PM Seeing Il Mostly stable IC1310 Y ic1310 e Berk 82 D Observer Joe Hd P Transparency Clear M29 j CoolingT Berk86 Berk amp amp Berk87 Eerks7 General Attachments 0 Resource combinations Julian Date 2455788 74285 Found Telescope Eyepiece Imager Optical Aid Mag Fov Filter Rating Experimental Meade MA 2 None l None 48X 55 Mone rZ e T gt Observations 1 logged Date Time 8 14 2011 10 49 42 PM la x Magnification limits UA ZA Focal length 1200 mn Field Value Dawes limit 0 5 Magnification 48 X Visual mag limit
12. SIMBAD searches can be performed e You can download user contributed plans only if they contain objects from your installed cata logues i e Messier and NGC objects only e You cannot upload user contributed plans or user contributed scripts e You cannot import objects from files or by downloading them e g comets minor planets tour files etc 3 2 Howto register Go to the web site in your browser http www astroplannernet Navigate to the Purchase page where you will be able to see what your options are 6s 4 First time users If you have never used AstroPlanner before this is what will happen the first time you run the appli cation after installing it 4 1 Vi enquiry You ll be asked if you have an AstroPlanner V1 x installation on your computer Since you are a first time user click No ls there an AstroPlanner V1 x installation on this computer if so you will be asked to locate the folder containing that older application W Di LLIULLAE Figure 6 V1 installation enquiry If you do have a V1 x installation or did have one in the past you might get the V1 upgrade dialog This is covered in Chapter 5 on page 16 4 2 Licence You ll be asked to agree to the fairly liberal AstroPlanner application licence If you agree click Yes If you don t click No and the application immediately terminates AstroPlanner Licence Agreement NOTICE TO USER THIS IS A CONTRACT BY INDICATING YOUR A
13. Telescope RA Dec Altitude and Azimuth assuming there s enough width to display them Now select an object in the object list If it is currently visible the Slew to Object button next to the Telescope popup will be enabled Click the button to slew the telescope to the selected object New File 7 Objects O Observed AstroPlanner 2002 11 iLanga Inc SUN amp TWILIGHT Telescope Experimental Set 8 15 PM Abort Slew Slew cc Naut 9 37 PM Naut 4 47 AM lum 98 8 Connected to telescope 2 0b112 s M ins Astr 10 25 PM Astr 4 00 AM h J Alt 48 8 Objects Observations Field of View Sky AC EDS eo PE 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 Images Name Type RA Dec Azimuth Altitude Rise Transit Set D NGC6749 Globular 19h 05m 06s 47 0 J 25 4 34 PM 10 45 PM 4 56 AM 19h 20m 42s 11 01 PM 8 59 AM Yes IC1310 20h 10m 00s 34 58 0 11 50 PM 9 14 AM 19h 11m 18s 13 07 0 10 51 PM 5 53 AM Cooling T 20h 23m 57s 38 30 5 12 04 AM 10 12 AM Berk86 20h 20m 24s 38 42 0 12 00 AM 10 11 AM Berk87 20h 21m 42s 37 22 0 12 02 AM 9 53 AM Highlighting Observed a New Observation l Lookup 2 Show Catalogue gt Search Catalogue s Pl Sort List Add Special gt _Delete 2 ID Right Ascension Magnitude Pos Angle NGC6791 Q 19 h20 m42 s 9 5 0 Notes Annotations 0 Alt 55 8 MOON Next Rise 8 27 PM SSS Rise 6 09 AM Next Set 8 14 Am Site
14. a new object by clicking the button at the bottom left of the object list This reveals the New Object dialog Type in the ID of the first object NGC 6749 you can skip the space if you like Hit the Return Enter key or click the Best button NGC 6749 is found in the catalogues and added to the plan Into the Right Ascension fields type 19 and 11 3 New Object ID NGC 6749 ID NGC occurs in 24 catalogues Best SIMBAD Multiple IDs Synonyms Cancel gt Guides First only All Figure 34 New object dialog Repeat the above procedure for NGC 6791 and IC 1310 The next object is Berk 82 This object can be found in the Berkeley Catalogue but as mentioned above we ll assume it isn t installed Click the button as before but this time just click the Empty button This creates an empty entry To edit this entry you will need to reveal the editing fields by clicking on the Show editing fields button the small button fourth from the left underneath the object list Into the ID field type Berk 82 1 Note that you ll need the IC Catalogue installed Unregistered users are out of luck and should proceed as for Berk 82 24 Into the Declination fields type 13 and 7 Into the Magnitude field type 9 Into the Size field type 4 Use the popup to the right of the Type field to choose Open as the object type Untitled 1 4 Objects O Observed AstroPlanner 2002
15. as for the on line installation above Note that if your DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive is outdated you might want to download the applica tion since it will guarantee the latest version If you don t have the ability or desire to download the application you can always order the latest version of the application and catalogues on DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive for a modest fee 2 4 Windows application installation 2 4 1 On line Download the application from the download web page http www astroplanner net download html The application is in the form of an installer application InstallAstroPlanner exe TR InstallAstroP anner exe Figure 3 Windows installer icon Double click the installer to install the application and supporting files on your hard disk 5 Setup rr E n Welcome to the AstroPlanner Setup Wizard This will install AstroPlanner V2 on your computer Itis recommended that you dose all other applications before continuing Click Next to continue or Cancel to exit Setup Figure 4 Windows installer in action 2 4 2 DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive If you ordered the DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive with the application then mount the disk in your computer The installer should run automatically If not find the InstallAstroplanner exe on the disk and double click it Proceed as for the on line installation above Note that if your DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive is outdated you might want to download the applic
16. attempts to predict what catalogues you are likely to use and suggests which ones you should consider as a basic set You can of course choose them all if you like User Survey Suggested Catalogues Check all items applicable to you Check all catalogues you would like to install from the Internet Suggested catalogues are in green Telescope Binoculars up to 100mm aperture up to 150mm aperture up to 200mm aperture up to 300mm aperture greater than 300mm aperture Meade LX200 Classic Meade Autostar Il Celestron Nexstar Orion Intelliscope sual Observing Moon Planets Comet hunting JODADOaADOoOO DOS Name C 3rd Cambridge Radio Source Catalogue ODO DORE JOGEOC Ml AAVSO Variable Star Index V5X Abell Galaxy Cluster Catalogue Abell Planetary Nebulae Catalogue Aitken s Double 5tar Catalogue AL Dbl Star Catalogue All Sky Compiled Catalogue Arp Galaxy Catalogue ASCC Lite Catalogue AstroPlanner DSO Catalogue AstroPlanner Stellar Catalogue Barnard Dark Nebulae Catalogue Bedford Catalogue Berkeley Catalogue Size 11 7KE 56 IME 196 2KB 14 9KE 8ME 11 5KB 76 3MB 84 7 KB 24 7MEB 3 4MB 5 OMB 317 2KB 122 6KB 12 2KB Objects 471 179 221 a 2 712 83 16 917 100 2 497 995 635 223 390 22 012 36 815 349 879 104 MEM T 25 2KB 160 20 7KB 160 7 Bernes Bright Nebulosity Catalogue Bernes Dark Cloud Catalogue Double stars Variable stars Deep sky objects Asterism
17. available If the files are ready it down loads them and issues the following message 20 Your converted V1 plan document s are ready What do you want to Converted files do with the converted file s astrol apd C REPLACE the original V1 x files fe SAVE the files in the same folder as the originals with a V2 prefix C SAVE the files in a folder of your choice Figure 30 Converted file destination dialog 24 6 Quick start tutorial The aim of this chapter is to lead you through some typical tasks you would use AstroPlanner for By the end of this chapter you should be familiar enough with the application to use it without assis tance and be ready to start experimenting and exploring We suggest you follow along and duplicate what is described here yourself as it will aid in your familiarisation Its assumed that you have the application open and that you ve completed the installation tasks We re going to do the following e Set up an observing plan for an article in Sky amp Telescope magazine which just happens to be available for download e Set up another observing plan for another Sky amp Telescope article that is not available e Use the Plan Creation Wizard and let AstroPlanner set up a custom plan for you Once we ve done that we ll pick one of these plans and do some observing 6 1 Creating a new plan 6 1 1 Setting up a plan that someone else has already done for you For illustrative pu
18. defined fields ooocccccccnnnnnnonononnonnnnnnnnnncnnnnnononononnos 288 a E A eene ed Lo e Ina Po iude eoe E eres Oo see E E A ETA 289 21 1 General preletefiCe Soie oes rone a ee ee 289 21 2 EM Pad 292 21 3 WED Pl LEPC ICC Seah ds 294 21 4 External applications preferences iris 295 21 5 Object st DEe STell COS a ei 296 21 6 Eield ob View chart prele ECC CS ooi eoi vesci dee pdt drives Ceu iE oboe Ee edd nn 303 2I SKY Chart PEC IC LCC eS ocius este niea itat ade os del toss en tan caue 309 21 85 Catalu PreTre N e S tecta tob rod deat erst eoe e i f trees 310 21 9 ODServatlOB DECICTOHGOBS oso deese rnt testet eto eode aate veut adea 312 2 TO limage pre r CES iaa 316 DAMS Cre preter ICOS orrir eai ET TS 320 21 07 Other pre ETENGO AA TTE HI ad e ES 323 Communicating with other applications ecce eere eee ee eee 325 22 l IMpPortine So exportan dat cussssa eot ERR REOR icadS 325 22 25 Drect COHttol i toto a O OS 325 User contributed observing plans eee e eee e eee ee e e eere eerte 326 23 1 Downloading PIS dcr ad ee eate ha et ear ai 326 25 2 NY ploauitig a DIA aceto bad RH be ud dde PL EDU USE UE 327 29 9 D letimno a DIAM us O OS 328 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Managing catalog ues iii lidad 329 24 Sine the 5etup Wiz dai 329 24 2 Installing updating and removing catalogues ooooonnnnnncccnncnnnnnnnnnnnnnss 330 24 3 Catalogue sett
