Home

Here - STAR Atlas:PRO

1. You may Manually set the V Guide Star Catalogue to display charts like the accompanying screen shot STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 137 Using the Hyper LEDA Galaxy database This section of the manual is written as a procedure that you may follow to explore the many features of the Hyper LEDA Galaxy Database To begin start here 1 Start STAR Atlas PRO 2 Open the Astronomical Database Manager and choose Locate from the STAR Atlas PRO main menu a eS Astronomical Database Manager Astronomical catalogue designation helpers Find Object Star Clusters Galaxies A M Eso ESO 350 040 Find Now Globular Clusters Galaxies N Z I Entry Format ESO 999 999 Catalogue ESO optical sources 41 Menu Number DEEP SKY OBJECTS STARS 75 Popular Deep Sky Objects 76 Constellations SOLAR SYSTEM 51 Yale Bright Star Catalogue 5 7 NGC IC and MESSIER Objects 1_ Planets 52 Hipparcos Catalogue EE e 2 Comets 53 Hipparcos Periodic Variables IO meee ae we 3 Jupiter s Great Red Spot amp Moons 54 Hipparcos Unsolved Variables i ae Sans REG 5 80 Quasars AGN amp BL Lac Objects 4 Planetary Ephemerides 55 Hipparcos Double Stars 31 fee PRES 5 Minor Planets Asteroids 56 Tycho Catalogue 2 P aaia peaa HELIST 67 Star Names 82 Hickson Compact Galaxy Groups 58 Star C Refi 83 Strasbourg ESO Planetary Nebulae 6 Observation List Genera
2. 3 Use the command next to Image Viewer Program option to explore your way to the relevant graphics program then select the External Image Viewer Program of your choice so that the Image Viewer Program setting is then set to the location and name of the program i e C Windows System32 mspaint exe STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 134 Displaying wide field Deep Sky charts This feature of STAR Atlas PRO is a powerful tool for visualizing large portions of the night sky with faint celestial objects that would normally only appear when the chart is zoomed into a much smaller field of view This feature ignores the automatic settings which normally only display faint celestial objects when a much smaller chart field of views is reached In the accompanying screen shot each small red ellipse represents a galaxy on this horizon chart that spans a wide 60 Degrees of the sky across many constellations This is a useful method for locating large groups of deep sky objects STAR ASPRO Feesine Vath 27 em tie OH ty 21 However this feature is not restricted to just galaxies In the following screen shot we see how this feature may also be applied to the same area of the sky displaying only stars STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 135 p Tah 27m tie OH y 21 Here is an opportunity to display ten s of thousands of galaxies for your night sky making it easy to home in large clusters of galaxies Followin
3. Choose Chart Prefs from the Main menu Choose Labels which opens the Label Options window Adjust the options to suit your requirements Choose Close and STAR Atlas PRO returns to the desktop and displays a new chart with your selected label options An explanation of each of the label options that appear on the Label Options window appears in the accompanying list Label Option Label Description V Sun Moon and Planets Display labels for the Sun Moon and Planets V Star Labels Display Star Labels regardless of the selections made in the following Star Labelling options V Common Name Display the common names of Stars e g Sirius V Bayer Display the Bayer names of Stars e g Zet as in Zeta STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 111 V Flamsteed V Greek V SAO V HD vV Magnitude V Guide Star Catalogue Labels V Deep Sky Object Labels V Smart Labels V Label only selected Catalogues V Display Popular Names V NGC IC Messier V LEDA Galaxies Display the Flamsteed numbers of Stars e g 85 as in Ursa Major 85 Display the Greek letter of Stars e g B as in Beta Display the SAO Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory catalogue number of Stars Display the Henry Draper Catalogue Number of Stars Display the Visual Magnitude of the Star as the Star s Label Display labels for stars from the Guide Star Catalogue GSC Display labels
4. Displays the entire Sky centred on Zenith only available in Planetarium charting mode Opens the Horizon Chart option window where you may select to display a chart of the horizon facing either North South East or West from your location only available in Planetarium charting mode Press the N S E or W key on your keyboard for fast selection Opens the STAR Atlas PRO Astronomical Clocks window display Local and Universal Time and time of Astronomical Twilight Connects STAR Atlas PRO to your Telescope and displays the Telescope Control menu Re displays the Chart and removes any text or reticles you have projected onto the chart Opens the Chart Symbols and Stellar Magnitude scale window where you may alter the colours of chart symbols Displays general information about STAR Atlas PRO including your software version number Opens the Print Chart window where you may choose to print the desktop chart to a Printer a Windows Bitmap file or an Adobe Postscript output file Displays the Help manual in HTML internet format you must have STAR Atlas PRO configured to recognise your STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 34 Web Browser program Quit F10 Exits from STAR Atlas PRO and returns you to Windows Other Commands When the STAR Atlas PRO desktop is displayed the followed keyboard commands are available Command Keyboard Command Description Cursor Up T Pans the
5. Refresh Updates the displayed User Catalogue values see next table Displayed Values Description Free User Catalog The number of bytes of available in the Argo Navis Memory bytes User Catalogue Pool Argo Navis User The number of celestial objects present into the Argo Catalog count Navis User Catalogue Observation Planner The number of celestial objects present in STAR count Atlas PRO s Observation Planner This procedure explains how to download the data for celestial objects stored in the Observation Planner into the Argo Navis User Catalogue 1 Choose Scope from the main floating menu 2 Then choose Connect to make a connection with the Argo Navis STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 176 3 5 Once connected select Argo Navis Panel from the Scope Control Toolbar menu that appears after STAR Atlas PRO makes a successful connection to the Argo Navis The Argo Navis Panel window will then appear and automatically display the current R A and DEC values along with Internal Unit Temperature and other values Note the command buttons are disabled whenever communications between STAR Atlas PRO and the Argo Navis are in progress Choose the Export button to start the download process Follow the instructions that are displayed by STAR Atlas PRO which tell you how to setup the Argo Navis so that it is ready to accept the download of objects The following instructions are
6. Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window Choose 3 Jupiter s Great Red Spot and Moons button Set the Number of Frames value to 30 i e there will be 30 frames in the animation Set the Delay between Frames value to 1 if not already set to this value there will be a 1 10 of a second delay between each frame in the animation Set the Time Skipped between Frames value to 5 time will advance 5 minutes each animation frame Now we have set an animation that will have a total of 30 frames the Number of Frames value The amount of time skipped between each frame will be 5 minutes Time Skipped between Frames Therefore the animation will span 30 x 5 minutes 150 minutes of time The setting Delay between Frames value is set to 1 which is 1 10 of a second so there is no waiting time between the display of each frame Increase this value if you wish to slow down the animation 6 Now start the animation by choosing the Forward or Reverse button adjacent to the Time Skip label While the animation is running notice that the date amp time values are updated with each update that is displayed this is the time amp date the Moons will appear in these positions If you chose the Time Skip Forward command then the animation advances the time and date To work back through time select Time Skip Reverse Setting the starting Date amp Time of an
7. If you enable this option the positions of the Planets and Comets are re calculated every time the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart is displayed or refreshed STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 115 This option is useful when you wish to plot the precise position of a Planet or Comet with the greatest accuracy from moment to moment For example if you re using STAR Atlas PRO to watch a Planet cross the face of the Sun by enabling this option each time you choose the Refresh command the desktop chart re calculates the position of the Planets and Sun for that precise moment in time and then re displays the new position of the Sun and Planets and Comets Of course this feature may also be used to track the precise minute to minute position of a Comet as it slowly moves among the stars during the course a night Enabling the Real Time Orbital Positions option slows down the normal operation of STAR Atlas PRO accordingly leaving this option enabled during normal use of STAR Atlas PRO is not recommended Display Horizon Meridian amp Ecliptic option The Horizon the celestial lines of the Meridian and the Ecliptic are displayed by default when you set STAR Atlas PRO into Planetarium charting mode and remain displayed when Star Atlas charting mode is selected When STAR Atlas PRO is set to Planetarium charting mode and you disable this option then the Meridian and Ecliptic lines are no longer displayed on the chart
8. The following instructions assume that you have connected the Argo Navis serial cable from your computer into the Serial Port 1 on the Argo Navis and switched on the Argo Navis This procedure also assumes you have already performed the necessary alignment and or setup of the Argo Navis Step 1 Setting up the Argo Navis The Argo Navis manual gives all relevant information about preparing this instrument for viewing and accurate set up of the instrument is essential Set the Argo Navis Comm Port Settings Following this procedure on the Argo Navis to setup the Argo Navis communications Mode Setup Enter Setup Serial Enter Serial 1 Enter Serial 1 Baud Enter 38400 10 Exit Oo AN AU KR WN This setting of 38400 must match the Baud Rate setting in STAR Atlas PRO Step 2 Setting up STAR Atlas PRO The following steps are needed to correctly setup STAR Atlas PRO for use with the Argo Navis 1 Choose the Chart Prefs command from the STAR Atlas PRO main menu 2 Choose the Telescope Setup tab STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 173 Ti Program Setup and Configuration iquration SS Observer s Location Time Zone Eile Locations Other Optons Advanced Contig Tetescope Setup Telescope Control System Desane ENASLE Telescope Driver Argo Navis Tetescope Dnver COM Port Settings Port 1 Baud Rate 38400 gt Parity NONE d Dats Sts g
9. a lt Command Group Telescope Movement Scope Position Slew Rate Maximum Slew Rate Reticle Brightness Reticle Flash Rate Smart Drive PEC Smart Drive Command Button N S E w STOP RA Dec AIt Az Center Guide Find Slew 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Toggle LEARN UPDATE ERASE Command Description Slew telescope North Slew telescope South Slew telescope East Slew telescope West Stop the Telescope slew Display the R A and Dec co ordinates of the telescope Display the Alt and Az Co ordinates of the telescope Set slew rate to Center rate Set slew rate to Guide rate Set slew rate to Find rate Set slew rate to Slew rate Set Maximum Slew Rate to 2 sec Set Maximum Slew Rate to 3 sec Set Maximum Slew Rate to 4 sec Set Maximum Slew Rate to 5 sec Set Maximum Slew Rate to 6 sec Set Maximum Slew Rate to 7 sec Set Maximum Slew Rate to 8 sec Increase Reticle Brightness Decrease Reticle Brightness Set Reticle Flash Mode 0 Set Reticle Flash Mode 1 Set Reticle Flash Mode 2 Set Reticle Flash Mode 3 Set Reticle Flash Mode 4 Set Reticle Flash Mode 5 Set Reticle Flash Mode 6 Set Reticle Flash Mode 7 Set Reticle Flash Mode 8 Set Reticle Flash Mode 9 Toggle Smart Drive On Off for both axis Set Smart drive to LEARN mode Set Smart
10. Entering a CCD Camera profile To set up STAR Atlas PRO so that you may begin using the CCD Reticles you need to have the following information about your CCD Camera before you start 1 2 3 4 The number of Pixels on the X Axis of the CCD Sensor The number of Pixels on the Y Axis of the CCD Sensor The horizontal size of a pixel on the CCD Sensor specified in microns The vertical size of a pixel on the CCD Sensor specified in microns To set up your CCD Camera in STAR Atlas PRO follow this procedure as a guide 1 2 Right click on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Choose Draw CCD FOV from the popup menu if this option is not available on the popup menu try setting STAR Atlas PRO to Star Atlas charting mode STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 96 3 Choose Add CCD Camera and answer YES when prompted 4 A new entry is now created and highlighted in the CCD CAMERAS list named New CCD Camera 5 Type in a descriptive name for your CCD Camera e g My CCD Camera and then press the TAB key on your keyboard which will move you to the X No Of Pixels column 6 Type in the number of Pixel in the X axis of the CCD chip then press the TAB key on your keyboard which will move you to the Y No Of Pixels column 7 Type in the number of Pixel in the Y axis of the CCD chip then press the TAB key on your keyboard which will move you to the X Pixel Size column 8 Type in the size of P
11. RFGC SDG SDSSJ KUG UGC VCC ISZ Telescope Control STAR Atlas PRO provides an easy to use control system for robotic telescopes and telescopes equipped with Digital Setting Circles STAR Atlas PRO provides support for many popular makes and models of telescopes including Meade Celestron Argo Navis and also supports the freely available ASCOM Telescope Driver suite which provides access to dozens of additional telescope drivers beyond those provide with STAR Atlas PRO Controlling your robotic Telescope can be achieved using numerous methods with STAR Atlas PRO On the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart you may select any celestial object choose Identify Object from the popup menu and then the STAR Atlas PRO Goto menu command to move your telescope to point at that celestial object The Astronomical Database Manager may also be used to locate any celestial object of choice and then you may utilise the Goto command to move and point your Telescope at that object There are other sophisticated features available too When celestial objects are clustered together on the screen such as stars in a star cluster STAR Atlas PRO lists all the objects located in the proximity You may then slew your telescope to each object individually or to any object of choice Telescopes equipped with Digital Setting Circles DSC or similar equipment like the Argo Navis Digital Telescope Computer may use STAR Atlas PRO
12. VII 213 Hickson s Compact groups of Galaxies Hickson 1982 1994 Hickson s Compact group of Galaxies Catalogue is a list of 100 compact groups of galaxies identified by a search of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey images Each galaxy group has at least four galaxies 100 Groups 463 Individual Galaxies Description Displays a scrollable list of galaxy groups from the Hickson s Compact group of Galaxies Catalogue You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Hickson s Compact group Number that you are prompted to enter Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Number of the group Two character code a letter followed by a number classifies the group according to its 2 brightest members S The brightest galaxy is a spiral galaxy E The brightest galaxy is not a spiral galaxy STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 221 Member Count Angular Size Total Magnitude of Group Magnitude of Brightest member Redshift Other Catalogues Common Positional Data 1 m b m a gt 1 0 2 0 5 lt m b m a lt 1 0 3
13. these tutorials are set up to build self confidence so that viewers are better able to explore the multitude of features found in STAR Atlas PRO The tutorials do not need to be followed in any particular order but it is recommended you follow all of them to help you understand the principles of using STAR Atlas PRO The tutorial exercises are e Exercise 1 The Desktop e Exercise 2 Desktop Chart and Planetarium Chart views e Exercise 3 Desktop Size and Magnitude e Exercise 4 Desktop Right mouse button e Exercise 5 Locating Celestial Objects of Interest e Exercise 6 Looking for a planet e Exercise 7 Using the NGC Search e Exercise 8 Using the DSS interface e Exercise 8 Observation Planner Using e Exercise 10 Observation Planner Tonight s Viewing e Exercise 11 Observation List Generator STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 179 Exercise 1 The Desktop This first tutorial is intended to familiarise you with the STAR Atlas PRO desktop and menu systems The following diagram describes the main features of the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Status Details Display in Application Chart Title Desktop Popup Menu Main Menu The Status Details Displayl is situated along the top edge of the STAR Atlas PRO desktop window and provides you with values and indicators that describe the current position and settings of the displayed Star Chart The Main Menu is the main point for acc
14. to find deep sky objects quickly and easily STAR Atlas PRO displays a cursor at the pointing location of your Telescope when you move your Telescope the cursor also floats across the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart to follow your Telescope In no time at all you ll be locating dozens of celestial objects just by watching the computer monitor and moving your telescope to centre on celestial objects that appear on STAR Atlas PRO charts Supported Telescopes STAR Atlas PRO includes a collection of in built Telescope Drivers that support a wide variety of Telescope makes and models including Telescopes equipped with Digital Setting Circles DSC The following table lists the STAR Atlas PRO Telescope Drivers that you may choose from along with their suitability for different Telescope makes and models There may be other Telescopes that are compatible with each driver but not explicitly listed STAR Atlas PRO driver name Compatible Telescopes and Digital Setting STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 156 Circles DSC Argo Navis Argo Navis NGC superMax Meade Autostar Meade Telescopes with Autostar I and or Autostar II Meade LX200 Meade LX200 Meade GPS Meade LX90 Meade LXD Series Meade ETX Series Astro Physics GTO Vixen Sky Sensor 2000 Generic LX200 Scopes Celestron NexStar 8 11 GPS Celestron NexStar 5i 8i with iComp hand control Celestron NexStar 8 9 25 11 GPS firmware