19. to a telescope you ll also need a built in serial port an USB to Ser ial converter the Keyspan products are recommended or a SkyFi StarSeek WiFi to serial device 2 1 1 Mac OS X AstroPlanner V2 currently requires Mac OS X 10 4 Tiger or later It is a Universal application and so will run natively on both Intel and PowerPC based Macs You ll need at least 250MB of disk space and for a complete installation with all optional catalogues 2GB of disk space 2 1 2 Windows AstroPlanner V2 requires Windows XP or later You ll need at least 250MB of disk space and for a complete installation with all optional catalogues 2GB of disk space 2 2 Telescope mount compatibility AstroPlanner V2 0 has built in drivers for the following computerised telescopes and mounts Astro Physics GTO Orion Intelliscope with COL Celestron NexStar Orion SynScan GoTo Celestron Ultima 2000 Sky Engineering Sky Commander GTD Pulsar 2 Starmaster Sky Tracker iOptron GOTONOVA StellarCAT ServoCAT Meade LX200 Classic Takahashi Temma Meade LX200 GPS R ACF Autostar II Tasco Starguide Meade MAX Mount Vixen SkySensor Meade RCX400 Vixen SkySensor 2000PC Meade ETX DS LX LXD LS series Autostar Vixen Star Book Meade Magellan Wildcard Innovations Argo Navis These drivers are available for both Mac and Windows Additionally basic ASCOM is supported for the Windows version so that if your telescope mount isn t l
20. using AstroPlanner you will need to register in order to remove these restrictions and limitations 3 1 Limitations The most obvious limitation is that each time you run the AstroPlanner application you will be asked for your licence number This is irritating but might help to give you the incentive to register Licence Your current licence is not valid to run this version af AstroPlanner as a registered user You will continue as an unregistered user until you renew your licence or revert to a prior version of the application if applicable Choose one of the available options below and click Continue O Go to the AstroPlanner registration web page C am already registered Lookup my licence information My registered e mail address is C am already registered and I d like to enter my licence information now e am NOT registered but wish to continue as an unregistered user FK H Continue Figure 5 Unregistered user dialog The second major limitation is that you are limited to the three installed catalogues Bright Star Messier and NGC You cannot download or install any other catalogues Note that if you are a regis tered AstroPlanner V1 user but have not paid the upgrade fee if required you are also restricted to using these three catalogues even if you have others installed via AstroPlanner V1 Other limitations e No external catalogues can be used USNO A2 0 USNO B1 0 UCAC3 etc e No
21. 0 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Ma ID Images Name Type RA Dec Azimuth Altitude Rise Transit Set Obs Rating M81 Bode s Galaxy NGC3031 UGC5318 Galaxy 09h 55m 33s 69 03 9 339 d Circum 1 47 PM Circum M82 Cigar Galaxy Ursa Major A NGC3034 U Galaxy 09h 55m 53s 69 40 8 340 y Circum 1 47 PM Circum M108 NGC3556 UGC6225 Galaxy llhllm3ls 55 40 4 A Circum 3 03 PM Circum M101 Pinwheel Galaxy NGC5457 UGC8981 Galaxy 14h 03m 13s 54 20 9 3 Circum 5 55 PM Circum M109 NGC3992 UGC6937 Galaxy llh 57m 36s 53 22 4 J Circum 3 49PM Circum M51 Whirlpool Galaxy Question Mark Galaxy Galaxy 13h 29m 52s 47 11 7 Circum 5 21PM Circum NGC2841 NGC2841 Galaxy 09h 22m 00s 50 58 0 Circum 1 14 PM Circum NGC5866 NGC5866 Galaxy 15h 06m 30s 55 46 0 E z Circum 6 58 PM Circum NGC869 NGC869 Open 02h 19m 00s 57 09 0 E Circum 6 11AM Circum NGC884 NGC884 Open 02h22m24s 57 07 0 j r Circum 6 14 AM Circum NGC457 NGC457 Open Olh 19m 06s 58 20 0 Circum 5 11AM Circum NGC663 NGC663 Open 01h 46m 00s 61 15 0 X x Circum 5 38AM Circum M103 NGC581 Open Olh33m23s 60 39 0 E J Circum 5 25 AM Circum NGC7789 NGC7789 Open 23h 57m 00s 56 44 0 Y Circum 3 49 AM Circum M52 The Scorpion NGC7654 Open 23h 24m 48s 61 35 6 J Circum 3 16 AM Circum M39 NGC7092 Open 21h 31m 42s 48 25 0 x x Circum 1 23 AM Circum NGC7243 NGC7243 Open 22h 15m 18s 49 53 0 Circum 2 07 AM Circum NGC7209 NGC7209 Open 22h 05m 12s
22. 13 6 Field of view 055 Exit pupil 3 1 mm Observation Notes Object Notes Object Annotations 0 Not hard to miss mass of stars reminiscent of a globular cluster I PleGejc m Figure 59 Observations tab with a logged observation 6 6 Printing reports AstroPlanner includes features for printing observing forms forms with blank spaces that you can fill in by hand observing reports a printed list of observations and finder charts for a particular object charts at various resolutions that help you to find the object in the field We will continue using the small plan we devised earlier Note that you can see the printed output as an on screen preview without having to print it out on dead trees We ll look only at printing observing forms The other types of printed reports are very similar 6 6 1 Observing forms Here s how to print observing forms for the objects in your plan e Go to the Objects tab e Use the File gt Print menu command e The Print Objects dialog is displayed Choose Observing Forms from the Task popup e Select the informational fields you d like printed out for each object under Object fields and the fields you d like to print out as a blank template Session and Observation fields e There are a number of Options you can play with For this exercise we left the default settings but added the Object images setting under Images and Charts We also selected the Sketching Template
23. 2 Ced152a Sh2 91 LBN297 NGC672 NGC3190 NGC4631 NGC3981 Abell1616 Abell225 Abell2311 Abell754 Lund164 Mel47 M34 NGC2362 NGC1535 DMSH11 Images Name LBN342 NGC6523 Sh2 91 LBN297 NGC672 NGC3190 VV1556 Arp289 Abell1616 Abell225 Abell2311 Abell754 Lund164 Mel47 SAC7044 Cr136 IV 26 1C4406 Type BrNeb D Neb BrNeb E Neb BrNeb Galaxy Galaxy Gal S Gal Galaxy GalClus GalClus GalClus GalClus Open Open Open Open P Neb P Neb RA 20h 54m 50s 18h 03m 44s 19h 35m 34s 20h 01m 34s 01h 47m 54s 10h 18m 06s 12h 42m 065 11h 56m 07s 12h 47m 38s 01h 38m 55s 18h 49m 43s 09h 08m 50s 05h 22m 00s 06h 32m 24s 02h 42m 06s 07h 18m 48s 04h 14m 16s 14h 22m 24s Dec 43 01 2 24 22 9 29 36 2 46 08 3 27 26 0 21 49 8 32 32 3 19 53 0 55 03 6 18 53 2 70 23 6 09 39 1 73 00 0 04 52 0 42 47 0 24 57 0 12 44 3 44 09 0 Azimuth Altitude 323 327 330 8 go 45 70 12 Rise 2 08 PM 4 37 PM 2 33 PM 12 26 PM 8 57 PM 5 54 AM 7 23 AM 10 09 AM Circum 9 28 PM Circum 6 42 AM Circum 3 14 AM 7 58 PM 5 54 AM 1 59 AM 3 12 PM Transit 11 57 PM 9 06 PM 10 38 PM 11 04 PM 4 50 AM 1 20 PM 3 44 PM 2 58 PM 3 50 PM 4 41 AM 9 52 PM 12 11 PM 8 24 AM 9 35 AM 5 44 AM 10 21 AM 7 16 AM 5 25 PM Set 9 46 AM 1 35 AM 6 42 AM 9 42 AM 12 43 PM 8 47 PM 12 06 AM 7 47 PM Circum 11 55 AM Circum 5 40 PM Circum 3 55 PM 3 30 PM 2 48
24. ANY PARTICULAR PUR POSE Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or limitations on how long an implied warranty may last so the above limitations might not apply to you To the extent permissi ble any implied warranties are limited to ninety 90 days This warranty gives you specific legal rights You may have other rights which vary from state to state or jurisdiction to jurisdiction For further warran ty information please contact iLanga LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IN NO EVENT WILL ILANGA BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL INCIDENTAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST SAVINGS OR DAMAGE TO EQUIPMENT EVEN IF AN ILANGA REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY THIRD PARTY SOME STATES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIM ITATION OF INCIDENTAL CONSEQUENTIAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU 4 3 Setup Wizard As you are a first time user the application needs you set up or customise various settings so that you can get going without further issue To do this it presents a Setup Wizard dialog to lead you through the setup 4 3 1 Licence information The first thing you ll need to do is enter your licence information in the fields given unless you have not yet registered in which case leave the fields blank If you ve misplaced your licence information you can get it sent to you vi
25. AstroPlanner V2 2 User Manual Paul Rodman Star Forming Region LH 95 in LMC Credit NASA ESA amp STScI AURA Copyright O 2011 2014 iLanga Inc All rights reserved Permission is given to print one or more copies for your own personal use BEDtFOOUCUIOIE deciso netus rodeo a O UD RUE 1 Ll WhatAstrorlanner docs nai l 1 2 M WhatAstoPlanner doesn t dO iia l Instala OD aeren a 2 2 1 Hardware and operating system requirements oooooooooooooocononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnss 2 2 2 Telescope mount compatibility ibi 2 2 3 Macintosh application installation oooocccnnnnnnnnnnnonnccnnnnnnnnnnnnnnccnnnnnnnos 3 2 4 Windows application installation ooooonncnnnnnnnnnonooonccnnnnnnnnnonanococonnnnnos 3 25 MSc WSS de 4 Unrecistered USCES UR 6 A AA did 6 EA HOWTOS ERA menn CAMPO dedit eer 6 Igisimsliidg de 7 AL NCTM Y T J A ECO aaa a E E CR KI MEE T AD Setup WIZOE tooo 9 Upgrading from the previous version eee eee e ee eene e ee eere eene nu uun 16 Sek First meafter UP OLAS ecce eti eene tii 16 322 Ope ino VIX plan dooumeits s or EDI Rp deeds 17 5 3 Special issues for Mac OS X Lion users oocccnnncnooncccnnnnnnnnnnnnonoccnnnnnnnnnnnnos 18 OQuickstart tutorial I m T T T eataa 22 Ol Creaung anew Pl di 22 62 Sell up TCSOUNCES ade e 30 60 3 NI ODIeClsa ioo e cba dpt EE Dad ud phe me Axtube da up utNs 33 6 4 Using a computerised telescope
26. CCEPTANCE BELOW YOU ACCEPT ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT DESTROY THE SOFTWARE AND ALL ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION OR IF YOU PAID FOR THE PRODUCT RETURN IT FOR A REFUND This iLanga Inc C iLanga End User License Agreement the Agreement accompanies software Software and related explanatory written materials Documentation The term software shall also include any upgrades modified versions updates additions and copies of the Software licensed to you by iLanga iLanga grants to you a nonexclusive license to use the Software and Documentation provided that you agree to the following USE OF THE SOFTWARE You may a Install and use the Software on a hard disk or other storage device of any number of computers personally owned and operated by you have read understood and agree to the terms of the above User Licence Agreement a _ Figure 7 Licence agreement dialog For your convenience the text of the agreement is given below NOTICE TO USER THIS IS A CONTRACT BY INDICATING YOUR ACCEPTANCE BELOW YOU ACCEPT ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT DESTROY THE SOFTWARE AND ALL ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION OR IF YOU PAID FOR THE PRODUCT RETURN IT FOR A REFUND This iLanga Inc ibanga End User License Agreement the Agreement a