15. 0 000 Name 13Alp Aur Visual Mag 0 08 B V Colour Index 0 80 Spectral Type lifinfraRed Parallax 0 425 Durchmusterung ID BD 45 1077 Aitken s Double Star Number 3841 Henry Draper Number 34029 ADS Number of Components SAO Number 40186 Variable Star ID 1897 FK5 Number 193 Notes AN I _____ I D AP 0 6 GSill 1 1 GONI sep 0 04 0 285y a 0 054 masses 2 67 and 2 55 solar Combined mag colors Capellais D _ first star for which an orbit was determined from interferometer measures by Anderson at Mt Wilson in 1920 Speckle D _ sep 0 040 1981 24 and 1981 68 0 055 1982 16 CPM with component H a close binary 10 0 dM1 13 7 dM5 sep 2 at D 723 from A probably physical with A Other components all faint and distant from A DYN 0 058 G Hyades group N _ CAPELLA Alhajoth R Diam component A 0 0052 component B 0 0040 s Chromospheric He 10830 double Balloon borne spectrometer revealed pronounced emission of Mall Soft X ray emissic s Lithium content of the F type componentis 15 times that of the G component Also classified G6lll F9ill SB 104 0204d K 26 1k s VO 29 5k s asini 37 3 4 Find Star in Hipparcos Find by HR Find by SAO Catalogue M Obs M 4 gt DI Cose Identifying objects on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart Follow this procedure to identify objects on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart 1 For this example try choosing
16. 317mm 16 406mm 20 508mm STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 94 How to calculate the Focal Length of your Telescope The Focal Length of your telescope can easily be calculated by multiplying the telescope s f ratio by the Aperture of the Telescope Formula Focal length aperture f ratio Using a 4 inch f 9 telescope as an example 1 First convert 4 inch to millimetres which equals 101mm 2 Then multiply the 10imm by 9 the telescope s f ratio and this gives you the Focal Length of your Telescope which is 909mm Entering a Telescope Profile Entering a telescope profile in STAR Atlas PRO allows you to subsequently choose the telescope from a list when choosing a eyepiece or camera reticle to display on the desktop chart To setup your Telescope profile in STAR Atlas PRO follow this procedure 1 Right click on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop 2 Choose Eyepiece FOV from the popup menu if this option is not available on the popup menu try setting STAR Atlas PRO to Star Atlas charting mode 3 Choose Add Telescope and answer Yes when you are asked if you wish to add a new entry 4 A new entry is now created and highlighted in the TELESCOPES list named New Telescope 5 Type in a descriptive name for your Telescope e g 8 inch Reflector and then press the TAB key on your keyboard which will move you the Focal Length column 6 Type in the focal length of your Telescope e g 1200
17. Allows you to add the name and orbital elements of a new Comet Opens the Download and Update Comet Orbital Elements window permitting you to update STAR Atlas PRO with the latest Comet orbital elements When you click this button Comet positions and magnitude estimates will be recalculated for STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 215 Plot Path Delete Common commands Displayed Value MPC Designation Comet Name Epoch or Orbital Elements q Perihelion Distance A U e Eccentricity i Inclination W Argument of Perihelion Longitude of Ascending Node H Absolute Visual Magnitude G Slope Parameter Last Calculated Visual Magnitude Estimate Common Positional Data the current Date and Time settings of STAR Atlas PRO Note that the Comet Positions will not be updated until STAR Atlas PRO redraws the current chart Draws the Path of the Comet through the sky Deletes the currently selected Comet from the database Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Designation given to the Comet by the Minor Planetary Center Comet Name Epoch of Orbital Elements in Julian Date format Perihelion Distance in Astronomical Units Eccentricity of Orbit Inclination Argument of Perihelion Longitude of Ascending Node Absolute Visual Magnitude of the Comet Slope Parameter is a factor used to estimate the Comet s br
18. Chihuahua Cordoba Costa Rica Cuiaba Curacao Danmarkshavn Dawson Dawson Creek Denver 25 17 26 0 15 1 4 6 0 6 8 11 15 3 25 29 26 2 6 1 12 13 18 12 6 0 14 32 36 22 Latitude o Degrees 51 61 18 17 7 12 25 13 1 17 2 4 43 34 69 21 10 28 4 19 41 28 Z3 9 15 12 76 64 59 39 45 50 15 19 36 57 18 27 23 48 40 25 45 58 28 18 18 17 31 22 29 20 46 54 48 34 arc min 52 13 12 3 12 30 16 6 27 30 49 36 36 36 3 5 30 28 56 18 51 38 24 56 35 11 46 4 46 44 South South South North North South South North North North South South South North South South South North North South North North North North North North North North North South Hemi sphere North North North North South North South North South North North North North South North North North South North North North North South North South North North North North North 13 10 17 Longitude o Degrees 176 149 63 61 48 68 57 59 48 88 60 74 116 58 105 86 66 65 52 81 87 106 64 84 56 69 18 139 120 104 55 25 52 18 24 27 13 14 28 i7 47 35 30 22 47 49 57 31 37 44 11 11 arc min 39 54 4 48 12 58 40 37 29 12 40 5 12 27 5 46 56 47 20 23 39 5 11 5 5 0 40 25 14 59 East East East East East East East
19. D Duplicity induced variability M Possible micro variable with a change in Magnitude lt 0 03 P Periodic Variable U Unsolved Variable that does not fit in other categories You now need to close each window of data which means choosing the Close button or Alt C on the keyboard on each window until you return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart Now you have learned how to mine stellar data enjoy exploring and learning about the other countless stars available in STAR Atlas PRO Observation List Generator The Observation List Generator is a STAR Atlas PRO feature that provides you with a tool for easily querying STAR Atlas PRO s astronomical catalogues and exporting Lists of Celestial objects Using the Observation List Generator allows you to perform searches like this Find all Planetary Nebula brighter than Magnitude 12 whose size is at least 10 arc seconds and located in the Constellation Scorpius STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 92 Each celestial entry in the search results may then be charted and its Astro physical data examined You may even slew your telescope straight to each object s location Each list of celestial objects that you create may also be exported to other applications like Microsoft Excel Performing Queries Follow this example procedure to perform this query find all Planetary Nebula brighter than Magnitude 12 whose size is at least 10 arc seconds and located in the Const
20. David Dunlap Observatory Example 1 DDO001 Example 2 DDO243 8 You can see now that in the Find Object input field we have formed the proper designation DDO 050 You could have also entered DDOO50 9 Click the Find Now button 10 The Hyper LEDA now locates and displays the astrophysical data for the object we searched for STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 149 Find PGC Find Name Popular Galaxies Follow this procedure to demonstrate an alternative method for locating the 50 object from the David Dunlop Observatory Catalogue of Dwarf Galaxies 1 Open the STAR Atlas PRO Astronomical Database Manager using the Locate command 2 Enter DDO 050 3 Click Find Now This quick method assumes you already known the catalogue designation i e DDO of the object you re looking for STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 150 Number of objects per Constellation The following table lists the number of Hyper LEDA objects in each Constellation And Ant Aps Aql Aqr Ara Ari Aur Boo CMa CMi CVn Cae Cam Cap Car Cas Cen Cep Cet Cha Gir Cnc Col Com CrA Cre Cet Cru Crv Cyg Del Dor Dra Equ Eri For Gem Gru Her Hor Hya Hyi Ind 18 102 4 793 3 831 4 821 52 592 1 906 10 641 9 595 50 358 4 054 3 482 24 980 7 626 12 247 14 686 7 565 4 754 26 847 3 030 67 444 1 412 534 19 463 12332 14 478 1 189 12 361 10 765 233 6 975 4 452 1
21. GENERATOR receio a Er E AT pevecoteutedeestudutensevecncetepeieedgutctesetodestee 92 Performing Queries snae t E ced E E Rav e A AE E e ETE 93 EYEPIECE AND CCD CAMERA RETICLES iriri tae aE E AEEA E RARR RER 94 Entering a Telescope Profilessncnioienne iniret iein A A R TE E s 95 Enteringa Eyepiece profile iccicciccciicccccicivecc cscs iei n R E REEE A R aii 96 Entering a CCD Camera profile c cc cc vccc cscs inii R E RE A R EE ii 96 Using Reticles w sccisccpsces onni enri a n RR E E R E ARE RE Res RE 97 LOTEN UEO a N COIN SEAE A E E E E E E E 98 System Colour Scheme Options a a aaar aaa a ea E eo aaaea rate s Ena r eaa iian 99 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 4 Chart Colour Scheme Options nosie ern a aaa E a a a a eia 100 Constellation Opt OS r E Eaa r a a a 101 pO E2192 08 0 aF E A ee TE 101 Chart Date and Time Options ccccsccesccssecsseeseeeseeeeeeseceseceseceeceaecnaecaaecaaeeaeeeaeseceseeeeeesesenseeeaeeaees 104 Highlight Observation Planner Objects Option c cccceesessscessceseceseeseeceeeseeeseeeeeeeeeeereeeeneeneensees 105 Digitized Sky Survey DSS Option cccccecesseesseesceeseeesceecesecesecaecsaecseeeseeeaeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeseeeeeaees 106 Co Ordinate Limes Options c cerns irea a ea e E a a a asiaa 107 Chart M ode OPO e a E a epee eee 108 AONE LOT E E E A E EAE AE 109 Chart Legend Options e a ashi idee E A E E a a a eitie 110 IERD ON A ee AE AAA 111 Catalogue Selection Method options c c
22. GSC ACT Catalogue Lasker B M Russel J N Jenkner H The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc c 1989 1992 1996 The Guide Star Catalogue was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute STScI under U S Government grant These data are based on photographic data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope The Oschin Schmidt Telescope is operated by the California Institute of Technology and Palomar Observatory The UK Schmidt Telescope was operated by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh with funding from the UK Science and Engineering Research Council later the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council until 1988 June and thereafter by the Anglo Australian Observatory The blue plates of the southern Sky Atlas and its Equatorial Extension together known as the SERC J as well as the Equatorial Red ER were all taken with the UK Schmidt The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc c 1989 1992 1996 Digitized Sky Surveys Acknowledgement The Digitized Sky Surveys were produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under U S Government grant NAG W 2166 The images of these surveys are based on photographic data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope The plates were processed into the present compressed digital form with the permission of these institutions The Nat
23. No Pic Goto Sync Description The ARP Catalogue Number The most common name of the brightest Galaxy or the name of the Group of Galaxies This is the largest dimension of the rectangular Field of View of the photograph published in Arp s Atlas published in 1966 This is the Orientation used for the original Arp photograph N North S South E East W West E g E means the Arp Photo was oriented with the longer edges of the photograph in an East West direction with East at the Top This is the Focal Length in Inches of the telescope required to duplicate Arp s original photograph using a CB245 CCD Camera This is the Focal Length in Inches of the telescope required to duplicate Arp s original photograph using a ST6 CCD Camera This is the Focal Length in Inches of the telescope required to duplicate Arp s original photograph using a ST5 CCD Camera Common information to all Catalogues STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 209 Arp Components Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT The grid lists information for each celestial object s of the selected Arp Object Displayed Value Name Total V Mag Galaxy Size Morph Type Uranometria RA Hr Min Sec DEC Deg Min Sec Barnard s Dark Objects Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit Number of Entries Menu Commands List Description Common Name of Galaxy Total Visual Magnitude Size of Galaxy Morphological Ty
24. Pg 213 Henry Draper Number SAO Number FK5 Number Notes Category Remark Common Positional Data Caldwell Catalogue Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit Number of Entries Menu Commands List Henry Draper Catalogue Number SAO Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory star catalogue number FK5 Catalogue Number Notes are displayed if they exist in this grid C Colours D Double and multiple stars DYN Dynamical parallaxes G Group membership M Miscellaneous N Star names P Polarisation R Stellar radii or diameters RV Radial and or rotational velocities S Spectra SB Spectroscopic binaries VAR Variability Notes Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT The Caldwell Catalogue Patrick Moore A list of 109 celestial objects compiled by Patrick Moore 109 Description Displays a scrollable list of entries from the Catalogue which may be sorted into Catalogue Identity Order or Common Name Order You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 214 Common commands Displayed Screen Data Caldwell Number Constellation Description Mag
25. The GSC catalogue adds major power to STAR Atlas PRO The GSC contains 15 3 million individual stars and 3 3 million Non Stellar Objects non Stars down to Magnitude 15 5 An additional 7 million duplicate entries are not usually displayed but may be enabled for special purposes GSC Installation Options There are several options you may choose from to install the GSC Options include installing the GSC to your hard disk drive which is recommended for best performance Decide on which of the following GSC Install options is best suited to you and then proceed to follow the directions for installation e GSC Install Option 1 Install the entire GSC onto your computer s Hard Drive recommended for convenience and best performance e GSC Install Option 2 Setup STAR Atlas PRO to read the GSC from your computer s DVD ROM drive each time data is required from it this method saves the most space on your computer s hard drive GSC Install Option 1 Installing the entire GSC to your Hard Disk Fast access method recommended You may install the entire GSC disc set onto your computer s hard disk by copying the entire contents of both GSC discs to a folder on your computers hard disk drive Follow this procedure as a guide STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 17 1 Open Windows Explorer by going to your Windows Start Button then choose Programs and then Windows Explorer 2 Next create a new folder on your h
26. The four arrow keys on your keyboard will move the chart as desired The limitation of these views is your horizon which is the whole of the horizon from your current position This means 180 degrees of the earth centred on your geographical location Of course the view on the computer screen is better than the actual area that can be visualised outside as the view outside is restricted not only by the position of the earth but also the number of trees buildings and hills in your area STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 187 Horizon view at the maximum Field of View 150 degrees displays the sky 75 degrees either side of centre The next time you run STAR Atlas PRO when the Horizon View is selected the chart will automatically return to the Sky Chart view showing the entire Sky for the current instant in time Once you display a Horizon Chart you regain all of the STAR Atlas PRO charting features that were disabled when you displayed the Sky Chart Exercise 3 Desktop Size and Magnitude The main menu on the desktop allows the user a considerable degree of freedom to select the way charts are displayed and which objects are displayed on them Care must be taken not to overload the desktop views as the screen may take a long time to refresh and might also become cluttered with labels Here is how to use these two features e Field of view e Mag Filter Magnitude Filter This command allows the viewer to effectiv
27. Track Scope command You may decrease this setting to the fastest possible setting of 1 second to provide the quickest possible screen updates This will give you a reticle that glides across the desktop chart as you re position your Telescope A low value of 1 second is recommended only when you have a fast enough computer to keep up and your Telescope keeps up with the 1 second requests to relay its co ordinates On slower computers even though this setting is set too 1 second the update will likely occur at a slower rate Slowing down the screen update to between 2 and 5 seconds can prevent communication errors from arising when the value is otherwise set too low You may need to adjust this value by trial and error until you get a suitable setting for your equipment The Communications Timeout Setting The Communications Timeout Setting sets the number of Seconds that STAR Atlas PRO waits for a response from the Telescope before raising an alert that the Telescope has not responded to the request it was sent from STAR Atlas PRO A setting of 3 seconds is usually adequate however if you find that you repeatedly get a Telescope did not respond message from STAR Atlas PRO then try increasing this value Precess Telescope Co ordinates Enable this option to apply precession to the co ordinates returned from the Telescope The Telescope s Epoch is assumed to be the current instant in time Precession is then applie
28. have selected in the Hyper G Atlas Refer to the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for complete details of the Sync command lq Go to the first entry in the atlas 4 Go to the previous entry in the atlas b Goto the next entry in the atlas b Go to the last entry in the atlas Data Data Description Example displayed PGC This is the Principal Galaxy 100170 Catalogue PGC number Name This is the galaxy s principal PGC100170 designation Type The vast majority of objects are G Galaxy Galaxies G however other entries in the Hyper G Atlas catalogue are identified by the Type from one of the following G Galaxy M Multiple galaxy i e pair triple Q Quasi Stellar Object QSO g Extra galactic object of unidentified nature or extended source STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 234 Morphological The morphological type or Hubble Sc Type type is coded from early to late types of galaxies as E E SO For barred spiral galaxies the morphological types are Sba Sbab SBb SBbc SBc SBcd SBd SBm There are also the morphological types S and E for uncertain classification Bar The galaxy exhibits a bar B Ring The galaxy exhibits a ring R Multiple The galaxy belongs to a multiple M galaxy system Compact Cor D if a galaxy was reported as C compact or diffuse respectively B Magnitude The object s total apparent corrected 16 52 B Magnitude Blue Magnitude corrected for gal
29. is a trade mark of Intel Copyright 2001 2015 SKY Lab Astronomy Software STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 2 Contents FORE WORD D E EE PEENE AEE N E AE EE cute sonnoeshnueesuavscsbasasbusdecesseupevasensoncennesos 8 ABOUT THIS MANUA D iacss sccssccdscsncstesdcesesssetescdededeicsdbatesnssstsesvessesbuceeedaesdeetvesdessevesadeesesessedpcoadbeduns ase 10 How touse this Manuals arns annn r e A E a aettostareratents 10 Sections in this Manual Typographical Conventions used in this Manual cccccccccesssessceesceeecesecesecaecaecaeeeaeeeneeeneeereeereees 11 INSTALLING STAR ATLAS PROM vossaccsscccsccssatie costsscsssstcteedessscseseosedsssnssvscesedstecsin b evnevesebessressosevseete 12 INSTALLATION PRE CHECKS set sss se oe iar i E REE E AE GRAEN RR EREE 12 Check 1 Minimum System Requirements ccccccsseessesssessceeseesecesecesecesecaecsaecseecaeecaeeeaeeseeeeseeereees 12 Check 2 Operating System Requirements ccccccscceseesseeseeesceesceeecesecesecaeceaecseecaeecaeeeneeseeeneeeereeas 13 INSTATENG STAR AT AS PROM a aa n tanen A E ea ia Ee a ee iaaa aaae Era Eea paitaa aeiiae 13 Step 1 Agree to the End User License Agreement sesesessssseesetseesresersssteressesresresetseeseenessreressese 13 Step 2 Check your current Graphics Adapter setting ccccccesccescceseceseceeecseeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeneenaees 14 Step 3 Decide where to install STAR Atlas PRO 0 cccecccescsseceseeese