27. Home aa O Fix Date y Age 15 8d os Civil 8 55 PM Civil 5 30 AM Ea Phase Gibbous Seeing Not specified Name Declination NGC6791 Q 37 50 59 994 Magnitude Separation Type iod Size Spectral Open j 16 Highlight Observed B BW a Vis Obs Rating ODM 20x 32 x 32 1st Gen User defined Fields Field Value Figure 57 Telescope slewing to selected object 99 1 6 5 Making observations and logging them So now we have an idea on how to construct an observing plan how to get a heads up on what we re likely to see and how to control our telescope Now we can observe This section is a brief tutorial on how to log observations To log an observation e Select the object you are observing in the list in the Objects tab of the plan document window e Click the New Observation button under the list The Observation Date Time dialog is opened e If you are logging observations at your telescope you click the Now button otherwise enter the date and time of the observation The graphic at the top shows the current time of day night and the altitude of the object red crosses Click OK Observation Date Time B 14 2011 Click in the chart to set date time B 15 2011 21 322 23 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 B amp 5 B T 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 Date 8 14 2011 C Remember date time Time 10 49 42 PM UT 5 49 42 AM g 9 101112 13 E 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 I 1
28. OA dut iued 94 11 5 Importing objects from other SOUrCeES isnin a e 95 12 Plan docunient WIHdOW isidro dd exero didnt decae edad 96 12 1 Common information and settings ooooonnnnnccccncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonononananncnnnnncnnnnos 96 12 2 3ODIGCIS tallas 100 12 3 ODSCEVALIODS 1A Degas 119 o OE VIEWED S medie E E A E ae atu ean mtb dots 128 PA A 150 12 6 Object list MUNCH ONS en dodo 164 127 Field OL View fUNCUONS eco te p RE E cd ER RESI E ERE TS 182 13 BR ON Sui 185 I13 L e 1euode oen ttes epi hn eue temas tuus eene iantint 185 132 Observation databdse aiii poe S Oba Stil 186 14 Controlling a computerised telescope ecce eee e eee eee eee 199 Al Choose TOUN PE 199 14 2 A ea das cathe ames site iubente ges coetu E 201 14 3 ASCOM configuration occccccccnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnncnnnnnnnnnoss 205 44 CONNECUNS e disconnect s ocu o Umen d E 207 esM dv ERE 207 lA O 25 V UC HI euius tan nee ceto Aut on Mena aera ne ME A utu SE mee 207 tA o A A A gi trud Rat 208 PACS Control Dalee tits 208 PAD Elsh precistion Siendo 212 BOSD ES Ca Ir Poo o OS OE reese er eee EU 214 IL IE EImuldted MOUSE 215 IA LP OUBLIE d Uf eS eeu oot ttm tete tud Hobbes d atat 215 14 13 Vendor specific features eee eser ei tools erba era oe nb on tere ento evel eta vta utn 219 15 Telescope aligumielll ruta 21er oe uoi oou ases Decio eoe ee aee racio soeur ages ecdcecse 223 15 1 Iterative polar alignment
29. PM 12 34 PM 7 37 PM Obs Rating NGC2438 a PK231 4 2 SAC7637 P Neb 07h 41m 48s 14 44 0 5 34 AM 10 44 AM 3 54 PM Highlighting Observed DAAE Lookup Show Catalogue Search Catalogue s Sort List Add Special p Delete Figure 43 Plan Creation Wizard The resulting observing plan For more information on the Plan Creation Wizard see Section 11 3 on page 90 6 2 Setting up resources When you first used AstroPlanner assuming you didn t upgrade from an earlier version or cancel from the Setup Wizard the Setup Wizard asked you to enter some basic information about your ob serving site or sites telescopes and eyepieces All of these entities are called resources see Sec tion 8 5 on page 46 You will occasionally need to edit these resources in order to add modify or delete them We ll do this to add a telescope with a computerised mount for use later in this chapter don t worry if you don t have an actual computerised mount we ll fake it To edit resources use the Edit Resources menu command 90 Resources ites Telescopes Eyepieces Optical Aids Filters Observers Imagers Combinations M Home Resource Name ral Rattlesnake Lake Home Tl Winter Star Party Florida E Latitude Latitude and 47 21 00 longitude can be 3 entered as decimal Longitude degrees e g 122 5 122 12 00 lw hd as dd mm ss e g w 1272 30 00 or in the Offset from GMT format
30. T 31123456 7 8 9101112 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Julian Set time to 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2455788 70833 Date Time Julian bs Rating O D fa 28293031 1 2 3 8 14 2011 2455788 7083 D k F p q 45 6 7 8 910 um i 10 00 00 PM ur A Fix date 28x 7788 m Figure 48 Fixed date time 24 6 3 3 Where in the sky is the object This is where the Sky tab comes in The tab contains an all sky chart showing the whole sky as it ap pears at the selected Site at the current or selected date and time If you had selected the object of interest in the object list before switching to this tab the object will be shown on the chart if it s above the horizon in the figure below Berk 87 is selected Feel free to twiddle with the various Display Options on the right of the chart You can also use the slider under the Display Options to see the chart at other times of the day night Objects Observations Field of View Sky Local 10 00 PM LST 6 24 PM GMT 5 00 AM GMST 2 33 AM JD 2455788 7083 Display Options vi Constellations m Borders BT Figures m7 Names Avi Lines Air Mass 2 d wed _ Alt Azimuth grid E Ecliptic i Equatorial grid a a Fixed Altitude Angle 30 N Galactic equator Milky Way outline Li Telescope RA Dec Mi Objects N Alignment stars All Balide shower radiants L4 Catalogue objects Mo Limit 8 Field of view Fow L Met
31. Wizard Observing Sites 10 4 3 3 Telescope data AstroPlanner also expects you to enter information about any telescopes you plan to use The infor mation is used to construct charts showing the view through such a telescope and what you are likely to see The dialog includes a comprehensive list of commercially available telescopes If your telescope or telescopes are in that list select the entry and click the Add button You can also add the information manually and use the Add this telescope button to add the new telescope entry Click the Next button when you ve finished Setup Wizard Telescopes AstroPlanner uses telescope resource information to calculate the the field of view and other parameters as well as adding the ability to communicate with and control most computerised mounts You can change these settings later via the Resources command in the Edit menu Pre defined telescopes Vendor Madel Aperture Focal Length Finder Fow If your telescope is a commercially Meade LXD75 AR 5 127 1143 made model then select it from the list d if It exists ar E Meade LXD75 AR 6 152 1719 on the left if it exists and click the Add button below to include it as a Meade LXD75 SN 10 254 1016 new telescope resource Meade LXD75 SN 6 152 762 Meade LXD75 SN amp 203 812 You can edit the name and parameters Meade LXD75 SC 8 203 2000 SMST D ai an Meade LxD75 N 6 152 762 For a telescope not on the list enter M
32. a tion since it will guarantee the latest version If you don t have the ability or desire to download the application you can always order the latest version of the application and catalogues on DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive for a modest fee 2 4 3 Uninstalling When AstroPlanner is installed it also includes information required to uninstall AstroPlanner and an Uninstall application 2 5 Installing catalogues When you first run AstroPlanner it only installs a few minimal catalogues by default Bright Star Messier NGC You will need to install more catalogues to make full use of the application You can elect to install these catalogues by downloading them from the on line web site or if you have a DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive containing catalogues by installing them directly from there If you are running AstroPlanner for the first time the Setup Wizard will give you the opportunity to install catalogues see Section 4 3 on page 9 for first time users or Section 24 1 on page 329 for in stalling catalogues via the Setup Wizard at a later date Otherwise you use the Catalogue Manager File Catalogue Manager to manage your cata logues This is detailed in Chapter 24 on page 329 3 Unregistered users If you are an unregistered user i e you haven t yet paid for a licence or need to pay for an upgrade to the current version then you will find that some features are limited or unavailable to you While you are welcome to continue
33. a e mail by entering your e mail address in the field on the right and clicking the Retrieve button If you have changed your e mail address since you registered then you will not get a reply Please contact support with your new e mail address remembering to include your name and the old e mail address supportOastroplanner net Once you have entered your licence info or not click the Next button Setup Wizard Use this wizard to set up the various resources and settings required to customise the application for your use Note that all of these settings can be changed later As you work your way through the wizard using the Next and Previous buttons you will be advised on how to change these settings in the application When you have completed the setup process click the Finish button to transfer the settings into the application Clicking Cancel will ignore any settings made here You can always re run this wizard via the Setup Wizard command in the File menu Licence Infarmation Retrieve your licence information Enter your registration information exactly as it appears in the e mail message you received when you registered or on the label attached to your CD ROM where applicable Your e mail address If you are not yet registered leave these fields blank If you have misplaced your licence information use the feature on the right to have it sent to you by e mail Licence Mumber Missing licence number