30. s clock 1 Choose the Chart Prefs command from the main menu 2 From the Chart Date amp Time section choose the Sync to Computer command 3 Now choose the Redraw command The chart is now re displayed and synchronized with the computer s clock so the chart date and time will be for the current instant in time Highlight Observation Planner Objects option The V Highlight Observation Planner Objects setting displays a circle around the location of celestial objects you have stored in the STAR Atlas PRO Observation Planner STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 105 The accompanying screen shot displays three objects located in the STAR Atlas PRO Observation Planner making your target celestial objects simple to locate Digitized Sky Survey DSS Option When you enable the V Display DSS Image outlines option the rectangular area of the sky covered by each of the DSS Images you have collected are displayed with a dotted rectangle on STAR Atlas PRO desktop charts STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 106 This screen shot displays the position of several DSS Images that are displayed when the V Display DSS Image outlines option is enabled Re displaying DSS Images When you enable the V Display DSS Image outlines you may right click on the DSS image outline to display the DSS image located at that position To do this 1 Right click on any the DSS image outlines display 2 Choose Identify Obj
31. you can print it for ease of access or you can load into your browser for export and share with others You can decide on the Date and Time that you intend to observe then the Observation Planner will list which of your target objects are visible for that date and time You can also include a Horizon Cut Off Angle which is the angle above the Horizon that your target objects must be before they are reported as being visible 1 Start STAR Atlas PRO 2 Choose Locate from the main menu or L on keyboard 3 Under User Objects click 6 Observation Planner 4 At bottom left click Observable or O on Keyboard 5 Enter your Planned Observation Date amp Time Your cursor is already positioned in the Planned Observation Date amp Time input field ready to accept any Date and Time you wish to enter By default it will contain the current Date and Time useful if you are under the Stars with your computer 6 Enter your Planned Observation Date amp Time by overtyping the displayed date and time you can use your left and right arrow keys to position the cursor 7 Click List Qualifying Target Objects and the target celestial objects that are visible for the Date and Time you entered are then listed in the scrollable menu 8 Single click any one of your Target Objects from the scrollable menu choose Map to draw a star chart of the object s location 9 Click Export to Browser and the HTML file is created on your Window
32. 190 EXERCISE 5 LOCATING CELESTIAL OBJECTS OF INTEREST 0 sccsssssssesseseceescessessecesecaecaecsaessaesseeeaes 191 Finding a common Stars nener oai oer E E REEE EEEO EEA EERE 191 EXERCISE 6 LOOKING FOR A PLANE ren en e RR sects eas R E R RE EEN 192 EXERCISE 7 USING THE NGC SEARCH ece a a a n a a eaa 193 EXERCISE 8 USING THE DSS INTERFACE inonsan a a N a E a N 193 How to use the Digitised Sky Survey DSS Interface 0 0 ee eccesceesecececneeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeneensees 194 Charting the location of DSS Images from your personal DSS Image Library 0 0 0 eee eeeeeeeeees 195 EXERCISE 9 OBSERVATION PLANNER USING 2 0 0 scesccesscssecssecseecseeseeeeaeeseeeseceseenseessecsaecnaecnaecaaesseeenes 198 How do I add objects to the Observation Planner cccecccescceseceteceeeceeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeereneeeeeeeensees 198 EXERCISE 10 OBSERVATION PLANNER TONIGHT S VIEWING c csesseesseescesseesecssecesecaecnaeeaaesseeenes 200 EXERCISE 11 OBSERVATION LIST GENERATOR cesccssccssecsseceecseeeseseneeseeeeseseensecsecsuecsaecsaecaaesseeenes 201 ASTRONOMICAL CATALOGUES seneis oi cssssssssncsssersosnasscnossssesodenoccsnonsascsvoosesoasensase seve od cosvonsbeeseassesoetes 202 DEEP SKY OBJECT CATALOGUES eday sub seudeussedusy pat E sant E E e E NEER seb N sti 202 STAR CATALOGUES iieii noires e e a E E EE A EEEE seu ve cuebuvs E ER E EEE 204 POPULATION OF ASTRONOMICAL CATALOGUES sesseesessseseeeseseesresesttssestestestestssee
33. 30 x 30 arc minutes Constellation Filter Clear Filter image Credit STScI Digitized Sky Survey Search for Object Pte p Find in Copy to 5 Lis NGC Ic Messier Leda Map Obs NoPic G SYNC M 4 gt DI Close STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 73 Displaying images To begin utilizing ASTRO IMAGES there are several methods that you may use to access celestial images when using STAR Atlas PRO Each method of displaying images is described in the following sections of this manual Let s begin with the simplest method of displaying celestial images demonstrated by the following procedure 1 Run STAR Atlas PRO 2 Choose the Chart Prefs button from the floating menu 3 Then choose Planetarium chart mode 4 On the STAR Atlas PRO chart desktop right click on a celestial object and choose Identify from the popup menu Center Chart Center amp Zoom Identify Object Field OF View Locate Object Argo Navis gt Draw CCD FOY Draw Eyepiece FOY Add Text On Line Data gt Close 5 If the celestial object you selected was grouped near other celestial objects the Objects Located at Cursor window will appear permitting you to select the actual celestial object of interest otherwise the NGC IC and Messier Catalogues screen is displayed 6 The NGC IC and Messier Catalogues screen in STAR Atlas PRO is now displayed with an image and data for the celestial object you selected
34. 3277 13 6578 20050130 10 0 6 0 48P Johnson 1 368551 0 611599 330 7011 121 6484 18 3020 20050130 11 3 4 4 49P arend Rigau 2 414873 0 552290 134 0833 149 0021 6 6100 20050130 7 7 4 8 53P Van Biesbro 2 535226 0 503867 44 0969 346 2714 8 1555 20050130 8 5 6 0 56P Slaughter B 1 489250 0 577829 22 8493 96 7678 10 5021 20050130 8 0 10 0 62P Tsuchinshan 2 445120 0 319082 196 3750 68 3982 10 3844 20050130 5 0 6 0 65P Gunn 1 941836 0 466954 355 5296 108 7992 20 5640 20050130 9 5 12 0 69P Taylor 3 550963 0 148834 87 3149 77 1361 6 6482 20050130 5 0 6 0 74P Smirnova Ch 2 309699 0 358641 196 5418 14 9603 24 4062 20050130 7 0 8 0 77P Longmore 2 008178 0 462468 192 9599 210 5477 6 2528 20050130 5 5 8 0 78P Gehrels 1 591022 0 538679 41 7830 136 1422 3 2401 20050130 7 0 6 0 81P Wila 1 367310 0 561234 235 8308 56 8237 4 3830 20050130 11 0 6 0 88P Howell 2 601885 0 331214 354 6903 247 9061 14 0883 20050130 7 5 6 0 91P Russell 2 231635 0 364369 92 9417 70 9264 6 1851 20050130 9 0 6 0 94P Russell 4 720137 0 225824 172 6769 28 4042 4 3459 20050130 4 5 6 0 99P Kowal 2 350234 0 593738 263 1920 130 2725 5 0805 20050130 10 0 4 8 101P Chernykh 1 036657 0 699578 180 8479 219 8843 13 6035 20050130 8 5 8 0 103P Hartley 1 395996 0 585664 192 0913 246 0574 15 4921 20050130 12 5 4 0 104P Kowal 2 040863 0 411142 46 6909 192 4726 9 1792 20050130 11 5 6 0 105P Singer Bre 3 473363 0 140237 10 5712 91 9366 4 2329 20050130 5 0 8 0 111P Helin Roma 2 170810 0 375661 173 5107 21 0684 3 6159 20050
35. 77 NGC IC and MESSIER Objects 3 Choose NGC or IC from the bottom menu 4 Enter the catalogue number into the dialogue box followed by the lt enter gt key on your keyboard 5 The NGC IC and MESSIER Objects window now displays information for the Messier object 6 Choose Map and the chart is displayed with the Messier object at centre STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 62 Finding the Brightest Comets STAR Atlas PRO includes a catalogue of observable comets which may be sorted in order of Comet Magnitude the Comet s brightness making it very easy to locate the brightest Comets in the sky Follow this procedure to find the brightest Comets 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 2 Comets 3 Choose List to display the Comet List window 4 Click the column heading named Visual Mag to sort the list of Comets based on the currently calculated Visual Magnitude 5 The brightest Comet has now come to the top of the list double click to select it You are now returned to the Comets window from where you may Map the Comet s position or plot the Comets path across the skies using the Plot Path command Plotting the path of a Comet STAR Atlas PRO provides a feature that displays the path of a Comet as it moves through the sky This is a great planning tool since it allows you to print a chart of a Comet s positio
36. Astronomical images from the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey DSS Follow this one time procedure to enable Internet communications that allows STAR Atlas PRO to automatically retrieve Comet data and Digitized Sky Survey Images over the Internet 1 Choose Chart Prefs 2 Choose Settings and Configuration 3 Choose the Advanced Edition Config tab 4 To enable the Internet communications option enable the V SAP INET Internet Communications Add on so that a tick mark appears in the option box STAR Atlas PRO will display an error message if it can not locate the SAP INET add on module If this is the case review where you have installed SAP INET It must be installed in the same folder as STAR Atlas PRO the default install location is C STARPRO Step 14 Enabling the Guide Star Catalogue GSC Regardless of the GSC installation option that you chose you must enable the GSC and tell STAR Atlas PRO where to locate the GSC before STAR Atlas PRO will utilise it otherwise it will remain unused To enable the GSC proceed as follows 1 Choose Chart Prefs STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 29 2 Choose Settings and Configuration 3 Click on the Advanced Edition Config tab if not already selected 4 Click the V Guide Star Catalogue Add On option so that a tick mark appears in the box 3 Click on the three dotted button that appears at the end of the Location of GSC setting 4 Navigat
37. Atlas PRO now displays The Hipparcos collection of Double and Multiple Stars window that lists each star that individually that makes up the Antares multiple star system Upon further study of the stars listed you can see the first one is indeed Antares itself listed as Component A and it reported to be a Mi Spectral star STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 91 The second star in the list listed as Component B is a fainter Magnitude 5 4 Star with a B3 Spectral Type It s reported to be at a Position Angle of 275 degrees with an Angular Separation of 2 9 arc seconds Displaying Variable Star information for bright stars In this procedure we continue from the steps described in the preceding text to find if there is any Variable Star information for the star named Antares 8 Continuing from the previous section choose the Close button and you ll return to the Hipparcos Catalogue window for Antares 9 Now choose the Variable Star Data command STAR Atlas PRO now displays Hipparcos collection of Un solved Variables window describing the variability in the brightness of Antares The Variability Type is displayed as U and upon reference to the STAR Atlas PRO Manual this means it s an Unsolved Variable Star the period and or rate of change in Antares Magnitude is un solved but for clarity here is the list or Variability Types Variability Type Description C No variability detected star is constant
38. East East East East East East East East East East East West East East East West West East East West East East East West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West FODDDODOOFOHRPFNOWNHFNODOKFRFPFODOODOORNNNFNE Time Zone STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 255 Detroit Dominica Edmonton Eirunepe El Salvador Fortaleza Glace Bay Godthab Goose Bay Grand Turk Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guayaquil Guyana Halifax Havana Hermosillo Indiana Knox Indiana Marengo Indiana Vevay Indianapolis Inuvik Iqaluit Jamaica Jujuy Juneau Kentucky Monticello La Paz Lima Los Angeles Louisville Maceio Managua Manaus Martinique Mazatlan Mendoza Menominee Merida Mexico City Miquelon Monterrey Montevideo Montreal Montserrat Nassau New York Nipigon Nome Noronha North Dakota Center Panama Pangnirtung Paramaribo Phoenix Port of Spain Port au Prince Porto Velho Puerto Rico Rainy River Rankin Inlet 19 18 33 40 42 43 12 11 20 28 14 38 10 48 39 17 22 44 46 25 44 11 18 49 30 15 40 36 13 53 58 24 40 53 31 44 42 30 51 58 50 26 39 32 46 28 43 45 North North North South North South North North North North North North North South North North North North North North North North North Nort
39. Enabling this option displays the Manual Selection WV tick boxes that allow you to choose which catalogues to display on charts STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 113 Configure Auto This command displays the STAR Atlas PRO Catalogue Selection Matrix for Auto Mode window The Catalogue Selection Matrix for Auto Mode window allows you to manually re configure STAR Atlas PRO s Auto charting mechanism A scrollable menu is displayed with columns for Field of View and Magnitude Limit along with V options for each astronomical catalogue The first entry reveals that STAR Atlas PRO will display celestial objects from the BSC Catalogue and the NGC IC Messier Catalogue until the chart s Field of View is 30 Degrees or less when the HIPP catalogue is then enabled This is a complex feature that should only be altered with caution Chart Font option This command opens the Windows Font selection dialogue box that permits you to select the font and font size to be used on STAR Atlas PRO desktop charts Chart Font Size option Alters the font size of the currently selected font for used on STAR Atlas PRO desktop charts Draw Galaxies option This setting determines the Chart Field of View that STAR Atlas PRO begins to draw Galaxies in their correct size and orientation By design STAR Atlas PRO represents Galaxies using a default elliptical shaped symbol when the galaxy is too small to be discerned
40. Infrared Durchmusterung ID Henry Draper Number SAO Number FK5 Number Notes Category Remark Common Positional Data Number Find Star using it s SAO Catalogue Number Lookups information for this star from the Hipparcos Catalogue Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Bayer or Flamsteed name Visual Magnitude Spectral type Trigonometric parallax arc seconds Aitken s Double Star Catalogue ADS designation Variable Star designation I if object is an Infra Red source Durchmusterung Identification Henry Draper Catalogue Number SAO Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory star catalogue number FK5 Catalogue Number Notes are displayed if they exist in this grid C Colours D Double and multiple stars DYN Dynamical parallaxes G Group membership M Miscellaneous N Star names P Polarisation R Stellar radii or diameters RV Radial and or rotational velocities S Spectra SB Spectroscopic binaries VAR Variability Notes Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 212 Bright Variable Stars Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit Number of Entries Menu Commands List Find by HR Find by SAO Find Star in Hipparcos Catalogue Common commands Displayed Screen Value Name Visual Mag Spectr
41. Magnitude Limit Number of Entries Menu Commands List V 84 Strasbourg ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae Acker 1992 Strasbourg ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae 21 75 1 143 Description Displays a scrollable list of entries from the Catalogue which may be sorted into Catalogue Identity Order or Common Name Order You can use any combination of page up page STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 245 Find Other Names Find Common commands Displayed Screen Data Catalog Entry Object Type Description Visual Magnitude Major Diameter Minor Diameter Other Names Tycho Catalogue down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Locate an entry using the Other Names value Locate an entry using the Cata og Entry value Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description The designation system of the planetary nebulae of this catalogue follows the recommendations of IAU Commission 5 Astronomical Nomenclature with the structure PN GIll l bb b Where PN means Planetary Nebula G stands for Galactic Coordinates and Ill l bb b stand for the galactic longitude and latitude
42. Manual Pg 10 Atlas PRO Telescope Control Describes how to use STAR Atlas PRO to control robotic Telescopes and monitor Telescopes equipped with Digital Setting Circles Astronomical Catalogues A large section that describes the menus and information displayed for the dozens of Astronomical Catalogues found in STAR Atlas PRO Typographical Conventions used in this Manual A number of typographical conventions are used in this manual to represent STAR Atlas PRO menu and button commands windows and settings Consider the example that if you saw Jovian Events appear in the text of this manual then it simply means the text is referring to a STAR Atlas PRO menu command called Jovian Events The typographical conventions used in this manual are described in the following table Typographical convention Explanation Jovian Events Rectangular Brackets refer to a menu or button command on a STAR Atlas PRO menu or window Chart Prefs gt Labels Rectangular Brackets followed by other Rectangular Brackets indicate a sequence of button commands or menu options The Local Settings window Italic typeface refers to a STAR Atlas PRO window a displayed value or setting V Display Star Colours A vV tick box Indicates a STAR Atlas PRO setting that may be Enabled On or Disabled Off _ Display Star Colours V The presence of a Tick Mark in the option box indicates that the
43. North 58 23 East 3 Baghdad 33 21 North 44 25 East 2 Bahrain 26 23 North 50 35 East 3 Baku 40 23 North 49 51 East 3 Bangkok 13 45 North 100 31 East 6 Beirut 33 53 North 35 30 East 2 Bishkek 42 54 North 74 36 East 4 Brunei 4 56 North 114 55 East 7 Calcutta 22 32 North 88 22 East 5 Choibalsan 48 4 North 114 30 East 7 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 257 Chongqing 29 34 North 106 35 East 7 Colombo 6 56 North 79 51 East 5 Damascus 33 30 North 36 18 East 2 Dhaka 23 43 North 90 25 East 6 Dili 8 33 South 125 35 East 8 Dubai 25 18 North 55 18 East 3 Dushanbe 38 35 North 68 48 East 4 Gaza 31 30 North 34 28 East 2 Harbin 45 45 North 126 41 East 8 Hong Kong 22 17 North 114 9 East 7 Hovd 48 1 North 91 39 East 6 Irkutsk 52 16 North 104 20 East 6 Jakarta 6 10 South 106 48 East 7 Jayapura oD 32 South 140 42 East 9 Jerusalem 31 46 North 35 14 East 2 Kabul 34 31 North 69 12 East 4 Kamchatka 53 1 North 158 39 East 10 Karachi 24 52 North 67 3 East 4 Kashgar 39 29 North 75 59 East 5 Katmandu 27 43 North 85 19 East 5 Krasnoyarsk 56 1 North 92 50 East 6 Kuala Lumpur 3 10 North 101 42 East 6 Kuching 1 33 North 110 20 East 7 Kuwait 29 20 North 47 59 East 3 Macau 22 14 North 113 35 East 7 Magadan 59 34 North 150 48 East 10 Makassar z5 7 South 119 24 East 7 Manila 14 35 North 121 0 East 8 Muscat 23 36 North 58 35 East 3 Nicosia 35 10 North 33 22 East 2 Novosibirsk 55 2 North 82 55 East 5 Omsk 55 0 North 73 24 East 4 Oral 51 13 North 51 21 East 3 Phno
44. Number to locate Many galaxies are referred to by their PGC number this function provides a simple method of locating a galaxy using a PGC number Find Name Opens a dialog window that prompts you to enter the designation or name of galaxy to locate STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 231 Examples of designations or names you might enter are MESSIER 086 NGC 0253 ESO 350 040 DWINGELOO 1 CARTWHEEL MALIN 1 SAGDIG LMC 2MASXIJ10323195 5424035 SDSSJ122635 49 090207 5 Note that each galaxy designation requires the correct formatting For example a find for NGC 253 would fail however a find for NGC 0253 will work See the section in this manual titled Catalogue Name Search feature for more information Popular Galaxies The Hyper G Atlas contains a list of galaxies with popular names which may be accessed from the Popular Galaxies command that appears in the menu bar on the Hyper G Atlas database window STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 232 Map Copy to Obs Picture Or No Pic Galaxies with popular names Carina dwarf galaxy Cartwheel galaxy Cepheus 1 Circinus galaxy Cygnus A Draco dwarf galaxy Dwingeloo 1 Dwingeloo 2 Fornax dwarf galaxy Galactic Centre Pegasus dwarf galaxy Phoenix galaxy Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy Sculptor dwarf galaxy Sculptor Dwarf Irregular Galaxy sextans A Select Close To select a galaxy from the list double click on a listed ga
45. Objects iis cK aa vs lekevsad ed BURNS a ea ELAR eo et ENE 62 Locating NGC and IC Objects 2 c 4 54 nated nekaiie ce Sa a nieion ed DUR oe ek le 62 Finding the Brightest Comets oc 4 24 asad vi lokevsch hd ROR we oath ion ee EL woe lod ae ead le 63 Plotting the path of 4 Comety zu R254 need nee ha SA a ini RAN ARS 63 Print an Eph emeris fora Comets 24 4 assed neki hos Mes annn nein eR wA wehbe ek BS 67 Finding the Brightest Asteroids ccesccescsseessecseecseeeseeeneeeeeseeeseensecaecnseceaecnaecaeecaeeeaeeeaeeeseensenereees 68 Plotting the path of an Asteroid ccecccesceesecsseeececseeeseeeeeeseceseeeseensccaeesaeceaecsaecaeecaeeeseeeneeeetensenereeas 68 Print an Ephemeris for an Asteroid cccsccesccsseesseceeeseeeeeeeseeseeeseensecseceaeceaecnaecaeecaeecaeeeaeenaeenseeerenes 72 CELESTIAL IMAGE LIBRARY mainin a a a a A a a a 73 Displaying 1mMa ges ee cesses ssetey ates t ch E sige ches E oat Mice ones E E eit te eee amends 74 Catalogue Names method of displaying images ccccecceessessceesceeecesecesecaecaecseecaeecaeeeseeseeeneeeeeeees 75 Image ComMANAS nesans nae Misch tee Wek DONE E wah Rc EEEE E E ee atte ea aes 76 The View Image command anssen e a a E distended 76 Image navigation commands cecccesccesecesecsecseeeseeeneeeseeecesecesecssecsecsaecsaecsaecaeecseeeaeeeseenseeeeeeereees 77 Image d tails icvstiecct ten ewseeveschae theta a a Ree ane ets ten een eats ea narnia tts 79 Display
46. Objects located at cursor RA 5 35 33 DEC 5 18 50 Y BSCis93 STAR 4iTheiOri Mag 6 73 a a E ee e T a BSC1895 STAR 41Thel0Ori Mag 5 13 BSC1896 STAR 41ThelOri Mag 6 70 BSC1897 STAR 43The20ri Mag 5 08 NGCi976 BRIGHT OR DIFFUSE NEBULA M42 Great Nebula i NGC1982 BRIGHT OR DIFFUSE NEBULA M43 Mag 9 0 Major a Close Select Object The Objects located at cursor window displays a list of the celestial objects that are close to the celestial object you indicated with your mouse pointer You may select any object from the list and the astronomical catalogue window for that object is then displayed When you Close the astronomical catalogue window you are then returned to the Objects located at cursor window where you may select the next object in the Objects located at cursor list This procedure is an example of using the Objects located at cursor window 1 Locate a close grouping of celestial objects on the chart and position the cursor between the objects 2 Right mouse click and choose Identify Object 3 The Objects Located near the mouse cursor is then displayed at lower left of STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart It lists all the celestial objects found near the position of your mouse pointer If this window does not appear then the objects on the chart are not clustered closely enough together and the information for the celestial object you pointed too is displayed 4 Double click on one of the objects in th
47. Planetary Centre 5 This procedure is continued below Your Web Browser will contain information that looks similar to the following example STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 129 p a arvard edu iau Ephemerides Come oft00 oso ernet Explo O1 x File Edit View Favorites Tools Help 1 506065 0 517580 178 8407 68 9434 10 5294 20050130 5 5 10 0 9P Tempel 1 426861 0 535387 195 5585 117 8488 12 0177 20050130 5 0 10 0 10P Tempel 1 037926 0 705662 172 5453 195 4302 31 8108 20050130 9 0 6 0 21P Giacobini 2Z 1 551634 0 775383 346 9398 346 9861 14 1916 20050130 8 5 6 0 28P Neujmin 5 723424 0 044075 48 7097 312 7067 9 3911 20050130 4 0 4 0 29P Schwassmann 1 879021 0 501509 13 2941 119 7604 6 1292 20050130 9 5 6 0 30P Reinmuth 3 412325 0 193330 16 4350 114 2004 4 5496 20050130 5 0 8 0 31P Schwassmann 1 833019 0 569268 45 8238 60 7949 12 9273 20050130 6 5 8 0 32P Comas Sola 3 088434 0 258611 202 1925 182 3960 9 9334 20050130 8 5 6 0 36P Whipple 1 572446 0 541514 329 2320 315 1109 8 9586 20050130 10 5 4 8 37P Forbes 5 470144 0 243452 56 3189 331 5433 1 9433 20050130 5 0 6 0 39P Oterma 1 796247 0 632913 47 2006 134 7334 11 5381 20050130 5 5 12 0 40P Vaisala 2 014800 0 585176 147 1575 150 3850 3 9856 20050130 13 0 6 0 42P Neujmin 1 578525 0 544920 187 3363 254 6489 18 5237 20050130 8 0 6 0 43P Wolf Harrin 2 672818 0 340639 357 8951 358 5620 13 5742 20050130 1 0 11 2 47P Ashbrook Ja 2 309951 0 366560 207 6892 117
48. Refer to the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for complete details of the Sync command Go to the first entry in the atlas Go to the previous entry in the atlas Go to the next entry in the atlas Go to the last entry in the atlas Astrophysical data The following section of this manual describes the galaxy data displayed by the Hyper LEDA database window The Data Description column explains each of the data displayed for the selected object Data Data Description Example displayed PGC This is the Principal Galaxy 100170 Catalogue PGC number STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 144 Name Type Morphological Type This is the galaxy s principal designation The vast majority of objects are Galaxies G however other entries in the Hyper LEDA catalogue are identified by the Type from one of the following G Galaxy M Multiple galaxy i e pair triple Q Quasi Stellar Object QSO g Extra galactic object of unidentified nature or extended source The morphological type or Hubble type is coded from early to late types of galaxies as E E SO SO S0 a Sa Sab Sb Sbc Sc Scd Sd Sm Irr For barred spiral galaxies the morphological types are Sba Sbab SBb SBbc SBc SBcd SBd SBm There are also the morphological types S and E for uncertain classification PGC100170 G Galaxy Sc STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 145 Bar Ring Multiple Compact B Magni
49. STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 74 NGC IC and Messier Catalogues Declination DEC 25 47 17 Transit Time 17h 54m 54s Altitude ALT 42 32 10 Set Time 01h 08m 30s Azimuth AZ 264 27 04 Angular Sep 007 00 0 000 Right Ascension R A 00h 47m 32s Rise Time 10h 41m 17s View Image 4b DI mage 1o 2 Object NGC 0253 Popular Name Sculptor galaxy Object Type GALAXY Size 25 10 Magnitude 7 1 P if Blue Magnitude Constellation Sculptor Dreyer 1 WB wL vmE 54deg gbM Dreyer codes ee z Image Size 30 x 30 arc minutes Constellation Filter Clear Filter Image Credit STScI Digitized Sky Survey Search for Object PASEA a Find in Copy to 2 Lis NGC Ic Messier Leda Map Obs NoPic G sync M 4 gt I Close You may use the Click and Identify method of displaying images for any object on a STAR Atlas PRO star chart from the NGC or IC catalogues of deep sky objects This is a wonderful way to discover thousands of deep sky objects simply wander the charts in STAR Atlas PRO and point and click Catalogue Names method of displaying images This method of displaying images from ASTRO IMAGES uses the STAR Atlas PRO Astronomical Database Manager to locate celestial objects of choice and is particularly useful when you know which celestial object you wish to locate This following procedure demonstrates how to use the STAR Atlas PRO Astronomical Database Man
50. Transit of the Great Red Spot GRS on Jupiter depends on having the latest value for the Longitude of Jupiter s GRS The following procedures explain how to update STAR Atlas PRO with the latest data for Jupiter s GRS and Comets Updating the Longitude of Jupiter s Great Red Spot Check the latest Longitude on the Great Red Spot GRS can be found here 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 3 Jupiter s Great Red Spot and Moons 3 On the Jovian Events window place your cursor in the GRS Longitude input field at top right you can do this by clicking in the field For laptop users press the Shift Tab keys on your keyboard twice then press Ctrl A This will select the entire GRS Longitude value 4 Optional if you press Ctrl A on your keyboard the GRS Longitude input field becomes selected making it easy to type over 5 Enter the new value of the GRS Longitude 6 Now press the TAB key on your keyboard to move off the GRS Longitude input field the newly calculated GRS Transit times are displayed immediately STAR Atlas PRO will now calculate Jupiter s Great Red Spot transit times using the latest GRS Longitude data and provide the most accurate predictions Updating Comet Orbital Elements Comet Orbital Elements are data that define the orbital parameters of Comets This data is used by STAR Atlas PRO to calculate the current position of
51. V2 2 or later Celestron CGE Series Celestron AS Advanced Series Celestron NexStar 5 8 Celestron NexStar 5 8 Celestron Original GT Celestron GT Models 60 80 114 4 manufactured prior to Dec 2001 Celestron GT Celestron GT Models 60 80 114 4 130 new current series FS2 FS2 telescope drive controller Meade LX200 16 inch LX200 16 inch LX200 GPS 16 inch Sky Commander Sky Commander Digital Setting Circles Losmandy Digital Setting Circles ASCOM Telescope Drivers Enabling Telescope Control Before establishing a connection with your Telescope you must first Enable STAR Atlas PRO s Telescope Control System and then select the appropriate Telescope Driver for your Telescope STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 157 See the section on Telescope Setup in the section of this manual titled Enabling Telescope Control that explains how to choose and configure the Telescope Control System before proceeding Telescope Control Menu The floating Telescope Menu appears on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop after making a successful connection to your telescope Telescope Menu Center on Scope AF3 Track Scope Stop Slew AFS Control Panel AF Options AFS Disconnect AF9 The same menu is also accessible from the popup menu displayed when you right mouse click on the desktop chart Center Chart Center Chart Center amp Zoom Center amp Zoom Identify Object Identify Object Chart Field OF
52. a Comet Comet Orbital Elements are published by the Minor Planetary Centre MPC which operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and made freely available for access via the Internet Comet Orbital Elements that are several weeks old will still produce reasonably accurate Comet position except when the Comet is a newly discovered one and the initial Comet Orbital Elements for the Comet are less than precise In this case the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 128 MPC nominally updates the Comet Orbital Elements when the orbit of the Comet is refined In the case of older Comets with well defined Comet Orbital Elements the orbital data does not usually change by any large amount therefore STAR Atlas PRO will produce accurate positions for these Comets even when the Comet Orbital Elements are outdated The procedure for downloading the most recent Comet Orbital Elements depends on which edition of STAR Atlas PRO you re using Procedure for updating Comet data via your web browser Follow this procedure to download the most recent Comet Orbital Elements data 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 2 Comets 3 On the Comets window choose the Load Comet Elements command 4 Choose Download Comet elements with Web Browser this will start your web browser and automatically retrieve the required Comet Orbital Elements file from the Minor
53. a bright star that has a name displayed though you may choose any object of interest on the desktop chart 2 Precisely centre the cursor over the object you have selected so that the object is centred in the cross hairs of the cursor 3 Now right mouse click and the popup menu is displayed 4 Choose Identify Object from the popup menu 5 This will now display a screen from the astronomical database manager that displays information for the object you selected If you pointed to a group of objects then STAR Atlas PRO will list each object nearest your cursor You may then select each object individually after which the screen from the astronomical database manager is displayed 6 Choose the Close button to close the information window and return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart If you pointed to a group of objects then you are instead returned to the list of objects identified as nearest to your cursor click Close again or selected another object from the list Depending on the type of celestial object that you choose determines which Astro physical information panel is displayed STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 50 The Objects located at cursor window When you point to a celestial object that is clustered or grouped close together with other objects on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart the Objects located at cursor window is displayed which lists the celestial objects closest to your mouse pointer a Ea
54. and then press the TAB key on your keyboard which will move you the Diameter column 7 Type in the diameter of your Telescope e g 200 8 This completes this part of the procedure However you may start over again and add further entries for additional Telescopes STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 95 Entering a Eyepiece profile Entering a eyepiece profile in STAR Atlas PRO allows you to subsequently choose the eyepiece from a list when choosing a eyepiece reticle to display on the desktop chart To set up your Eyepiece s in STAR Atlas PRO follow this procedure as a guide 1 2 Right click on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Choose Draw Eyepiece FOV from the popup menu if this option is not available on the popup menu try setting STAR Atlas PRO to Star Atlas charting mode Choose Add Eyepiece and answer YES when prompted A new entry is now created and highlighted in the EYEPIECES list named New Eyepiece Type in a descriptive name for your Eyepiece e g 32mm Plossl and then press the TAB key on your keyboard which will move you to the Focal Length column Type in the focal length of your Eyepiece e g 32 and then press the TAB key on your keyboard which will move you the Apparent FOV column Type in the Apparent Field Of View of your Eyepiece e g 50 This completes this part of the procedure However you may start over again and add further entries for additional Eyepieces
55. are Configuration for STAR ATLAS PRO 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO and initiate STAR Atlas PRO using your personal CD Key Number the CD Key Number can be found on your End User Licence Agreement that accompanies STAR Atlas PRO 2 Set the Observer s Location and Time Zone 3 Set File Locations 4 Set the Location to store Images 5 Set the HTML Web Browser Program 6 Set the External Image Viewer Program 7 Set the Pixel Graphics option 8 Optionally Enable Telescope Control 9 Configure Telescope Control 10 Enable Internet Communications 11 Enable the Guide Star Catalogue GSC 12 Enable the Celestial Image Library STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 20 Essential Settings for STAR Atlas PRO Step1 Begin STAR Atlas PRO for the first time Go to your Windows Start Button and choose Programs then select the STAR Atlas PRO program group and then select the STAR Atlas PRO program icon Step 2 Initiate STAR Atlas PRO with your Personal CD Key Number The first time you start STAR Atlas PRO you are required to enter your personal STAR Atlas PRO CD ROM Key Number that accompanies your copy of STAR Atlas PRO The STAR Atlas PRO CD ROM Key Number can be found on your STAR Atlas PRO End User Licence Agreement that accompanied your copy of STAR Atlas PRO This only has to be done once 1 Enter your STAR Atlas PRO CD ROM Key Number exactly as it is shown paying a
56. as a shape however if you Zoom In far enough the Galaxies begin to take shape size and orientation STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 114 In the screen shot pictured we see a mixture of galaxies some drawn to correct size and orientation and other galaxies represented using the default galaxy symbol The default galaxy symbol is used when galaxies are too small to discern size unless you Zoom In to the chart further i e decrease the Chart s Field of View further If a Chart s Field of View is larger than the Draw Galaxies setting STAR Atlas PRO does not attempt to draw Galaxies in their size and orientation instead all Galaxies are drawn using the default elliptical symbol An exception to this rule are they largest of Galaxies which are in fact drawn to correct size and orientation regardless of the Draw Galaxies setting If a Chart s Field of View is less than the Draw Galaxies setting STAR Atlas PRO determines which Galaxies are large enough to appear as a shape on the current chart and then draws those galaxies only in their correct size and orientation If a galaxy only has data for the major axis then the minor axis will be equal to the major axis divided by 2 If a galaxy does not have data for either axis the galaxy in drawn at a default Position Angle of 90 degrees If there is no data for the galaxy s size then the galaxy will be plotted using the default galaxy symbol Real Time Orbital Positions option
57. box and right click and select Identify Object from the popup menu The DSS image is then displayed or listed as one of the objects near your cursor in which case select it with a double click and the DSS image is then displayed Browsing your personal DSS Image Library You may also browse through all the DSS images you ve collected Go to Locate then 10 Digitised Sky Survey Images and then choose the List button A thumbnail image is displayed of the first 16 DSS images in your collection Use Page Up or the Page Down buttons or PgUp and PgDn on your keyboard to scroll through the images To display the full DSS image double click any one of the thumbnails You can then click the Map button to chart the image s exact location or if you STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 195 are connected to your robotic telescope click Goto to slew to the Image celestial position Here is an example of locating a deep sky object and then getting a DSS Image for it 1 Go to Chart Preferences and click Restore Defaults 2 In the Find Object input field type in N104 3 Click Find Now and data window for NGC 104 is displayed 4 Then set Field of View to 2 degrees The next step is to download the image Here is what to do 1 2 10 11 12 13 First make sure you are On Line to the Internet Follow the procedure outlined above to find an object of interest in this case NGC 104 Right click on t