34. al steps are required see Section 5 3 1 on page 18 Note for those who might notice the new file format is significantly more compact robust and effi cient Don t worry if your file sizes shrink by 5096 or more the data are all there If you need to do this operation again in the future see Section 29 4 4 on page 394 5 2 Opening V1 x plan documents Any V1 plan document will also need to be converted for V2 use When you open a V1 formatted plan document using File Open the following dialog appears astrol apd The file is a plan document created using a version of AstroPlanner before V2 0 OK to convert it for use by this version of AstroPlanner NOTE This will not disturb the original plan document Ivi Transfer any unlogged local observations into the observation database _ Also convert any other old version plan documents in this folder c dl i Figure 19 Opening a V1 plan document 17 You can choose to convert the plan document the original V1 file is not disturbed You can also elect to transfer any local observations from the V1 plan document into the V2 observation database if the observations are already in the database they will be ignored There is also an option to convert any other V1 plan documents in the same folder as the one you re opening The conversion is then done creating a new file with the same name as the original prefixed with W2 Successfully converte
35. as displayed 1 in the entry fields Or a As click on the map Daylight Saving rules U S A H4 Clock offset offset aim offset from Site Horizon click to change la hr from nfa Fixed Hd Site Altitude LEAN Bortle Dark 5ky Rating Sky brightness brightness 7 Suburban urban transition 18 2 mag sq arcsec Naked eye Zenith Limit 3 9 ser defined Fields Comments Site owned Resources Field Value Get from GPS Get Computer Info Get from Telescope Set Telescope Info Figure 44 Resources database window 6 2 1 Sites The window contains several tabs each one containing a different type of resource The first tab Sites contains your observing sites You should have at least one entry here If not click the but ton under the list on the left to create a new one Make sure you enter the latitude longitude and Offset from GMT values correctly other settings are less critical 6 2 2 Telescopes Select the second tab Telescopes For this exercise you should have at least one telescope defined You should also set up a telescope with a computerised mount so that you can experiment with con trolling that telescope see Section 6 4 on page 38 Even if you don t have such a telescope Astro Planner includes a telescope emulator that lets you control an internal software telescope that looks to the application like a real telescope We are going to create such a fake tel
36. ccompanies software Soft ware and related explanatory written materials Documentation The term Software shall also in clude any upgrades modified versions updates additions and copies of the Software licensed to you by iLanga iLanga grants to you a nonexclusive license to use the Software and Documentation provided that you agree to the following USE OF THE SOFTWARE You may a Install and use the Software on a hard disk or other storage device of any number of computers personal ly owned and operated by you b Make backup copies of the Software c Make and use printed copies of any document files COPYRIGHT The Software is owned by iLanga and its structure organization and code are the valuable trade secrets of iLanga The Software is also protected by United States Copyright Law and International Treaty provisions You must treat the Software just as you would any other copyrighted material such as a book You may not copy the Software or the Documentation except as set forth in the Use of the Software section Any copies that you are permitted to make pursuant to this Agreement must contain the same copyright and other proprietary notices that appear on or in the Software You agree not to modify adapt or translate the Soft ware You also agree not to reverse engineer decompile disassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the Software Except as stated above this Agreement does not grant you an
37. d the plan document to V2 astrol apd in the same folder as astrol apd a Figure 20 Conversion warning 5 3 Special issues for Mac OS X Lion users Itis not possible to directly convert V1 files to V2 in Mac OS X 10 7 Lion or later for technical rea sons Hence Lion users have a bit more work to do to convert V1 documents 5 3 1 Converting V1 databases When you attempt to convert V1 databases the first time you run see Section 5 1 on page 16 you receive this warning It is not possible to import V1 x databases directly under Mac OS X 10 7 Lion or later The application will need to upload your V1 x databases to the AstroPlanner web site for external conversion which could take up to several hours Do you wish to do this Figure 21 Mac 05 X Lion Warning If you choose to go ahead the following dialog asks you for your email address Conversion Confirmation Please enter the e mail address to which to send a conversion complete message Leave blank if you don t want a confirmation message E Mail Address joe citizen ne A Me Figure 22 Conversion confirmation 1 For the curious read this http blog astroplanner net p 153 18 The files to be converted are uploaded to the AstroPlanner web site The following message is displayed You will receive an e mail message at joe citizen net when your converted databases are ready at which time you will need to restart this application
38. e 53 Objects list with images ID 1C1310 Mame iC1310 FoV 1 19 RA 20h 10m 00s Dee 34 58 00 Alt 66 73 Az 112 54 Figure 54 Image of IC1310 in field of view chart 6 4 Using a computerised telescope For this demonstration we are going to use our Experimental telescope resource that we set up to use an emulated go to mount You can use a real computerised mount if you wish the process is identical if somewhat noisier in the case of a real mount In the plan document window choose your telescope resource in the telescope panel at the top left 38 Check the Connect to telescope checkbox The application then attempts to connect to the tele scope mount after which the checkbox caption changes to Connected to telescope with the tele scope firmware version number if applicable Telescope Experimental n Telescope Experimental Telescope mot connected A single object is not selected Ll Connect to telescope vi Connected to telescope 2 0b112 Sync to Object Figure 55 Telescope panel before and after connecting In the case of the emulated mount a small floating window appears showing the current status of the emulated telescope Experimental Altitude 22 08 37 Dec 087 39 00 Altitude 45 000 _ Azimuth 0 061 Tracking Figure 56 Emulated telescope floating window At the top of the plan document window the LED displays will now include the
39. e user to plan and execute an observing ses sion The user can enter objects to be viewed manually import them from text files look them up in several supplied catalogues or use observing plans previously created by others These objects can be both deep sky and solar system objects planets sun moon asteroids comets etc Once a list of objects has been created they can be observed and log entries recorded for each of them The application will also control a wide range of computerised Go To telescopes in order to slew to selected objects Several Digital Setting Circle DSC systems are also supported Telescope control is optional so AstroPlanner can be used to great effect even if you don t have a computerised telescope mount The application computes the visibility of the objects for the current observing session shows the sky for that time and can show the field of view for the current object as if it was being viewed through a virtual eyepiece or the sensor of an imager Additionally if you have a network connection you can download high resolution photographs of any part of the sky from the Digital Sky Survey DSS and SDSS 1 2 What AstroPlanner doesn t do AstroPlanner is not a full blown planetarium application It will not produce detailed sky maps or do the kinds of things an application such as Starry Night Voyager or TheSky will do It will also not do other specialised stuff like controlling CCD cameras or autoguider
40. eade RCX400 10 254 2032 the data for that telescope in the fields Meade RCXADD 12 305 2438 below and click the Add this telescope Meade RCX400 14 356 2845 mun Meade RCX400 16 406 3251 Meade RCX400 20 508 4064 i Meade Series 5000 ED APO 50 480 Y 4 Add J Telescopes already defined Telescope Name Give your telescope a short and intormative name e g 200mm SCT 8 LXD75 5N 8 The Ancient Beast inch etc Mount NEN If your telescope has a computerised mount select it and the serial port it is Meade LX200 Classic connected to Serial Port f USAL9QW1a2P1 1 cl A Supply any two of these values Aperture f Ratio Focal length and the third Aperture f Ratio Focal length will be computed For Aperture and Focal length you can enter the 200 A 10 2000 0 mm measurement in inches by suffixing the number with Finder FoV i l i If your telescope has a finder scope enter its field of view in degrees here if sp it is known Click this button to create a new telescope resource on the list Previous Cancel Finish Figure 10 Setup Wizard Telescopes 4 3 4 Eyepiece data You can also enter information about any eyepieces you plan to use The information is used in con junction with the telescope information to construct charts showing the view through such a tele scope eyepiece combination and what you are likely to see The dialog includes a comprehensive list of commercially a
41. ed to set up such a resource you can skip ahead to Section 6 2 on page 30 However you will need to cancel from this dialog first 27 Where and When Specify the observing site you will be observing from previously set up as a Site resource and the date time you plan to do your observing This information will determine what objects are going to be visible during your observing session The more specific you are the better Alternatively you can specify one or more constellations to restrict the chosen objects to Observing site Restrict to Winter Star Party Florida fe Date time O Constellation s Date 5 Winter H4 Time s After nautical twilight H4 to To time E 2 00 AM E Previous Criteria Cancel Finish Figure 39 Plan Creation Wizard Where amp When The next panel How lets you choose what instruments telescopes or binoculars you intend to be using Check the appropriate entries Plan Creation Wizard How Specify here which instrument or instruments you will be using to do your observing where possible This will determine just how faint an object you will be able to see Telescope Binacular resources Canon 15x15 15 Mn L LX50 Naked Eye Orion ED 80 APO Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dob _ Orion StarMax 127 Starmaster 12 5 f 5 JO OOO El de Previous Criteria Cancel Finish Figure 40 Plan Creation Wizard How The next panel What speci