58. choose Close to complete this procedure The object is now stored in the Observation Planner Adding objects from the Astronomical Catalogues Each astronomical catalogue window found in STAR Atlas PRO Astronomical Database Manager i e the Locate command has a menu bar along the bottom edge of its window The Copy to Obs command is found in the menu which permits you to copy the celestial object you have found into the Observation Planner As an example proceed as follows to find the celestial object named Messier 31 and then add it to the Observation Planner 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 117 2 Choose 77 NGC IC and MESSIER Objects 3 Choose Messier at bottom left of screen 4 Enter the number 31 and then lt enter gt on your keyboard The NGC IC and MESSIER Catalogues window is displayed showing the details of Messier 31 the Great Nebula in Andromeda 5 Now choose the Copy to Obs button bottom centre and answer Yes when you are asked if you wish to add the object into your Observing List 6 You are now also asked if you wish to make Notes with the object you re adding into your Observing List If you answer Yes then you may add additional notes in the Planning Notes input field e g will need to use low power eyepiece See the DSS image for this object that I had STAR Atlas PRO downloa
59. data is now loaded into STAR Atlas PRO and their positions have been updated You may now Close any windows and return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Updating Asteroid Minor Planet Orbital Elements Asteroid Orbital Elements are data that define the orbital parameters of Asteroids This data is used by STAR Atlas PRO to calculate the current position of each Asteroid Asteroid Orbital Elements are published by the Minor Planetary Centre MPC which operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and made freely available for access via the Internet Asteroid Orbital Elements that are several weeks or more old will still produce reasonably accurate Asteroid positions except when the Asteroid is a newly discovered one and the initial Asteroid Orbital Elements for are less than precise In this case the MPC nominally updates the Asteroid Orbital Elements when the orbit of the Asteroid is refined In the case of older Asteroids with well defined Asteroid Orbital Elements the orbital data does not usually change by any large amount therefore STAR Atlas PRO will produce accurate positions for these Asteroids even when the Asteroid Orbital Elements are much outdated The MPCORB database At the time of writing this manual the Minor Planet Centre Orbital Database MPCORB contains the Orbital Elements data for approximately 185 000 numbered minor planets The MPCORB is nominally updated on a daily basis by the Minor Plane
60. drivers you may also add the ASCOM Telescope Drivers Package visit www ascom standards org for the latest version STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 15 to provide telescope control using the telescope drivers provided in the ASCOM software package Step 1 Optionally install the ASCOM Telescope Drivers add on Important Note A complimentary copy of the ASCOM driver software is provided on the STAR Atlas PRO Install disc however ASCOM is a separate freeware software package and is provided under its own Terms and Conditions It is highly recommended that you download and install the latest ASCOM telescope driver software from the ASCOM Web Site at www ascom standards org The ASCOM driver software is provided freely and updated regularly with new Telescope drivers and improvements to existing drivers Before using ASCOM telescope drivers you must first install the ASCOM telescope driver software To do this 1 Download the latest ASCOM software from www ascom standards org 2 Run the setup exe program located in the ASCOM software download and follow the ASCOM Install Wizard to install the ASCOM drivers on to your computer Step 2 Optionally install the Internet Communications add on If you have access to the Internet then you may wish to install the STAR Atlas PRO Internet Communications Package SAP INET which enables STAR Atlas PRO to automatically retrieve the following data over the Internet
61. every 2 days spanning 20 days in all Now choose the Plot Comet Path command to display the Comet s path on the desktop chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 66 Print an Ephemeris for a Comet A dictionary definition of Ephemeris is table listing the positions of planets a table listing the future positions of the Sun Moon and planets over a given period of time An Ephemeris may also be printed for Comets This procedure uses the simple Comet list method to choose a Comet and then print an Ephemeris 1 10 11 12 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window Choose 2 Comets Choose List from the Comets window menu Select the Comet of your choice with a double click which returns you the Comet window Choose the Plot Path command to open the Plot a Comets Path through the Sky window Configure the Comet Plotting options to your requirements described earlier in this chapter Enable the V Save Comet Ephemerides to Web Browser File option so that a V appears Optionally choose the command next to the Export Ephemerides to this Folder option to select the location to store the Ephemerides Now choose the Plot Comet Path command to generate the Ephemerides output file STAR Atlas PRO now returns you to the chart desktop with the chart centred at the first plotted position of the Comet To view and print the Comet ephemeride
62. however the Horizon line remains displayed regardless of this setting When STAR Atlas PRO is set to Star Atlas charting mode and you then disable this option then the Horizon line the Meridian and Ecliptic lines are no longer displayed The Observation Planner The Observation Planner is a STAR Atlas PRO feature that allows you to maintain a list of celestial objects that you wish to observe The Observation Planner can displays which of these Target objects are currently visible in your night sky Celestial objects are easily added into the Observation Planner and you may add as many as you like Each entry allows you to enter your own pre observation and post observation notes and mark your observation time with the computer s current clock time An Observation List may be generated on screen or exported to a HTML web browser file that may then be copied distributed and viewed using your Internet Web Browser Program If you have a computer with you during observing then the Observation Planner can list which target objects are visible for the actual time The most common way of adding celestial objects into the Observation Planner is by locating the object on a STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart and using the Identify command on the popup menu to display the astronomical catalogue window for that object Then use the Copy to Obs command located on the astronomical catalogue window to copy that object into the Observa
63. is displayed STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 32 Locate Field of View Mag Filter Goto Co ord Chart Prefs Rotate Flip Zenith Sky Chart Horizon Clocks Redraw Legend F2 About F3 Print F4 Help F5 F10 Locate Eield of View Mag Fitter Goto Co ord Chart Prefs Rotate Flip zenin Sta Chart Horizon cocks _ Redraw Legend F2 About F3 Print F4 Heip F5 Quit The Main Menu The Main Menu floats on the STAR Atlas PRO Desktop and is the main menu for accessing all STAR Atlas PRO primary features You can drag the Main Menu to positions on the screen that you favour or simply move then menu out of the way of objects that would otherwise be hidden from view The Main Menu may also be docked at either edge of the screen you may need to refresh the chart Redraw after docking Some of the menu commands are followed by one or two letters and then a number these represent the keyboard commands that you may use to access the menu command For example AF2 means press Alt F2 on your keyboard and F2 means press the F2 key on your keyboard Other menu commands have an underlined character in the command name For example the Locate command has the L character underlined This means that you may press Alt L on your keyboard to access this command However if the STAR Atlas PRO desktop is displayed and you have clicked in it to make it the active window then
64. need to configure the ImageLibrary option in STAR Atlas PRO which is explained in the next section of this manual Install Option 2 Reading the Celestial Image Library from your DVD ROM drive Space saving method slower access You may choose to read the Celestial Image Library from your DVD ROM drive as required by STAR Atlas PRO during normal program use If you use this method it will be slower than having the Celestial Image Library installed on your computer hard disk drive To do this 1 There are no procedures you need to follow aside from configuring the Celestial Image Library options in STAR Atlas PRO which are explained in the next section of this manual This completes the installation procedure for STAR Atlas PRO Proceed to the next section Initial Setup and Configuration STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 19 Initial Program Configuration There are several settings that you should set or adjust after installing STAR Atlas PRO These configurations include selecting your Geographical Location so that the sky may be oriented correctly for your geographical location Each step is described following and each step is optional however it is recommended that you at least set your Geographical Location details Summary of Configuration steps The configuration steps are described in the following section of this manual The following steps summarise each configuration step in order
65. respectively truncated to one decimal place Displays PN for Planetary Nebula objects Not used in this Catalogue Object s visual Magnitude Diameter of the object arc seconds Largest diameter of the object arc seconds Displays the Common Name or Other Name of this object Locate gt 56 Tycho Catalogue Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit Number of Entries I 239 The Tycho Catalogue ESA 1997 European Space Agency 1 239 The Hipparcos Catalogue ESA 1997 The Tycho Stellar Catalogue derived from the European Space Agency s star measuring satellite Hipparcos contains accurate data on 1 058 332 stars 11 5 1 058 332 Stars STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 246 Menu Commands List Find Tycho Find HD Common commands Displayed Screen Data Tycho Identifier Hipparcos Identifier Mag In Johnson V Known Variable Var Flag 15 percentile Mag 95 percentile Mag Parallax Johnson B V Color PPM HD Number Bonner DM Proper Motion RA Proper Motion DEC Remark Description Displays a scrollable list of stars from the Tycho Catalogue You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Sele
66. selected 1 Right click on STAR Atlas PRO desktop to display the popup menu 2 Choose Draw CCD FOV 3 Single click on the Telescope entry that represents the Telescope in use 4 Now also single click the CCD Camera entry that represents the camera in use Notice that the calculated Field of View is displayed under OPTICAL CALCULATIONS 5 Choose Draw Reticle and the reticle is then displayed on the chart To move the Reticle to another location 6 Right click elsewhere on the chart and then continue from step 2 Chart Options The Chart Preferences and Program Settings window is the central location from where you can alter how charts appear when they are displayed Great flexibility is given to adjust many settings and options that change the appearance of the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart Common reasons for visiting the Chart Preferences and Program Settings window while using STAR Atlas PRO include Changing the chart mode to Planetarium or Star Atlas Changing the Day or Night mode colour profile Changing the colour scheme of the chart Changing the colour scheme of chart symbols Setting the date and time of the chart Setting which celestial co ordinate lines should be displayed Setting the size and colour of Stars Setting Label options Changing the chart Font and Font Size Setting a Filter to apply so that only particular types of objects are displayed It may be that in experimenting w
67. the Bright Star Catalogue Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Closes the Hipparcos Database window and returns you to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Description STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 223 Hipparcos Identifier Mag In Johnson V Coarse Var Flag Parallax Calculated Distance l y Mean BT mag Mean VT mag Color Index Cousins System Spectral Type HD Number Bonner DM Corboda Durchmusterung Cape Photographic DM Proper Motion RA Proper Motion DEC CCDM Identifier 5th percentile Mag 95 percentile Mag Variability Period Variability Type Hipparcos Identifier Magnitude In Johnson V Hipparcos Coarse indicator for variable star 1 lt 0 06 2 0 06 0 6mag 3 gt 0 6mag Trigonometric parallax mill arc seconds This is the distance in Light Years to the Star calculated by STAR Atlas PRO Mean Blue Magnitude Mean Visual Magnitude Colour Index in Cousins System Spectral Type Henry Draper Catalogue Number Bonner DM Catalogue Number Corboda Durchmusterung Catalogue Number Cape Photographic DM Catalogue Number Proper Motion in milli arc seconds per year in Right Ascension Proper Motion in milli arc seconds per year in Declination Catalogue of Components of Double and Multiple Stars CCDM Identifier Magnitude at Maximum brightness Magnitude at Minimum brightness Variability Period in Days Hipparcos Variab
68. the Star you selected including each component Star that together make up the Double or Multiple Star system From the Hipparcos collection of Double and Multiple Stars window you may Map the Star s location or perform a variety of other functions Other Query options V List new systems discovered by Hipparcos Enable this option to list only double multiple systems that were discovered as Double or Multiple V List Astrometric Binaries discovered by Hipparcos Enable this option to list only double multiple systems that were discovered as Astrometric Binary star systems e g those discovered by astrometry Find Variable Stars that exhibit a certain Brightness range and Variability period The following procedure demonstrates how you may query STAR Atlas PRO to list Variable Stars that exhibit a particular Magnitude range and Variability period The procedure queries the astronomical catalogue data to produce a list of Variable Stars that exhibit the following search criteria Query List Variable Stars that exhibit Maximum Magnitude brightness Magnitude 1 0 Minimum Magnitude fades to Magnitude 3 0 Period of Star Variability between 1 day and 2 days Proceed as follows 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 53 Hipparcos Periodic Variables 3 Choose List from the menu 4 Enable the V Apply Magnitude Filter option STAR
69. the appearance of this desktop Black and white have been reversed This appearance is preferable for printing charts f Next click Chart Prefs again and restore the colour scheme by clicking on Colour on Black then Redraw to take you back to the chart desktop g Finally in this section to change object labels h Observe the labels on the desktop The names attached to celestial objects are the Common Names but there are others Here is how to change them i Click on Chart Prefs j Then click Label Options centre right and this opens a window titled Label Options Notice that there is a section labelled Star Labels on the right side and underneath this there are a number of options with Common Names ticked Now click Bayer and the vV in Common Names disappears while Bayer is now ticked k Click Close bottom right to bring you back to the Chart Prefs menu and then click Redraw bottom right which now shows the desktop l This time notice that the names on the celestial objects have changed to show the Bayer names m To restore the common names click on Chart Prefs then Restore Defaults bottom centre and then Redraw n This returns you to the desktop and the original labels are restored Exercise 2 Desktop Chart and Planetarium Chart views This is an import issue to understand as you may need to use the various STAR Atlas PRO charting modes f
70. the computer s clock and continuously updates the display until you press the ESC key on your keyboard Note A Delay value of 10 1 second or higher is recommended Time Skip Time Skip forward or backward in Time by the amount of time set in the Time Skipped between Forward Reverse Frames value and by the name of frames set in the Number of Frames value Time Step Time Step forward or backward in Time by the amount of time set in the Time Skipped between Forward Reverse Frames value The date and time values are updated after you Time Step so you can see the actual time amp date that the Moons appear in this position Continuing to Time Step can be achieved by repeatedly clicking the command button Number of Frames When using Time Skip this is the total number of frames to render in the animation Delay between Frames When using Time Skip this is the delay time between frames Note This value is in divisions of 1 10 of a second therefore set this value too 10 if you want a 1 second delay between each frame in the animation recommended Time Skipped between The amount of time to skip between each frame in Frames the animation specified in minutes Time Skip Presets Fast selector buttons for setting the Time Skipped between Frames value STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 60 Example Animation This procedure may be used a guide for setting your own animation settings Proceed as follows 1
71. the display To setup STAR Atlas PRO for the FS2 Follow this one time procedure to setup the FS2 driver 1 2 Choose Chart Prefs command from the main menu Choose the Telescope Setup tab Choose the Enable button Choose the Telescope Driver menu option a list of telescope drivers are then displayed Select the FS2 driver from the displayed list of drivers or you may select the ASCOM plug in and then proceed to select a generic LX200 for the FS2 Set the Interval between Position Update option to 1 second meaning STAR Atlas PRO receives the co ordinates from the FS2 and centres the desktop chart every 1 second providing real time monitoring of the FS2 coordinates Set the Communication Timeout setting to 3 seconds meaning STAR Atlas PRO will wait up to 3 seconds for a reply from the FS2 Return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop by choosing the Close command on each open window You are now ready to begin working the FS2 with STAR Atlas PRO Controlling the FS2 with STAR Atlas PRO 1 OR 1 Begin by choosing the Scope command on STAR Atlas PRO s main menu Right click on the desktop chart then choose FS2 from the popup menu and then choose the Connect option from the FS2 Menu STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 169 2 STAR Atlas PRO displays the floating Telescope Menu after making a successful connection to the FS2 The floating Telescope Menu has me