42. eor shower radiants al em ki Stars Mag 5 L Sun Moon Planets fl Orientation EF Flip East West L Flip North South W Plan Objects 21 Number of observations N Object sequence i Objects Selected i Show ID T lUgh ma Bama Time offset O hr 24 ep 24 Show alignment star information Figure 49 Sky tab 6 3 4 What am going to see through my telescope The next question is figuring out what you are going to see when you look through your telescope with a particular eyepiece This is done by selecting the object in question in the object list and switching to the Field of View tab For our example here we will select M29 in the objects list and then select the Field of View tab This tab displays a chart that attempts to preview what you will see through a telescope On the right side are various settings to help you with that Most importantly at the top are settings that let you select the telescope and eyepiece you are going to use In our case see Figure 50 we are going to use a telescope called Orion ED 80 APO together with a Panoptic 35mm eyepiece Once those are selected the application computes the actual field diam eter in this case 1 19 and draws a chart centred on M29 of that computed diameter You will also want to see what stars are going to appear in the field of view You do that by selecting one or 35 more stellar catalogues in the list at the bottom right If a catalo
43. er when viewed visually through a telescope AstroPlanner includes the ability to download and save images of the objects you want to observe These images come from photographic sky surveys in particular the Digital Sky Survey DSS and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey SDSS We will download images for the objects in our plan Proceed as follows noting that this will require an Internet connection e Select Images gt Download Images from the main menu e In the Images window Figure 51 select to download for all the objects 7 in this case 1 Also known as POSS Palomar Observatory Sky Survey 36 e Select the checkbox to Select image size from object and make the image size 20096 of object size e Select the POSS 1st Gen data source by checking its checkbox e Click the Start Download button Images Download Status Select images to download O For 1 selected plan objects e For all 7 plan objects For all 0 highlighted plan objects O For all 7 plan objects without images O Image centred on Field of View chart C Replace any existing images Al Ivi Select image size from object where possible Image size is 200 of object size Default image size 15 x 15 B Minimum image size 15 x 15 E t Start Download A OUR Hide Controls Figure 51 Download Images The download then proceeds The Status tab shows the progress Images Download Status S
44. escope e Click the button under the list of telescopes to create a new entry Alternatively you can click the Select from List button and choose from a list of commercially available telescopes e Change the Resource Name to Experimental or choose your own name e Change the Computerised Mount via the popup menu to AstroPlanner Emulated Go To e Leave the other fields as they are 31 Resources Sites Telescopes Eyepieces Optical Aids Filters Observers imagers Combinations MJ Canon 15x15 IS Resource Name UR At Site l i M ETXDOEC Experimental CAN 2 C Defaut Mi x50 Type Telescope Binocular Monocular Optics M Naked Eye YP pe J rf D Configuration Cleanliness zi ESPECIES Computerised Mount if applicable W Orion ED 80 APO j ak i Tk j m Unknown H4 Unknown E ral Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dob AstroPlanner Emulated Go To H4 Edit cri m Orion StarMax 127 via Emulated serial port Finder FoV vi Starmaster 12 5 f 5 Aperture Focal Ratio Specify FoV n 5 00 o Central Obstruction o 2 secondary diameter with respect to clear aperture ail Finder flip horizontally C Visual magnitude limit 13 6 Finder flip vertically User defined Fields Comments Computed Parameters Field Value e Select from List asl Figure 45 Telescope resources If you have a physical telescope with a supported computerised moun
45. fies the kinds of objects you want to observe and how many Select one or more object types by checking the appropriate checkboxes Don t worry about the list of cata logues that s for more advanced and specialised work Select the maximum number of objects you d like in the observing plan In this case we ll choose a maximum of 20 the actual number found might be fewer 28 What Here you specify the kinds of objects you want in your plan and the size of the plan number of objects you wish to generate You must choose at least one type All catalogues containing objects of the chosen type s are listed below with af object for your plan checkboxes Uncheck any cataloques you don t wish to be considered when constructing the plan Object types to include Catalogues to consider ivi Bright nebulae AAWSO Variable Star Index V5X Dark nebulae mM Abell Galaxy Cluster Catalogue Double stars ivi Abell Planetary Nebulae Catalogue ivi Galaxies Aitken s Double Star Catalogue iwi Galaxy clusters Al Dbl Star Catalogue Globular clusters ivi Arp Galaxy Catalogue ivi Open clusters mM AstroPlanner D50 Catalogue ivi Planetary nebulae AstroPlanner Stellar Cataloque Variable stars Barnard Dark Nebulae Catalogue ivi Bedford Catalogue ivi Berkeley Catalogue W Bernes Briaht Nebulositv Cataloaue selected Maximum objects in plan 20 Reject objects Previously Observed Es Previous Criteria Cancel Finish F
46. gue s checkbox is checked then any objects in that catalogue that also appear in the field of view will be charted if they are within the Magnitude Limits defined Objects Observations Field of View Sky ID M29 Name Cooling Tower NGC6913 FoV 1 19 RA 20h 23m 57s Dec 38 30 30 Alt 66 55 b Field Diameter Telescope i EE d i Size KA 1 19 Orion ED 80 APO H4 P Eyepiece Imager E Optical Aid Panoptic 35mm No Optical Aid E P i Images 4 Magnitude Limits Stars 12 1 rs D50s 14 2 T Star labels 5 0 rs DSO labels 15 0 a FoW Rotation Reticle Rotation Display Options aT Constellations LI Borders D TT Colour constellation stars n Figures A Names Si Display a Aperture Lvl Cardinal points u ivl Cro ss hairs T By D Name O Type O ID C Selected Catalogue Label Abell Planetary Nebulae Aitken s Double Star D AL Dbl Star M All Sky Compiled Arp Galaxy Figure 50 Field of View tab In the field of view chart non stellar objects are displayed using symbols which means the field of view chart is only a representation of what you will see 6 3 5 What does the object actually look like Figuring out what an object actually looks like through a telescope is not an easy problem to solve What can be done though is to look at a photographic image of the object and use that understand ing the fact that in reality it will typically appear much dimm
47. gure 35 Entering Berk 82 manually We re going to demonstrate another way to enter Messier 29 M29 From the Show Catalogue pop up button under the list of objects choose to show the Messier Catalogue 25 Messier Catalogue Catalogue Coverage Chart ID NGC ID UG C Obs Found Type Mame RA Dec Open 18h 31m 42s 19 07 00 6694 Open 13h 45m 18s 09 23 00 6853 P Neb Dumbbell Nebula Apple Core Diablo Double head 18h 598m 36s 422 43 15 6626 Globular 18h 24m 33s 24 52 07 20h 23m 57s 38 30 30 21h 40m 22s 23 10 45 Annotations t Other IDs Find M Slew to Object C Don t add if observed Keep window open Add Selectec w Figure 36 Selecting M29 directly from the catalogue Select the entry for M29 and click the Add Selected button or drag the object from the window onto the object list in your plan Add the final two objects Berk 86 and Berk 87 using one the above techniques Save the plan document to hard disk if you wish 6 1 3 Letting the Plan Creation Wizard create a plan for you The Plan Creation Wizard creates a custom observing plan just for you Start the wizard using the File Plan Creation Wizard menu command Plan Creation Wizard Plan Creation Wizard Use this wizard to create a new plan document customised for your observing skills observing site date time and observing equipment An internal database of interesting and or challenging ob
48. how last downloaded image ID Source Size Stage Progress NGC6791 1G AllSky 32 Download 11 C1310 1G All Sky 15 Pending Berk 82 1G All 5Sky 15 Pending M29 1G All Sky 15 Pending Berk86 1G All Sky 15 Pending Berk87 1G All Sky 24 Pending Figure 52 Downloading in progress Once the download has completed or before if you like close the download window and go back to the Objects tab of your plan document You ll see that the Images column of the list now has a D badge in it This signifies that the object has one or more associated images If you select such an ob ject then the image of that object will appear on the right of the object list as shown in Figure 53 If you then switch to the Field of View tab the image will be displayed as part of the chart as shown in Figure 54 37 ID Images Mame Type RA Dec Azimuth Altitude Rise Transit 54 NGC6749 NGC6749 Globular 19h 05m 06s 01 47 0 166 44 4 34PM 10 45 PM 45 NGCe791 NGC6791 Open 19h20m42s 37 51 0 127 76 1 03 PM 11 01PM 8 5 IC1310 ici10 20h 10m 00s 34 58 0 113 67 2 26PM 11 50PM 9 14 Berk 82 O Open 19hllm18s 13 07 0 160 54 3 49PM 10 51PM 5 53 M29 D GoolingT Open 20h 23m57s 38 30 5 101 67 1 56PM 12 04AM 10 1 Berk86 f Berk86 Open 20h20m24s 38 42 0 102 67 1 50PM 12 00AM 10 1 Berk87 Eerks7 Open 20h21m42s 437 22 0 104 66 2 10PM 12 02AM 85 53 P LLLLL3 15 x 15 Ist Gen All Sky Hd Figur
49. igure 41 Plan Creation Wizard What The final panel Complete lets you select whether to create a new untitled plan document for your objects or to add them to a currently open plan document We ll choose a new document Plan Creation Wizard Complete Choose where you want the plan objects to ga below if applicable and what additional databases to use if applicable Then click the Finish button to create your plan e Create a new untitled plan document O Add the objects to the open plan document New File Previous Criteria Cancel Finish Figure 42 Plan Creation Wizard Complete When you click the Finish button a new document is created with in this case 20 objects in it You can save the plan document with whatever name you see fit to give it 29 000 Untitled 1 20 Objects O Observed 2002 11 iLanga Inc SUN amp TWILIGHT Alt 29 4 MOON Next Rise 7 Telescope Starmaster 12 5 f 5 sw Set 7 26 PM Rise 5 37 AM Next Set 6 Telescope not connected Ca Age Civil 7 59 PM Civil 5 01 AM M Y Phase Naut 8 36 PM Naut 4 26 AM y Illum Astr 9 17 PM Astr 3 46 AM Alt Field of View Sky Fix Date Site Winter Star Pa n El Seeing Not specified gt ghlight Observed 1 Telescope not controllable Objects Observations 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Ma ID LBN34
50. ings and coverage meiiies non A A A E 332 24 C atdloPue pes TDS oett dette etta ots 334 24 5 Plan Creation Wizard catalogues ccccccccccccnnnocoonnnnonnnnncnnnccnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 335 24 6 Displaying catalogue contents ds 336 24 1 Catalogue annotations dd vi vadis 338 Comets Minor Planets oe eoe iSo ESVe eo id 342 23 1 Downloading comet elements etes a ee uet Ie e tit ues us 342 25 2 Downloading minor planet elements cccccconnnonooonaaoonccnnnncnnnnnononononoss 344 25 3 Quick insertion of a comet or minor planet ooooonncnnnnnnnnnnnnnonncnos 348 25 4 Creating a comet or minor planet object manually 349 25 5 Opdatimo ele reis cute o bt ente A taa ied cedi 350 Double Stars A to Pee eve a a vina 351 Z0 1 Double Stat Orsai 351 Import and Export aspe es EE ERENTEN RES ENTE EORR essen REMANERE CEN E SEI eoii a 353 zd BD at ds 353 24 27 Ex POT quieta Eetece etr arent A A eor TE 362 21 9 Ss A 373 A EE 374 28 1 Editing and manacino SES ote 374 28 2 Downloading a user contributed script ccccccccnncncnnnnooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 377 28 3 Deleting user contributed scripts sycsisinieres na 379 28 4 RUIDO SCEIDIS di 380 28 5 Using the Framework Reference cccccccccccccnonoccononnonnnnncnnnnccnnnnnnnnononoss 380 25 0 CH PT Te QUIEG DUC DIS e dedo ede i eo are EXE d Pedale nd e iv Edo eet 382 28 7 Uploading a user contributed script cccccccccncnncncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
51. ink are ab normal e g the application is crashing won t connect to your telescope etc 7 2 User group There s a Yahoo group dedicated to AstroPlanner http tech groups yahoo com group astroplanner There are a lot of friendly people there including the author of the application who are ready to an swer your questions There s also an archive of posts and searching it might throw light on your Issue 7 3 Vendor Feel free to send your questions requests etc to technical support supportOastroplanner net Although we need sleep too we ll get back to you as soon as we can 7 4 FAQ There s a FAQ Frequently Asked Questions page at http www astroplanner net faq html This will be updated as questions come in that are considered of interest to more than just the asker of the question 7 5 Blog Although it can t really be classified as a help resource there s a blog written by the AstroPlanner author that might occasionally offer some insight into the devious mind behind the product http blog astroplanner net 1 Some might use the phrases overly complex feature laden or learning curve challenged 44
52. isted above you can use the ASCOM driver of your choice note that only telescopes can be dri ven via the ASCOM system not focusers etc 2 3 Macintosh application installation 2 3 1 On line Download the application from the download web page http www astroplanner net download html The application is in the form of a disk image file dmg extension Ej AstroPlanner dmg Figure 1 dmg file in the Finder If your browser does not mount and open the disk image for you do so by double clicking it in the Finder AstroPlanner ER AstroPlanner app Applications d p E r LIE L L m A L i ad Li L m Md a r m 4 z NE E d CES AT r Fo t 3 A a n A E a Rr J a Ce EN E s b A bs i Te ta 4 5 S A y x o DNI 0 HUNE E E Y T mm ui E sis Bc E i PEE s 2 s i a n NERONE NL OO Dec c ie NL T X e ag i 2 s Li t lo i T A a Ld T a T uw rag u LI LI be UN a Y r ol i Lj t a LI pe LI gt Eon A T y a E a E i __ AstroPlanner Figure 2 Disk image opened Drag the application file to your Applications folder or drag in onto the Applications icon in the disk image window There is no installer just run the AstroPlanner application 2 3 2 DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive If you ordered the DVD ROM or USB Flash Drive with the application then mount the disk in your computer find the AstroPlanner disk image and proceed
53. jects is used to create the plan for you If that does not contain suitable objects your catalogue collection will be searched for potential candidate objects You can choose to ignore objects that you have already observed i e there s at least one observation logged for the object and you ll get a chance to reject unsuitable objects at the end of the process de Previous Criteria Cancel Finish Figure 37 Plan Creation Wizard dialog 26 l Plan Creation Wizard Who Tell us who you are and what level of expertise you consider yourself at This will determine how challenging the selected objects will be Observer Joe If you have defined yourself with an Observer resource select that resource here Otherwise use Unknown Level of Difficulty 2 Select the level of difficulty of the objects in the plan The more difficult the E more experience will be needed and a bigger aperture telescope l Easy Difficult 5 _ Include lower levels If this is checked then include all the easier levels as well Objects will be chosen randomly from each of the levels in equal proportions where possible Previous Criteria Cancel Finish Next Figure 38 Plan Creation Wizard Who Use the Next button to move through the stages required to build a plan At any stage you can also use the Previous button to go back and change an option if you need to do so The second panel Wh
54. later via the Resources command in the Edit menu Sites already defined Site Mame Give your site a short and informative name e g Backyard Table Hea dquarters Grind A Mountain FPGAS Member Site etc oe Latitude If your site is in the U S A or Canada you can use the Find button to titude k enis go adco q locate your city and set the location if you wish 47 21 00 N e n j Latitude and longitude can be entered as decimal degrees e g 122 5 or Longitude as dd mm ss e g 122 30 00 122 12 00 W E Give the number of hours difference between GMT and your site during Offset from GMT Daylight Saving rules Standard time mot Daylig ht Saving time Sites west of GMT will have a 8 Ah Tn i negative number of hours e g New York will be 5 hours Also specify z hours the Daylight Saving rule for the site if applicable Click this button to create a new observing site resource on the list The map on the left shows 1 The current site location defined above 2 GMT red dotted line 3 Where the GMT offset puts GMT with respect to your site green dashed line If this line is within an hour of GMT 15 degrees of longitude and inside the central grey area the GMT Offset for the site location is probably correct You can also click on your location on the map to enter the latitude longitude with a 2 degree resolution de Previous Finish Figure 9 Setup
55. le when view the sky at a particular date time in the future The above visibility test is for the current time You can also check to see whether the object is going to be visible at another time e g next Saturday at 10pm To do this we use the Fix Date feature of AstroPlanner This allows you to freeze the Date and Time at specific values and look at the visibility The Fix Date feature looks different depending on how wide your plan document window is If your window is fairly small e g you re using a netbook computer with a small screen then you will see a Fix Date button and a checkbox at the top right of the plan document window next to the Site pop up as shown in the left part of Figure 48 If you click the button a Fixed Date Time floating window appears You choose the desired date and time using the controls on the window and click the Apply button The visibility settings will all change to reflect the new date time You can go back to current real time by unchecking the checkbox next to the Fix Date button If your window is wide enough the Fix Date button vanishes and is replaced by a Date Time panel see the right part of Figure 48 Just change the date or time controls to fix the date Going back to real time occurs when you uncheck the Fix date checkbox Ste Home 9 S M rix Date Seeing Not specified 3 Highlight Observed e Fixed Date Time Augelli SMTWTEFS 8 14 2011 10 00 00 PM C GMT U
56. nnnnnnnnnnnos 383 25 9 EVS E O AT 384 25 9 A T 385 28 10 User defined Held SCripis Ni 385 2S 1l Telescopegnount SCHDIS iii 386 TroubleshooUll9 4 e i cda 388 OA We GEA mU ern re ate eRe Pe ne et men 388 De ARO PMI A A e E Ro E atu t SD dO enr T 388 29 3 CATE TE QUCSUS isset a o 390 29 2 Bon OOIS street eect a ee ee a nd 391 GIO ANY eee 395 Revision NOLES enc p TR RES 402 SUMMA D daa 402 STE WIA E E deut tudo cei qoa iouis udo utu cei done ufui vu udo tusud s cedo ba dde 403 SNC ER cT N 406 V 1 Introduction Software applications for astronomy on the Macintosh are not nearly as abundant as applications on other platforms Although there are several planetarium style applications Voyager TheSky Starry Night Equinox etc and a few others for telescope control ScopeDriver CCD camera operation iCCD Equinox CCDSoft and a few minor utilities there are some serious gaps One of these is as tronomical visual observation planning and logging AstroPlanner attempts to fill this particular gap Although originally developed on and for the Macintosh a Windows version is available which is functionally identical to the Macintosh version The examples and descriptions in this manual are il lustrated with screen shots from the Macintosh OS X version but the Windows version behaves identically except where noted 1 1 What AstroPlanner does AstroPlanner is a stand alone application that allows th
57. nswer Yes then the application will ask you to navigate to the V1 folder the folder contain ing the V1 application Once there or if the application finds the V1 preferences a V1 to V2 upgrade dialog appears This di alog lets you specify files and databases to be converted for use by V2 These are e The Resources Database e The Catalogue Annotations Database if applicable e The Observation Database if this cannot be found you might have specified that it is saved in another location other than the standard one Use the Find It button to locate it if necessary Check those items that you want to convert Other files do not require conversion since the V2 format is the same as the V1 format You can elect to perform one of several actions to each in order to use them in V2 e Use the V1 x items from their current location Use this action if you want to share the data between V1 and V2 This might make sense if you are planning on using both the older version of the application as well as the new Just make sure you don t remove or move the old installation e COPY the items to the default V2 location Make a copy of the V1 files for use by V2 This uses a bit more disk space but is a lot safer if you ever decide to do away with V1 16 e MOVE the items to the default V2 location If you are planning on using V2 and never again launching V1 then this is the option that uses the least disk space V1 to V2 Conversion
58. nvert coordinates between J2000 0 and current epoch Slewing and Movement Maximum Slew Rate Default Timeout 30 sec Minimum wait time between consecutive slews sec Slew accuracy to determine completion 0 1 After initiating slew issue no commands for at least 5 sec Capabilities al D CJ e D DH Slewing Limits Slewing not permitted if any limit above is satisfied fy Figure 46 Editing the Computerised Mount settings 6 2 3 Eyepieces Similarly select the third tab Eyepieces and enter at least one eyepiece resource Make sure for each eyepiece you enter the focal length and the apparent field of view correctly Alternatively you can click the Select from List button and choose from a list of commercially available eyepieces 6 3 Visualising objects We will use the plan we set up manually see Section 6 1 2 on page 23 but you can use any plan you like as long as it has a few objects in it What we would like to do is answer the questions below re garding the actual object in the night sky This is what observation planning is all about In the open plan document set the Site popup top right to your preferred observing site 6 3 1 Is an object currently visible in the sky Right now daytime or nighttime can I see the object This is easily seen by looking at the Visibili ty Vis column of the object list If the Vis column entry for an object is blank or contains Horz
59. o lets you specify the observer so we can take into account such aspects as age and visual accuity If you haven t created an Observer resource just use the Unknown setting We also specify the level of difficulty for the objects in the resulting observing plan You can specify five levels from Easy probably observable in poor skies with minimal equipment and experience through Difficult probably requiring a lot of experience and large aperture telescopes The third panel Where and When specifies where you will be observing from your observing site and when you plan to do the observing These settings are used to determine what objects will be visible for you It s not reasonable to choose objects that either never rise above the horizon at your observing site or objects that never rise during the observing period but might be visible at other times of the year You select the Observing site resource You then need to specify the dates times you plan to do your observing make sure the Restrict to option is set to Date time In our case we are doing our ob Serving at the Winter Star Party site in Florida during Winter go figure and we ll plan on doing our observing between the start of nautical twilight and 2am when we collapse into our sleeping bag 1 In the current version of AstroPlanner these aspects are not taken into account so any observer has the same weight as any other observer 2 If you want to or ne
60. rnard Dark Nebulae Catalogue Common D50 Name Catalogue GCVS Catalogue IC Catalogue Meade Star Catalogue Symbiotic Star Catalogue A plan document called My Plan apd will be saved It will contain 100 assorted and interesting objects Previous Cancel Finish Next gt Figure 16 Setup Wizard Completion 15 5 Upgrading from the previous version If you have been running AstroPlanner V1 x on your computer you can upgrade the files and data bases from that version and in some instances share common data between the two versions Note that V1 x and V2 operate independently of each other so you can continue using both versions if you need to However V2 uses a new format for most of the files and databases used in Astro Planner V1 There is an upgrade path for these files but no downgrade path For this reason we strongly suggest that once you upgrade to V2 you abandon V1 otherwise you could get inconsisten cies between files and databases 5 1 First time after upgrade The first time you run V2 after installing it see Chapter 2 on page 2 it checks to see if you have a V1 installation present by looking for its preferences If it can t find such an installation it will ask you if you have one ls there an AstroPlanner V1 x installation on this computer if so you will be asked to locate the folder containing that older application FK R A aa Figure 17 V1 installation enquiry If you a
61. rposes let s say we just read the article on pages 67 through 70 of the September 2011 issue of Sky Telescope magazine entitled In Praise of the Great Dark North by David Rodger This article talks about a selection of interesting objects in the northern sky We d like to set up an observing plan to look at these objects Perhaps we ll get lucky and someone has already done the work for you and is willing to share Let s check the on line user contributed plan depository Download User Contributed Plans Total 812 plans Objects Description Authar Astronomical Societies Atlases and Star Charts Books mm Other I For_Light_Polluted_Skies txt 3 22 2003 111 111 Treasures for Light Polluted Scott Chizzo GreatDarkNorth txt B 11 7011 39 In Praise of the Great Dark North Paul Rodman E ST Apr2002 txt 4 5 2003 g Objects from Sky and Telescope Jim Wilkins In Praise of the Great Dark North Object Type Count Find Sky amp Telescope Sep 2011 Pg GY 70 Asterism 1 Dbi O plans selected F Galaxy Download to folder Browse Globular Mult Open P Neb Triple Choose Category Sky and Telescope Other Figure 31 User contributed plans 22 Use File User Contributed Plans Download assuming you are currently connected to the In ternet The window shown in Figure 31 appears You can look for the item manually in the hierar chical list you ll find it under B
62. s DOE Select All y Select All Suggested Select None o hi ae ti 7 catalogues selected 277 4MB Previous Cancel Finish Next gt Figure 13 Setup Wizard Catalogues When you ve finished click the Next button You ll be warned about the catalogues you selected 7 cataloques were selected for installation OK to install these after you click the Finish button E ES k A te Figure 14 Catalogue warning 4 3 6 Sample Plan Document This page of the wizard lets you create a sample plan document if you wish Type in a suitable file name and select some suitable astronomical objects to populate it with The file will be created on your desktop and opened for you 13 When you ve finished click the Next button Setup Wizard Sample Plan Document AstroPlanner lets you create your observing plan in a Plan document If you d like to create a sample document to get you going you can do so here Otherwise it s as simple as selecting New from the File menu and populating the new document with whatever astronomical objects you see fit to include Sample file name Give your sample file a short and informative file name e g 5amplel etc l j The application will add an appropriate extension for you and save the file on your desktop Add same abjects If you d like to add some objects to the sample document select what O None I ll add them myself objects to populate the plan
63. s or astronomical image processing Itis also not a one button does it all application but rather an intricate set of tools that gives you full control over your observation planning It s not difficult to learn to use the application in its ba sic form If you run through the quick start tutorial Chapter 6 on page 22 you ll get a good feel for the basics Using the application to its full extent does have a learning curve but you can assimilate new skills as and when you need them You don t need to read this entire manual We recommend you read through the first dozen chap ters The rest is reference material which you can use when you need to If you are already familiar with previous versions of AstroPlanner you might not need to crack the manual at all Feel free to experiment 2 Installation This chapter runs through the process of installing AstroPlanner V2 on your computer whether you are a first time user or upgrading from an older version If you are upgrading from AstroPlanner V1 x you should be aware that the installations are indepen dent so that you can run both V1 and V2 together without them interfering with each other 2 1 Hardware and operating system requirements AstroPlanner is a 32 bit application It runs fine or should run fine on both 32 and 64 bit operat ing systems For both platforms a screen with an absolute minimum size width and height of 1024 x 600 pixels is required If you are connecting
64. s option See Figure 60 e Click the Preview button The first time you use this in a run the Printer Setup dialog will be displayed so that you can specify paper size portrait vs landscape etc e The preview window is then generated Figure 61 If you re happy with the report format then use the Print button to print it out otherwise close the preview window and try again 41 Printing script Default Page Header includes Page Footer includes Restrictions Object fields Session fields C Page Number Date Time E Object ID s ivi Plan file name ivi Page Number M Date Time C Object ID s C Plan file name O Selected Not Selected C Highlighted C Not Highlighted Observed Not Observed Visible O Not Visible Found Not Found Fo Mark object IDs if Selected objects Bold T gt Highlighted objects Italic W Images and Charts T Object images Black on white 4 Jupiter Saturn satellite graphic a Constellation chart Le Number of attached images per 3 vil Sketching templates Template diameter t Template background Mone Im Data from previous observations EA Include observation data 5 max W Show attached observation im Sequence Name ivi iD C Duration ral Mame ivi Site Mi RA i start iwi Declination ivi Finish W Constellation Observer il Motes vi Seeing E Air Mass ivi Transparency C Altitude W Notes Annota
65. t e g A Meade Autostar or Celestron NexStar controlled telescope then you can set this up quite easily e Change the Computerised Mount via the popup menu to the particular mount you have e g Meade ETX series e Click the Edit button to the right of the Computerised Mount Popup This opens a dialog to al low you to edit various settings of your telescope mount e Select the Serial port that your telescope will connect to top left of the edit dialog e f available to you also set the Bit Rate top right of the dialog to match your mount s bit rate setting If this is disabled it means you have no choice and you can ignore it e Leave the other settings as they are and click OK 32 Vendar Product Type Protocal if Meade ETX series Fork Autostar Serial port USA19QW3a2P1 1 be BitRate 9600 bps Miscellaneous _ Show data flow to and from telescope Log data flow to a text file on the desktop Overwrite file Show telescope mimic window Show telescope control palette after connecting Leave serial port open when disconnecting Use SkyFi Starseek WiFi to Serial adapter 192 168 254 216 12 mmands imum time between commands 0 5 sec Do not check mount type when connecting Set Site after connecting Set Date after connecting Set Time after connecting Start tracking after connecting Beep when connection made Number af connection attempts Coordinates Minimum coordinate acquisition rate C Co
66. talogues is presented on the right side Check the checkboxes next to the cata logues you wish to install if you want all of them click the Select All button If you re not sure which ones you want the application can choose some suitable ones for you In this case in the User Survey section on the left check all the checkboxes next to equipment you own and the kind of observing you plan to be doing As you select options suggested catalogues will be marked in green You can use this as a guide or just click the Select All Suggested button Setup Wizard Catalogues Catalogues form the database of astronomical objects i e stars galaxies etc available to you for adding to your observing plans Each catalogue is usually based on a specialised survey done by professional astronomers Each such catalogue will usually specialise in a particular type of object e g double stars galaxies planetary nebulae etc and often covers only part of the entire sky visible from where the author was observing There are more than 150 such catalogues available to you as a registered user ranging from small catalogues with a dozen objects to enormous stellar catalogues such as the USNO A2 0 cataloque that has over half a billion stars You probably won t use a lot of them and you don t need all of them on disk at any one time You can add and remove them at any time using the Catalogue Manager available from the File menu The survey below
67. tions CJ Apparent Magnitude Average Rating Azimuth Catalogue Observation fields Chart Detection Probability Detection Probability 2 Difficulty Index Extinction Found Heliocentric Julian Date Hour Angle Images Log Object Contrast Lord Rating i Eyepiece Magnitude wi E 2 pa M Optical Aid 1 Il Magnification LJ ID Name C Actual Fow Constellation E Dec Julian Date Tl Local Date wi Local Time Tl Found vi Telescope IDODOOOODOdODOO Figure 60 Print dialog for observing forms 49 New File ID Name NGC6791 NGC6791 RA 19h 20m 42s Declination 37 51 0 Constellation Lyr Notes vF 32 x 32 Local Date Found 8 14 2011 3 48 PM Page 2 of 7 Figure 61 Print preview for observing forms 43 PA 7 Howto get help AstroPlanner is a very rich application and it takes some time and effort to get it to do your bidding There are several ways to get help Remember no question is too dumb 7 1 User Manual This manual is the definitive source of assistance for the application Use the PDF search features to find what you want within the manual or just peruse the Table of Contents If a feature isn t dis cussed in this manual it s a bug please contact the vendor see below There s a troubleshooting chapter in this manual if you are having problems that you th
68. vailable eyepiece If your eyepiece or eye pieces are in that list select the entry and click the Add button You can also add the information manually and use the Add this eyepiece button to add the new eyepiece entry 11 Click the Next button when you ve finished Eyepieces AstroPlanner uses eyepiece resource information to calculate the the field of view and other parameters You can change these settings later via the Resources command in the Edit menu Pre defined eyepieces Eyepiece Focal Length Apparent FoV Barrel If your eyepiece is a commercially Meade AT Plossl 5mm 5 45 1 25 made model then select it from the list Meade AT Plossl Gm 6 46 125 on the left if it exists and click the i Add button below to include it as a Meade Wide Angle 15mm 18 60 1 25 new eyepiece resource Meade Series 3000 5mm Plos sl 5 45 1 25 Meade Series 3000 6 7mm Plossl 6 7 45 1 25 You can edit the name and parameters Meade Series 3000 9 5mm Plossl 9 5 45 1 25 katar 16 yau tah Meade Series 3000 16mm Plossl 16 48 1 25 For an eyepiece not on the list enter Meade Series 3000 25mm Plossl 25 47 1 25 the data for that eyepiece in the fields Meade Series 3000 40mm Plossl 40 38 1 25 below and click the Add this eyepiece Meade Series 4000 6 4mm Plossl 6 4 48 1 25 Dum Meade Series 4000 9 7mm Plossl g 7 49 1 25 Meade Series 4000 12 4mm Plossl 50 1 25 Meade Series 4000 15mm Plossl 15 50 1 25 Meade Series 4000 20mm Plossl 20 50
69. with All 110 Messier objects O All 29 Messier globular clusters C All 28 Messier open clusters C All 40 Messier galaxies 100 assorted and interesting objects e cele Your document will be created on the desktop and opened when you click the Finish button Previous Finish Figure 15 Setup Wizard Sample Plan Document 4 3 7 Completion Finally the actions you performed will be summarised on the Complete page To go ahead and create the resources sample file and or install catalogues click the Finish button Otherwise click the Cancel button and all actions will be cancelled Note that you can call up the Setup Wizard at any time via the File Setup Wizard menu item If you click Finish and there were catalogues selected to install then the Catalogue manager win dow is opened and you ll need to click the Install button to finish off the installation 14 Complete Click the Finish button below to complete the setup Any new resources you defined will be added to the resource database and will be ready to use Summary The following Site resources will be added to the resource database Backyard The following Telescope resources will be added to the resource database 25 f 5 CGE 925 The following Eyepiece resources will be added to the resource database E Lux 10mm Edge On 16mm SWA 15mm The following Cataloques will be installed All Sky Compiled Catalogue Arp Galaxy Catalogue Ba
70. y Category Magazines Sky and Telescope Other or even quicker by typing Great Dark North into the Find field centre right and clicking Find v Find great dark north 1 U CGreaiDarkNorth txt 8 11 2011 39 In Praise of the Great Dark North Paul Rodman In Praise of the Great Dark North Object Type Count great dark north Find Sky amp Telescope 5ep 2011 Pg 67 70 Asterism 1 Dbl 1 O plans selected 1 j j M Galaxy 8 Download to folder Browse Figure 32 Using the Find feature Select the GreatDarkNorth txt entry by clicking the checkbox next to it and then clicking the Down load button The plan is downloaded and opened Close the user contributed plans window and if you so choose save the GreatDarkNorth plan on your hard disk 000 GreatDarkNorth 39 Objects 0 Observed AstroPlanner 2002 11 iLanga Inc a SUN amp TWILIGHT Alt 48 1 MOON Next Rise 7 12 PM PME i Telescope Orion ED 80 APO 2 Set 8 21PM Rise 6 03 AM Next Set 4 53AM Sie Home 1 3 O Cix Date SS Telescope not connected Fm Age 13 0 d Civil 9 02 PM Civil 5 24 am MAGEN Phase Gibbous Seeing Not specified v A illum 96 4 i EGLI Telescope not controllable Naut 9 44 PM Naut 4 42 AM b y e Highlight Observed gt Astr 10 33 PM Astr 3 51 AM Alt 36 6 AA B Observations Field of View Sky 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
71. y intellectual property rights in the Software TRANSFER You may not rent lease sublicense or lend the Software or Documentation You may however transfer all your rights to use the Software to another person or legal entity provided 1 that you transfer this Agree ment the Software including all copies updates and prior versions and all copies of font software convert ed into other formats and all Documentation to such person or entity 2 that you retain no copies includ ing copies stored on a computer and 3 that the receiving party accept the terms and conditions of this Agreement LIMITED WARRANTY iLanga warrants to you that the Software will perform substantially in accordance with the Documentation for the ninety 90 day period following your receipt of the Software If the Software does not perform sub stantially in accordance with the Documentation the entire and exclusive liability and remedy shall be lim ited to either at iLanga option the replacement of the Software or the refund of the license fee if any you paid for the Software ILANGA DOES NOT AND CANNOT WARRANT THE PERFORMANCE OR RESULTS YOU MAY OBTAIN BY USING THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION THE FOREGOING STATES THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES FOR ILANGA S BREACH OF WARRANTY EXCEPT FOR THE FOREGOING LIMITED WARRANTY ILANGA AND ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED AS TO NONIN FRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR

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