72. the globe at any time There are no STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 40 limits on the area of interest for this mode moving the position on the chart is continuous over the whole globe Thus this chart mode is optimally used when you wish to view the whole sky for celestial objects of interest Telescope owners may prefer the Star Atlas charting as moving the Telescope through the R A axis means that STAR Atlas PRO will track the Telescope moving horizontally across the computer display Conversely moving the Telescope through its Dec axis means that STAR Atlas PRO will track the Telescope moving vertically on the computer display Telescope control features also work fine in Planetarium charting mode STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 41 Using STAR Atlas PRO This section of the manual explains how to perform the common tasks in STAR Atlas PRO that you use to move around the sky alter the way charts are displayed and locate celestial objects Common tasks Common tasks are the primary features that you use to control STAR Atlas PRO Displaying the main popup menu When working with the STAR Atlas PRO chart desktop clicking the right mouse button on the chart displays the STAR Atlas PRO Popup Menu from which you may select any one of a number of key functions to perform Left mouse click anywhere else on the chart to cancel choosing from the popup menu or simply choose Close from the
73. then choose the STScI Digitized Sky Survey option from the sub menu that appears Click the V 15 x 15 option under Image Size Presets this will set the Image Size Height and Width selectors too an Image size of 15 x 15 arc minutes Choose the Download Now and wait while the image is downloaded While the image is being retrieved over the Internet a progress indicator window now appears The indicator bars that appear indicate that the DSS Image is being downloaded After completion of the image retrieval the DSS Image is then displayed offering you the choice to Keep the DSS Image or Discard it If you chose to keep the image then you may use STAR Atlas PRO to display the position of the DSS Image on charts and peruse the Image using the STAR Atlas PRO DSS Image Library STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 125 Note that the size of the celestial object does not change by increasing the Image Size and Image Height options The Image Size and Height options instead set the amount of sky that the DSS image spans or in other words the Field of View of the DSS Image 7 At the bottom edge of the DSS Image Keep or Discard the Image window choose Store Image to keep the DSS Image or Discard Image if you do not wish to keep the Image DSS Image Library All DSS Images that you choose to keep are accumulated on your computer and linked into STAR Atlas PRO STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 12
74. this is called a file or program association which is further explained in Windows Help E Hoco jpg Windows Photo Gulley Tol gt H BS ate Cyr SCEN The Windows Photo Gallery Viewer program also offers an additional number of features that include Zooming Rotating and Printing the image If you computer is not configured with a program association for JPEG image files one or more of the following errors may occur 2 Bad file association 29 Failed to load image viewer application 30 The image viewer application is busy 31 There is no application associated with JPEG images on your computer Image navigation commands The image navigation commands permit you to display the different images attached to each celestial object STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 77 ay xa _Newimaoe_ njaj vi C Image Size 30 x 30 arc minutes Image Credit STScl Digitized Sky Survey 44 gt Dl cose In the Celestial Image Library there are two images attached to each celestial object a positive image and a negative image You can use the image navigation commands to step back and forth through the different images STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 78 Positive Image Negative Image Each of the navigation commands are explained in the following text Command Button Command Description lq Select the first image attached to the selected celestial object 4 Select the previous image at
75. time set on the computer usually today and now of four of Jupiter s moons STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 192 11 Click Map bottom centre This will return you to the desktop but this time Jupiter is shown on it centred Exercise 7 Using the NGC search What is NGC NGC is a catalogue of the brightest deep sky objects and a very popular source of deep sky objects This catalogue is extensive and has a huge quantity of data in it The following is just a sample of what is available 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO 2 Click on Chart Prefs and then take note of whether Chart Mode is Planetarium or Star Atlas Chart If it is not in Planetarium mode there are two ways this can be corrected but for this example we suggest that in any case you 3 Click on Restore Defaults bottom canter answer Yes and follow the prompts 4 Now click Redraw bottom right so that you are returned to the desktop 5 On the Main menu Click Locate 6 This time locate the Find Object command top left hand corner 7 In the pull down menu next to this called Popular Deep Sky choose NGC from the list 8 The letters NGC appear in Find Object box 9 Let us enter say 104 so the input box now shows NGC104 10 Click Find Now next to this box and a window appears called NGC IC and Messier Catalogues 11 This shows that the object is NGC 104 or 47 TUC which is a globular cluster 12 Now click
76. window Redraw the chart Connect to Telescope Displays the Legend of Chart Symbols window About window Print Chart Display User Manual Zoom Out Zoom In Pan West Pan North Pan East Pan South Center on Scope Ctrl C 3 Track Scope Ctrl T 20 Stop Slew Ctrl S 19 Control Panel not supported on all telescopes Options Disconnect STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 250 Glossary of Terms Term AGN Altitude Alt Astronomical catalogue Azimuth Az Celestial object Declination Dec Deep Sky object Digital Setting Circles DSC Driver as in Telescope Driver Ecliptic Ephemeris Field of View Geographic Location Hemisphere Explanation Active Galactic Nuclei Galaxies with active nucleus The angular distance between the Horizon and the celestial object that about describes celestial A collection of data astrophysical information objects The horizontal angular distance from North to the point where the celestial body intersects the horizon An object such as a Star Galaxy Planet or any other class of celestial object The angular distance to a celestial object measured North 0 to 90 or South 0 to 90 from the celestial equator A non star object such as a Star Cluster Nebula or Galaxy Refers to optical encoders fitted to a telescope mount The optical encoders digital setting circles return the position of the telescope to
77. you need only press the L key by itself to access the Locate command i e the Alt is not required Main Menu Commands The following table briefly describes the main menu commands Each menu command is described in further detail in the Using STAR Atlas PRO section of this manual Command Keyboard Command Description Locate L Opens the STAR Atlas PRO Astronomical Database Manager the main access point from where you can lookup celestial objects Field of View F Opens the Field of View window and permits you to change the Field of View of the desktop chart between 1 arc min and 180 degrees without changing the celestial co ordinates that the chart is centred at STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 33 Mag Filter Goto RA DEC Chart Prefs Rotate Flip Zenith Sky Chart Horizon Clocks Scope Refresh Legend About Print Help Alt F2 F2 F3 F4 F5 Set s the limiting Magnitude of the desktop chart i e determines how bright an object must be before it appears on the chart Center the chart at the celestial co ordinates of your choice Opens the Chart Preferences and Program Settings window the main access point for altering chart displays and configuring STAR Atlas PRO Opens the Chart Orientation window where you may rotate and flip the desktop chart Center the chart at Zenith the point in the sky that is directly above
78. 00 or higher are recommended Follow this procedure to check or adjust your computers Graphics Adapter setting using the features provides with Windows 1 Right click on your Windows desktop 2 Choose Personalize from the pop up menu 3 Choose the Display Settings option 4 Now choose the Monitor tab from the Display Properties dialog window 5 This setting may now be adjusted to the required resolution by moving the sliding bar until it displays at least the 800x600 minimum required by STAR Atlas PRO if your graphics adapter is already set to a resolution of 1024x768 or higher then you do not need to change your screen resolution settings instead choose the Cancel button 6 After setting the screen resolution choose the Ok button to apply your changes STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 14 Step 3 Decide where to install STAR Atlas PRO When you run the STAR Atlas PRO Install Wizard in the next section you are asked to choose a folder on your computer in which to install STAR Atlas PRO Avoid installing STAR Atlas PRO into folder names that contain spaces For example a folder named Astronomy Software StarPro is not recommended as the Astronomy Software folder name contains a space Avoid installing STAR Atlas PRO into sub folders a folder location within another folder The recommended method is to install STAR Atlas PRO into the default folder named C STARPRO If yo
79. 130 2 5 10 0 116P Wild 3 037623 0 256171 222 5406 58 9415 8 7058 20050130 2 5 8 0 117P Helin Roma 2 006917 0 423086 8 20050130 12 0 4 0 118P Shoemaker gt E oT T T temet 4 6 Choose Save As from the File menu in the web browser program 7 Save the Comet Orbital Elements file as a text file to any location you prefer 8 Now return to STAR Atlas PRO desktop 9 Now locate the file with the button that appears next to Step 2 10 Choose the Process Elements file command A message will appear now appear informing you that the Orbital Data for the Comets were loaded 11 You are then asked if you to wish to Proceed to Recalculate Comet Positions answer Yes The latest Comet data is now loaded into STAR Atlas PRO and the Comet positions have been updated You may now Close any windows and return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Automated Procedure for STAR Atlas PRO Follow this procedure to download the most recent Comet Orbital Elements data STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 130 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 2 Comets 3 On the Comets window choose the Download Comet Elements command 4 The Comet Orbital Elements are now automatically retrieved 5 Upon completion a Message will then appear asking if you to wish to Proceed to Recalculate Comet Positions answer Yes The latest Comet
80. 5 Hipparcos Collection of Periodic Variable Stars 00 0 ceeeccsesscseseceecseeeceeeceeeeceaeeeeeaesaeeeeenereees 227 Hipparcos Collection of Unsolved Variable Stars cccceeceeceeceseseceeceeeeceeeecneeeecaeeeeeaecaeeeeeneeeres 229 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 6 Hyper LEDA asses E N dete heees obeetectsoudedeseseededuts sbesevstentestvoradshvussa E AE 231 EEDA Galaxy D taba SEn a E a a a E E a a a a 236 NGC IC and Messier Catalogue ccccccccceessesssssscesecesecesecaecseecseecaeeeeesenesceneeenseceseeaecsaeenaesnaeeaeeenes 238 LC eee a ee ey AE 239 Quasars Active Galactic Nuclei AGN and BL Lac objects ccccesccsseesseeseeeeeeeeeeereeeeeneeeneensees 241 Star Clusters and Associations c ccsccesecesecssecscecseeeseeeeeeseceeceseeesecesecaeceaecaaecaaecaeeeaeeeaeeeeeeneeeereeas 243 Star Names Catalogue e a E e E RE E EE ETE A R a E a 244 Star Cross E E AE T AA E E E NE 244 Strasbourg ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae 0 cceceeceeseceneceeeeseeeeeeseeeneeeeeeneees 245 Tycho Catalogues 2x o E esc oie i accrsea te eademeh eons ake lado ote He ba nba casa Sangeet gash tones A 246 Tyeho ll Catalogues dscesccs cine atseea E e E ete wees date Meee 248 APPENDICES E E ETA E E EEEE A 250 KEYBOARD COMMANDS ma a tin a a eee ro aen a a i 250 GLOSSARY OF TERMS ocacion iorri eorr eea rE EEES O e EASE RE E EE E Eo a i e 251 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS re r aE ee Din aaah Deed A A AR E 253 Digitized Sky Surveys A
81. 6 G Digitized Sky Survey DSS Image Library Browser Double Click to Select Image Page Up Close You may browse through all the DSS Images you have collected using the DSS Image Library Browser After downloading and Keeping one or more DSS Images proceed as follows to open the DSS Image Library Browser 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 10 Digitized Sky Survey Images 3 Now choose the List button which displays the Digitized Sky Survey DSS Image Library Browser window A thumbnail image is displayed of the first 16 DSS images in your collection Use your keyboard s PgUp and PgDn buttons to scroll through the Images or choose the Page Up and Page Down commands Alternatively you may use the PgUp and PgDn keys on your keyboard To display the full DSS image double click any one of the thumbnails The Digitized Sky Survey DSS Images window is then displayed with the DSS image you selected From the menu you can then choose the Map button to chart the location of the DSS Image or if you are connected to your robotic telescope choose the Goto command to slew to the location of the DSS Image STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 127 Updating STAR Atlas PRO with data that changes Comet positions and brightness depend on STAR Atlas PRO having a copy of the most recent Comet Orbital Elements Predictions for the
82. 70 9 MCG 7 28 1 As an example following this procedure to locate the deep sky object called Messier 42 or M42 1 Choose the Locate command from the main menu 2 Enter M42 into the Find Object input field and press the Enter key on your keyboard or choose the Find Now command STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 82 3 The astronomical catalogue window for Messier 42 is now displayed Choose Map to centre the STAR Atlas PRO chart on Messier 42 Astronomical Catalogue Helpers At the upper right of the Astronomical Database Manager window are the Astronomical Catalogue Helpers The Astronomical Catalogue Helpers menus assist you in entering the correct catalogue designation when you re looking for an object whose catalogue designation you know but are unsure of how to enter it correctly To demonstrate suppose we wish to locate the celestial object Caldwell 63 follow this procedure as an example 1 From the Popular Deep Sky select choose Caldwell Eind Now Astronomical catalogue helpers Popular Deep Sky Planetary Nebula ee Gades a o Star Clusters Messier Globular Clusters Galaxies N Z Caldwell STARS DEEP SKY OBJECTS Yale Bright Star Catalogue 75 Popular Deep Sky Objects Hipparcos Catalogue 76 Constellations Hipparcos Periodic Yariables 77 NGC IC and MESSIER Objects 2 From the Popular Deep Sky drop down selector choose Caldwell Astronomical Database M
83. 970 7 714 46 477 2 056 52 228 46 344 18 229 27 668 50 210 18 810 47 785 9 341 21 284 LMi Leo Lep Lib Lyn Lyr Men Mic Mon Mus Nor Oct Oph Ori Pav Peg Per Phe Pic PSA PSC Pup PyX Ret Scl Sco Set Ser Sex Sge Sgr Tau Tel ri uc UMa UMi Vel Vir Vol Vul m 10 358 61 722 9 157 13 009 3 919 36 431 6 719 2 811 12 222 3 779 1 118 580 7 675 10 457 3 967 9 945 32 308 10 273 35 634 10 558 32 637 31 801 10 766 2 616 8 328 71 080 1 328 228 19 431 37 004 245 14 155 7 570 6 137 2 779 4 267 15 894 98 742 5 561 3 998 120 097 2 892 1 975 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 151 Galaxies by Designation Following is a list of Catalogues included in Hyper LEDA ordered by the catalogue designation Designation Catalogue Name 1ZW 2DFGRS 2MASXJ 2ZW 3C 3ZW 4C 4ZW 5ZW 6ZW 7ZW 8ZW AGC AND ARK ARP BTS CGCG CGMW DDO DRCG DUKST DWINGELOO ESO ESOLV FAIR FCC FGC FGCE GIN HICK HIZSS HOLMBERG IISZ IRAS ISZ KAZ KDG KIG KK KKH KKR KPG Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey 2dFGRS Team 2MASS All Sky Catalog of Point Sources Cutri Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky 3rd Cambridge Catalogue Edge Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Fourth Cambridge Survey Pilkington Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compa
84. ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Hipparcos Collection of Unsolved Variable Stars Locate gt 54 Hipparcos Unsolved Variables Catalogue The Hipparcos Catalogue European Space Agency 1 239 The Hipparcos Catalogue ESA 1997 Description This program lists Unsolved Variable Stars extracted from the Hipparcos Catalogue and enables you to filter the catalogue so that Variable Stars only exhibiting the criteria you choose are displayed Number of Entries 118 218 Stars Menu Commands Description List List is a sophisticated program that can list only certain Variable Stars depending on the filter rules that you apply Upon opening this program lists all of the Unsolved Variable Stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue There are then up to 3 filters you can apply such that only the stars that meet the Filter you have defined will be displayed in the list Button Commands List all Variable Stars Removes any filter rules you have applied and displays the entire list of Stars Constellation Order Sorts any variable stars listed in the grid into Constellation Order HIP Order Sorts any variable stars listed in the grid into Hipparcos Order Select Returns you to the main window with the variable star you have selected by left mouse clicking the relevant grid line Filter Commands V Apply Magnitude Filter When enabled the Magnitude range specified at the Maximum Magnitude and Minimum Magnitude se
85. Animation All animations may be started from any date and time that you set The Local Time and Universal Time values displayed on the Jovian Events window may by edited and set to a date and time of your choice STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 61 Locating Messier Objects STAR Atlas PRO includes the entire list of Messier objects with information for each object There are several ways to locate Messier objects using STAR Atlas PRO the following procedure is the most common used and in this example we are looking for Messier 42 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 77 NGC IC and MESSIER Objects 3 Choose Messier from the bottom menu 4 Now enter the Messier number you wish to find in this case type in 42 and then press the lt Enter gt key on your keyboard 5 The NGC IC and MESSIER Objects window now displays information for the Messier object 6 Choose Map and the chart is displayed with the Messier object at centre There are also other features on the menu bar that permit you to immediately slew your telescope to the object s location Locating NGC and IC Objects STAR Atlas PRO includes the entire list of objects from the NGC and IC catalogues of deep sky objects Use the following method to locate any NGC or IC object 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose
86. Asteroid Plotting Options place your cursor in the Loca Time input field Using your left and right arrow keys on your keyboard position your cursor so that it s in front of the Time Then type in 090000 for O9hrs OOmin and OO sec and then press your Tab key twice to position your cursor to the Interval between Plots field Since we wish to plot the Asteroid s position once every two days enter 2 and then press your Tab key again which brings you to the Number of plots input field As we wish to plot the Asteroid s position over a period of 20 days enter 10 this gives us 10 plots every 2 days spanning 20 days in total Now choose the Plot Asteroid Path command to display the Asteroid s path on the desktop chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 71 Print an Ephemeris for an Asteroid A dictionary definition of Ephemeris is table listing the positions of planets a table listing the future positions of the Sun Moon and planets over a given period of time An Ephemeris may also be printed for Asteroids This procedure uses the simple Asteroid list method to choose an Asteroid and then print an Ephemeris 1 10 11 12 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window OR right mouse click on a chart and select Locate Object from the popup menu Choose 5 Minor Planets Asteroids Choose List to display the Minor Planets Asteroid List window Select t
87. Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 87 5 Set the Maximum Magnitude option to 1 0 6 Set the Minimum Magnitude option to 3 0 7 Enable the V Apply Variability Period Filter option 8 Set the Minimum Period option to 1 0 9 Set the Maximum Period option to 2 0 10 Now choose Apply Filter Rules Now which performs the query The Hipparcos collection of Periodic Variables window now lists only the Variable Stars that meet the criteria you specified 10 Choose a Star from the list a single mouse click will select it 11 Now choose the Select command The Hipparcos collection of Periodic Variables window is now displayed and contains detailed information about the Star you selected You may now Map the Star s location or perform a variety of other functions from the menu bar Other Query options V List only NEW Variable Stars Enable this option to list only stars discovered by Hipparcos to be a previously un catalogued Variable Star Find Stars discovered by Hipparcos to be Variable The following procedure demonstrates how you may query STAR Atlas PRO to list Stars discovered by Hipparcos to be new previously un catalogued Variable Stars that exhibit a particular Magnitude range and Variability period The procedure queries the astronomical catalogue data to produce a list of Variable Stars that exhibit the following search criteria Query List Only New Variable Stars that exhibit Maximum Magnitude brigh
88. Atlas PRO now displays the astronomical catalogue window for the object you search for From its menu choose the GOTO button near bottom right and your telescope will slew to M42 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 161 Try slewing your telescope to the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey Images DSS you have collected in your personal STAR Atlas PRO Images Library open menu option 10 Digitized Sky Survey Images in the Astronomical Database Manager and choose GOTO when after selecting the DSS Image of choice Slewing to individual objects when they are clustered together Use this method for position your Telescope to point precisely to an individual celestial object that is clustered or grouped close together with other objects on the star chart This procedure assumes you have already established a connection to your Telescope 1 Locate a close grouping of celestial objects on the chart and position the cursor between the objects 2 Right mouse click and choose Identify Object T Objects located at cursor RA 5 35 33 DEC 5 18 50 20 BSCisss STAR 4iTheiGri Mag 6 73 f rr TE T r T BSC1895 STAR 41Thel0ri Mag 5 13 BSCi896 STAR 41TheiOri Mag 6 70 BSC1i897 STAR 43The2Ori Mag 5 08 NGC1976 BRIGHT OR DIFFUSE NEBULA M42 Great Nebula i NGC1982 BRIGHT OR DIFFUSE NEBULA M43 Mag 9 0 Major Close Select Object 3 The Objects Located near the mouse cursor is then displayed at lower left of STA
89. CCD Reticle a rectangular shaped reticle that matches your CCD Camera s Field of View To select an Eyepiece Reticle Follow this procedure to select a Eyepiece reticle after you have established a connection to your Telescope 1 Choose the Options command from the floating telescope menu or right click on the chart and select the Named Telescope sub menu and then Options 2 Choose the Eyepiece Field command to display the Eyepiece Reticle window 3 Single click the telescope entry from the telescopes scrollable list 4 Also single click the Eyepiece entry from the Eyepieces scrollable list The Field of View of the Telescope and Eyepiece combination you have selected is displayed at the bottom of the window 5 Choose the Draw Reticle command to return to the Comms and Reticle Options window Now choose the Close command to close the window STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 163 Now you have setup the reticle that you wish to use all subsequent Telescope commands will default to use the Eyepiece Reticle choose Center on Scope from the Telescope Menu to display the reticle To select an CCD Camera Reticle Follow this procedure to select a CCD Camera reticle after you have established a connection to your Telescope 1 Choose the Options command from the floating Telescope menu or right click on the chart and select the Named Telescope sub menu and then Options Choose the CCD Field command to dis
90. Choose Identify Object from the popup menu which then displays the Comets window 3 Choose Plot Path from the menu bar along bottom 4 Now from the Plot a Comet s Path through the Sky window choose the Plot Comet Path The desktop chart displays the path of the Comet you selected each day for the next seven days Comet Plotting Options During the procedure of plotting the path of a Comet through the sky the Plot a Comet s Path through the Sky window permits you to alter the settings that determine over what period and the Comet s path is plotted The following table describes each of the Comet Plotting options that permit you to control how the Comet plot is displayed Setting Description Local Time This is the Local Date and Time for the beginning of the Comet Path By default the Local Date and Time will be set to either the Computer s clock or the Chat Date and Time manually set in Chart Prefs You may edit the Loca Time input field to alter the date and time to your preferred setting Universal Time This is the Universal Date and Time for the beginning of the Comet Path You may edit the Universal Time input field to alter the date and time to your preferred setting STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 65 Interval Between Plots This is the number of Days between each position that is plotted for the Comet Number of Plots This is the number of positions to plot Each position is separa
91. Map bottom centre and you are returned to the desktop but this time the cursor is over a very small object with no characteristics of note 13 Now for the coup de gras Click on Field of View on the Main Menu and change the setting from 150 degrees to 2 degree For users of the Professional Edition the program is now using the GSC Guide Star Catalogue and displays a stunning chart of NGC104 with thousands of stars Exercise 8 Using the DSS interface The STAR Atlas PRO STScI Digitized Sky Survey Interface DSS Interface uses your Internet connection to connect to the Space Telescope Science Institute s STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 193 STScI web server and retrieve images of up to 60 x 60 arc minutes for the position in the sky you have selected with STAR Atlas PRO How to use the Digitised Sky Survey DSS Interface Step 1 Make sure you have STAR Atlas PRO setup correctly by performing the following Check 1 and Check 2 procedures After performing these initial checks skip this section the next time you use the STAR Atlas PRO DSS Interface Check 1 1 Verify that the Location to Store DSS Images option is set to the correct location This option tells STAR Atlas PRO where to store each DSS image that you choose to keep explained in the Setup and Config Section of this manual 2 If you installed STAR Atlas PRO to the default location C STARPRO then you may skip this check and proce
92. Menu Commands Command Center Chart Center and Zoom Identify Object Chart Field of View Locate Object Telescope menu Command Description Center the desktop chart at the position indicated by your mouse pointer Center the Field Of View at your mouse pointer and opens the Field of View dialog window so that you may select a new Field of View for the chart Identifies any celestial object that is located at the current position of your mouse pointer An astronomical catalogue window is displayed with information for the object If multiple objects are located at your mouse pointer a list of the celestial objects are displayed in the Objects Located at cursor window Double click on any of the objects listed to launch the relevant astronomical catalogue window that displays known information about the object and allows you to perform a variety of commands for the selected celestial object Opens the Field of View window and permits you to change the Field of View for the desktop chart The Field of View window permits you to select the chart s Field Of View without changing the celestial co ordinates that the chart is centred on Opens the Astronomical Database Manager window the main access point from where you may locate celestial objects by name or catalogue designation Opens the Telescope Control Menu The Telescope Control Menu is named with the same name of the Telescope Driver you
93. O warns you if the celestial position is below your local horizon before the Telescope is instructed to begin the slew The Telescope will slew at its current slew speed setting 1 Position the mouse pointer to the location on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart 2 Right mouse click to display the popup menu notice the top left corner of the menu is displayed at the precise location you clicked 3 Choose the Telescope driver name menu from the popup menu 4 Now choose Slew to Mouse to the telescope menu The Telescope will now begin the slew to the celestial location you pointed too Precise Slewing to Celestial Objects Use this method for positioning your Telescope to point precisely to a celestial object displayed on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart This procedure assumes you have already opened the connection to your Telescope 1 Choose any object on the displayed star chart and right click on it 2 Choose Identify Object from the popup menu 3 Choose GOTO from the menu bar near bottom right and your telescope will slew to the object This procedure may be applied any celestial object displayed on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 160 Slewing to objects from the Astronomical Database Manager STAR Atlas PRO s Astronomical Database Manager provides you with access to dozens of astronomical catalogues that you may use to locate celestial objects of interes
94. PORT Settings and make sure they match the Telescope s required communications port settings Enable the telescope control system as follows 1 Choose the Telescope Setup tab 2 Choose the Enable button top centre this will then display the Telescope Driver COM Port Settings and Communication options 3 Choose the Telescope Driver button a list of telescope drivers is then displayed you may choose from the list of STAR Atlas PRO Telescope Drivers or choose ASCOM if you are planning to use an ASCOM driver If you choose ASCOM the ASCOM dialog box is displayed and you may choose an ASCOM telescope driver see Choosing an ASCOM Telescope Driver 4 Select the telescope driver of your choice and then choose the Select button 5 The Communication Port Settings and Communication Options are now displayed on the Telescope Setup tab Setting the Com Port Options The COM PORT Settings options appear on the Telescope Setup window after you select a STAR Atlas PRO Telescope Driver STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 25 The COM PORT Settings options permit you to alter your computer s communications port COM PORT settings to match your Telescope or Digital Setting Circles DSC communications requirements IMPORTANT It is recommended you refer to your Telescope manufacturer s recommendations and check the COM Port or PC Interface settings required by your telescope Following is an explanati
95. Pg 69 6 Now from the Plot an Asteroid s Path through the Sky window choose the Plot Asteroid Path The desktop chart displays the path of the Asteroid you selected each day for the next seven days using the default settings Selecting an Asteroid with the Identify function More than often you wish to plot the path of an Asteroid that already appears on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart Follow this procedure 1 Right mouse click on the Asteroid 2 Choose Identify Object from the popup menu which then displays the Asteroids and Minor Planets Database window 3 Choose Plot Path from the menu bar along bottom 4 Now from the Plot an Asteroid s Path through the Sky window choose the Plot Asteroid Path The desktop chart displays the path of the Asteroid you selected each day for the next seven days using the default settings Asteroid Plotting Options During the procedure of plotting the path of an Asteroid through the sky the Plot an Asteroid s Path through the Sky window permits you to alter the settings that determine over what period the Asteroid s path is plotted The following table describes each of the Asteroid Plotting options that permit you to control how the Asteroid plot is displayed Setting Description Local Time This is the Local Date and Time for the beginning of the Asteroid Path By default the Local Date and Time will be set to either the Computer s clock or the Chat D
96. Printing an Ephemerides of the Planets A tabular listing of Planet Rise and Set Times Visual Magnitude Position and other information may be displayed and printed at any time Proceed as follows to display and or print the Planetary Emperies 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 4 Planetary Ephemerides which opens the Planetary Ephemeris window 3 You may print the Ephemerides to your printer or preview it on screen Choose Preview Only to see what the report will look like on your printer or simply choose Print Ephemeris to send the Ephemeris to your printer This print out can be useful to take along when observing at the telescope Observing Jupiter s Great Red Spot STAR Atlas PRO calculates and displays the time of day that is best to observe Jupiter s Great Red GRS Spot In the image of Jupiter pictured here the Great Red Spot can be seen at the lower right of Jupiter s disc The Great Red Spot is normally best viewed when it transits the central meridian of Jupiter an imaginary line joining the North and South poles Image Courtesy NASA JPL The Great Red Spot Transit Times are calculated and displayed for the current date Up to three 3 Transits of the GRS may be observed every twenty four 24 hour period The Longitude of Jupiter s GRS slowly changes with time thus for the calculation of accurate Transit Times you mus
97. R Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 139 The following screen shot shows the Hyper LEDA database window Ring Multiple Compact X 398 arc min Display Settings There are Chart Display Settings that control how objects from the Hyper LEDA are displayed on STAR Atlas PRO charts PGC2003 objects only M Object Size Limit Minimum size Display Galaxy Colours Iv arc min Unlike other STAR Atlas PRO windows these options appear on the Hyper LEDA database window rather than in STAR Atlas PRO Chart Prefs The following list briefly describes each of the settings Option Setting Description STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 140 V PGC2003 objects only V Displays only objects from the Principal Galaxy Catalogue PGC2003 _ Displays all objects in the Hyper LEDA This option only displays objects that are included in the official release of the Principal Galaxy Catalogue 2003 PGC2003 a catalogue of about one million galaxies brighter than Magnitude 18 B Mag This option is useful when you are using the Hyper LEDA to plan observations since enabling this option will then only display galaxies from the PGC2003 and generally rules out much fainter objects and most Quasi Stellar Objects QSO contained in the Hyper LEDA V Object Size Limit V Enable the Minimum Size setting _ Disable the Minimum Size setting F Sets the Minimum Size measured in arc Minimum size minutes of ob
98. R Atlas PRO desktop chart It lists all the celestial objects found near the position of your mouse pointer If this window does not appear then the objects on the chart are not clustered closely enough together 4 Double click on one of the objects in the list which then displays the astronomical catalogue window for that celestial object 5 To slew your Telescope to the selected object choose the GOTO command from the menu bar 6 Choose the Close command from the displayed astronomical catalogue window and you are returned to the Objects Locate at cursor window 7 Select the next object in from the list and return to Step 5 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 162 At any time you may Close the Objects Locate at cursor window and return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Stopping a Telescope Slew The Stop Slew command aborts any telescope slew operation currently in progress and is useful to avoid unexpected conditions where you wish to immediately halt the telescope Setting Up a Telescope Reticle The position of the telescope is represented on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart as a cross hair reticle STAR Atlas PRO supports three different types of reticles that you may choose from The Telescope reticle may be set to a reticle of your choice The reticles types are e the Cross Hairs reticle default e The Eyepiece Reticle a circular reticle that matches your Eyepiece Field of View e The
99. STAR Atlas PRO ASTRONOMY SOFTWARE A spectacular Planetarium and Star Atlas packed with features for astronomers and stargazers of all levels Find the location of countless celestial objects in no time at all display and print detailed star charts point n click to control your telescope plan observations dozens more features STAR Atlas PRO USER MANUAL STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for STAR Atlas PRO PRO AM Edition STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 1 STAR Atlas PRO is a product of SKY Lab Astronomy Software Located in Newcastle Australia Web Site www StarAtlasPro com E Mail paulm staratlaspro com SKY Labo Astronomy Software www StarAtlasPro com STAR Atlas PRO User Manual This manual is suitable for STAR Atlas PRO PRO AM Edition or higher SKY Lab is a registered trade mark of Paul Mayo of SKY Lab Astronomy Software This User Manual is Copyright No part of this Manual may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the publisher The SKY Lab Logo is a trade mark of SKY Lab Astronomy Software SKY Lab is a registered trade mark of SKY Lab Astronomy Software Argo Navis is a trade mark of Wildcard Innovations Meade and Autostar are trade marks of Meade Corporation Celestron and Nexstar are trade marks of Celestron Adobe and Postscript are trade marks of Adobe Windows is a trade mark of Microsoft Corporation Pentium
100. TAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 38 Planetarium mode can display a chart of the entire sky and also display charts of each horizon when you face North South East or West The all sky chart displays the entire sky with the brightest stars planets and deep sky objects and the brightest comets in the sky STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 39 n 5 3 rm 7 a i a p RIR 8 P Chan P s 10 Views of North South East and West horizons show the sky as observed when you face each compass direction Star Atlas chart mode Star Atlas charting mode orients star charts in a North South orientation as commonly found in a printed star atlas The celestial co ordinates Right Ascension R A and Declination Dec align with your computer display Right Ascension aligns to the horizontal axis of your computer display and the Declination axis aligns with the vertical axis of your computer display The Observer s Celestial Pole may be set either North or South of the computer s screen so that the chart will automatically flip to approximate the same orientation as seen by the observer Star Atlas charting mode ignores the Observer s Horizon and permits you to chart all locations in the Celestial Hemisphere regardless of whether they are currently observable from your geographical location It is not necessary to have the object you are seeking within your celestial view that is you can examine the sky in any part of
101. V 878y a 2 90 masses 15 5 and 7 0 solar Companion is radio source SKYLAB confirms cool stat D hot companion DYN _ 0 014 G Sco OB2 Sco Cen stream in reflection nebula assoc Sco R1 dust shell beyond 12 R N __ ANTARES Cor Scorpii Kalb al Akrab Vespertilio R Occultation diam 0 041 RV 75yrs s Ultraviolet Fell emission 5 micrometer observations indicate carbon monoxide VAR ADS 10074A SRc 0 88 1 8V 1733d Possibly considerably fainter before 150 AD see HR 5685 i 4 Find Star in Hipparcos Map SOTO SYNC M 4 gt a Close Catalogue Find by HR Find by SAO Follow these procedures to exploit the abundant stellar information found in STAR Atlas PRO Displaying information for bright stars In this example we locate the star named Antares or Alpha Scorpius is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 57 Star Names 3 Choose the Find Star command bottom left 4 Scroll down the list until you see Antares and select it with a double mouse click 5 Now choose the Display Info command that appears along the bottom menu The Bright Star Catalogue window now appears and the bottom half of the window is filled with interesting information about the star Antares Notice STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 90 that the info
102. a 6853 Dumbbell Nebula Little M76 Cork Butterfly or Barbell Nebula Apple Core Nebula 650 Dwingeloo 1 100171 Dwingeloo 2 10130 E Nebula Barnard 142 143 dark nebulae ET Cluster Owl Cluster Phi Cassiopeiae Cluster Dragonfly Cluster 457 Eagle Nebula M16 Seagull Nebula Star Queen Nebula GC 6671 Eagle Nebula Seagull Nebula Ic 2177 Egg Nebula CRL 2688 AFGL 2688 PK 80 6 1 planetary nebula Cygnus Egg Eight burst planetary Southern Ring NGC 3132 Einstein Cross gravitational lens Elephant Trunk Nebula in IC 1396 cluster Ic 1396 Epsilon Orionis Nebula NGC 1990 Eridanus Globular Cluster Eskimo Nebula Clown Nebula NGC 2392 Eta Carinae Nebula NGC 3372 Selected Object Altitude Azimuth 37 Cluster 36 57 30 32 10 39 Cancel Select To view the list of Popular Deep Sky Objects follow this procedure 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 75 Popular Deep Sky Objects which opens the Popular Deep Sky Objects window 3 From the list select the object of interest with a single mouse click the object s Altitude and Azimuth is display at the bottom of the window now choose the Select command to chart the objects location to immediately select an object from the list double click on it and the chart will re centre at the object s location The list of Popular Deep Sky Objects is an easy way to locate the most popular celestial objects and char
103. a device or computer A software module that acts as an interpreter between a telescope and STAR Atlas PRO software The plane of the Earth s orbit around the Sun A table giving the co ordinates of a celestial body The angular field of view between 1 arc min and 180 The Location of your position on the Earth defined by the geographical co ordinates Longitude and Latitude I e North or South Hemisphere of Planet Earth STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 251 HTML Magnitude Meridian Non Stellar Reticle Right Ascension R A Stellar Time Zone Transit as in transit time User Objects Zenith A computer acronym for Hyper Text Mark up Language used by Internet Web browser software A scale that measures the brightness of a celestial object A great circle passing through the two poles of the celestial sphere and the zenith of a given observer A celestial object that is classed as a Non Star A geometric shape that is projected onto celestial charts which represents a position or area of the sky The angular distance to a celestial object eastward from the vernal equinox Ohrs around the globe 23hrs 59min 59sec A celestial object that is classed as a Star The Earth s globe is divided into 24 divisions which make each Time Zone Time Zones can be up to 12 hours East or West of Greenwich The time at which celestial body crosses the observer s meridian Celestial
104. a scrollable list of Quasars and BL Lac Objects You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 241 Find Name Find No Common commands Displayed Screen Data Name Redshift Visual Mag Absolute Mag Active Galactic Nuclei RA DEC Classifications Common Positional Data Finds an entry based on the Most common name of the object e g PKS 1451 375 Note you do not have to enter the space simply enter PKS1451 375 Finds an entry based on the Most common name of the object e g PKS 1451 375 without the need to enter the catalogue name Note you do not have to enter the spaces simply enter 1451 375 Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Note Copy to Obs is not available Planetary Objects Description The most common name of the object Redshift Visual Magnitude Absolute Magnitude This object has an Active Nuclei if ticked Right Ascension J2000 0 Declination J2000 0 Classification of the object S1 Seyfert 1 Sih broad polarized Balmer lines detected S1i broad Paschen lines observer in the infrare
105. aJ GG495 18 IIlaJ GG385 GSC Object Classes Notes SERC J EJ Pal Quick V Johnson Johnson Red Pal QV AAO XV POSS I Blue POSS I Red GPO Astrograph Black Birch Astrograph QV POSS II Blue Note that Class 2 and Class 5 objects are not displayed by STAR Atlas PRO Class Class Description 0 Star 1 Galaxy 2 blend or incorrectly resolved blend 3 Non Star 5 potential artifact Galactic Supernova Remnants Locate gt 84 Galactic Supernova Remnants Catalogue Description Galactic Supernova Remnants VII 227 A Catalogue of Galactic Supernova Remnants Green 2001 This catalogue of known Galactic supernova remnants SNRs is an updated version of the catalogues of Galactic SNRs This 2001 December version of the catalogue contains 231 SNRs which is 6 more than listed in the previous versions of this catalogue STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 219 Number of Entries Menu Commands List Find Other Names Find Common commands Displayed Screen Data Catalog Entry Object Type Description Visual Magnitude Major Diameter Minor Diameter Other Names 231 Description Displays a scrollable list of entries from the Catalogue which may be sorted into Catalogue Identity Order or Common Name Order You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on th
106. actic extinction internal extinction and k correction Size The size of object s major and minor 8 32 x 3 98 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 235 Position Angle Surface Brightness B V Colour Constellation Names size measured in arc minutes The position angle of the object s major axis from North Eastwards measure in Degrees The object s mean effective surface brightness measured in Magnitude per square arc second mag arc secL The object s total apparent corrected B V colour The Constellation in which the object appears Other catalogue designations and names for this object LEDA Galaxy Database Locate gt 78 LEDA Galaxy Database Catalogue Name Description 89 20 35 0 86 Virgo MESSIER104 MCG 02 32 020 PGC042407 SOMBRERO NGC4594 UGCA293 IRAS12373 1120 2MASXJ12395949 1137230 The Lyon Meudon Extragalactic Database LEDA PGC 1996 The Lyon Meudon Extragalactic Database catalogue is one of the most comprehensive galaxy databases ever compiled it consists of information for 101 258 galaxies The LEDA Database includes many known galaxy catalogues including the ARP DRCG ESO IC IRAS LEDA MCG MESSIER NGC PGC UGC UGCA VCC galaxy catalogues Number of Entries 101 258 Galaxies Menu Commands Description List Displays a scrollable list of LEDA objects You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up c
107. additional astronomical images or many as you like to the selected celestial object using the Add Image command or simply choose the Close command to return to the astronomical catalogue window Notice the No Pic button has now changed to Picture alerting you that one or more images are attached to this celestial object Viewing Multiple Images If you have several images attached to a single celestial object you may use the Next Image and Previous Image menu commands to scroll through each of the Images Using an External Image Viewer Any Image that you have attached to a celestial object in STAR Atlas PRO may also be automatically loaded into your favourite graphics application such as Paintshop Pro Adobe Photoshop Microsoft Paint and many others The External Image Viewer command appears in the menu on the Images window this command is used to automatically load the displayed astronomical image into an external graphics application Loading the image into an external application then permits you to alter edit and print the Image from the application External Image Viewer Setup To use an external graphics application you must have already setup the External Image Viewer application that you wish to use To set up the Image Viewer External Image Viewer application 1 Choose Chart Prefs from the STAR Atlas PRO main menu 2 Select Settings amp Configuration command and then the File Locations tab
108. ager to locate a particular deep sky object from either of the NGC IC or Messier catalogues 1 Choose Locate from the STAR Atlas PRO floating menu 2 Choose command 77 NGC IC and MESSIER objects 3 Choose the NGC button or the IC button if you are looking for an object with an IC number or the Messier button when looking for Messier objects 4 Enter 253 and choose OK STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 75 5 You are now returned to the NGC IC and Messier Catalogues screen with the celestial object were looking for NGC 253 selected and its image displayed Image commands The following section explains each of the commands and information associated with the displayed image The View Image command The View Image command opens the displayed image in the software application associated with JPEG Image files on your computer this is usually the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer program However you may also configure Windows to open the image with your favourite image processing software ba E D Ea View Image M 4i mage 1o 2 Image Size 30 x 30 arc minutes Image Credit STScl Digitized Sky Survey i No Pic soro Syn 4 4 gt PI Cose On Windows Vista the default software application associated with JPEG image files is the Windows Photo Gallery Viewer program STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 76 You can configure Windows to open an image file with a program of choice
109. al Type Parallax Aitken s Double Star Number Variable Star ID I for Infrared Durchmusterung ID V 50 Bright Star Catalogue A subset of the Bright Star Catalogue 5th Revised Ed Hoffleit 1991 which lists each known Variable Star The Bright Star Catalogue contains 9 110 entries for stars brighter than magnitude 6 5 essentially all of the stars visible to the naked eye 6 5 2 061 Stars and Notes entries for most stars Description Displays a scrollable list of stars from the Bright Star Catalogue which are known Variable Stars You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Find Star using it s Harvard Revised Catalogue Number Find Star using it s SAO Catalogue Number Lookups information for this star from the Hipparcos Catalogue Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Bayer or Flamsteed name Visual Magnitude Spectral type Trigonometric parallax arc seconds Aitken s Double Star Catalogue ADS designation Variable Star designation I if object is an Infra Red source Durchmusterung Identification STAR Atlas PRO User Manual
110. alaxy from the list After selecting a galaxy you are returned to the Hyper LEDA window where the astrophysical data is displayed for the galaxy The Map command centres the STAR Atlas PRO chart on the selected galaxy object Copies the selected object and details into the STAR Atlas PRO Observation Planner You may also add notes to accompany the addition of the object into the Observation Planner Refer to the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for complete details of this command This is the image control button indicator If an image is attached to this object Picture is STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 143 Or No Pic GOTO SYNC rl displayed otherwise No Pic is displayed Click the Picture button to display the attached image Click the No Pic button to open the Images window which permits you to attach your own astronomical image to the object selected in the Hyper G Atlas Refer to the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for complete details of this command Commands your Telescope to slew to the selected Hyper LEDA object This command is only enabled if STAR Atlas PRO is connected to your telescope and the on line indicator is active Refer to the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for complete details of the Goto command Calibrates your Telescope s Right Ascension R A amp Declination Dec to match the position of the object you have selected in the Hyper G Atlas
111. alogue PGC Number to locate Many galaxies are referred to by their PGC number this function provides a simple method of locating a galaxy using a PGC number Opens a dialog window that prompts you to enter the designation or name of galaxy to locate Examples of designations or names you might enter are MESSIER 086 NGC 0253 ESO 350 040 DWINGELOO 1 CARTWHEEL MALIN 1 SAGDIG LMC 2MASXIJ10323195 5424035 SDSSJ122635 49 090207 5 Note that each galaxy designation requires the correct formatting For example a find for NGC 253 would fail however a find for NGC 0253 will work See the section in this manual titled Catalogue Name Search feature for more information STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 142 Popular Galaxies The Hyper LEDA contains a list of galaxies with popular Map Copy to Obs Picture names which may be accessed from the Popular Galaxies command that appears in the menu bar on the Hyper LEDA database window Galaxies with popular names Carina dwarf galaxy Cartwheel galaxy Cepheus 1 Circinus galaxy Cygnus A Draco dwarf galaxy Dwingeloo 1 Dwingeloo 2 Fornax dwarf galaxy Galactic Centre Pegasus dwarf galaxy Phoenix galaxy Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy Sculptor dwarf galaxy Sculptor Dwarf Irregular Galaxy sextans Select Close To select a galaxy from the list double click on a listed galaxy or choose the Select command to choose the highlighted g
112. anager Catalogue The Caldwell Catalogue Entry Format C 999 Find Object C Eind Now Popular Deep Sky Star Clusters Globular Clusters sil 3 The letter C is automatically entered into the Find Object input field and your cursor is positioned waiting for you to enter the object number of the Caldwell you wish to locate Above the Find Object input field the Entry Format is displayed along with the catalogue name you selected 4 Catalogue The Caldwell Catalogue Entry Format C 999 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 83 The Entry Format tells us that we should enter Caldwell objects with the format C 999 That means C for Caldwell followed by a space then up to 3 numbers Examples are Ci C 10 C 104 4 As we are searching for Caldwell 63 enter the number 63 from your keyboard 5 Press the Enter key on your keyboard or choose the Find Now command to locate Caldwell 63 From the astronomical window that is displayed with Caldwell 63 s Astro physical information choose the Map command to centre the desktop chart on Caldwell 63 Commands common to each Astronomical Catalogue Each of STAR Atlas PRO s astronomical catalogue windows provide a menu of commands along the bottom edge of the window the menu will differ depending on which astronomical catalogue window you choose to open Search for Object Find in Copy to Leda Map Obs Ic Messier Picture Th
113. ard disk drive and name it GSC on the C drive You can create a new folder by going to the Windows Explorer File Menu and then choose New and then Folder and then name it GSC 3 After creating the new C GSC Folder Copy the entire contents of the GSC folder from the install disc into the C GSC This is also easily achieved by dragging the GSC folder from the install disc to your computers hard drive 4 After installing the GSC you will need to enable the GSC option in STAR Atlas PRO which is explained are the next section of this manual GSC Install Option 2 Reading the GSC from your DVD ROM drive Space saving method slower access You may choose to read the GSC data from your CD ROM drive as required by STAR Atlas PRO during normal program use If you use this method it will be slower than having the GSC data installed on your computer hard disk drive To do this 1 There are no procedures you need to follow aside from enabling the GSC options in STAR Atlas PRO which are explained in the next section of this manual This completes the installation procedure for STAR Atlas PRO Step 4 Optionally install the Celestial Image Library The Celestial Image Library is a collection of more than 27 000 images from the Digitized Sky Survey A positive and negative image for each deep sky object from the NGC and IC catalogues are included Celestial Image Library Installation Options There are seve
114. art rotate features proceed as follows 1 Choose the Rotate Flip command from the main menu 2 The Chart Orientation window is now displayed where you may choose from a number of options to manipulate the orientation of the chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 46 The following table explains each of the Chart Orientation commands and options Option or Setting Description Angle to Rotate Chart Set the angle in Degrees to rotate V Clock Wise Rotate the chart in a clockwise direction V Counter Clock Wise Rotate the chart in an anti clockwise direction V Vertical Flip Flip the chart vertically V Mirror Flip Flips the chart horizontally V Auto Invert Field Automatically flip the chart horizontally when the star chart is centred in the opposite hemisphere to the Observers Location In other words in you are located in the Southern Hemisphere and you centre on a location in the North celestial sphere the chart is automatically inverted to approximate the correct orientation Setting the chart Magnitude Limit When STAR Atlas PRO displays a chart if it were to display all of the celestial objects stored in its astronomical databases then most charts would become impossibly cluttered with literally millions of celestial objects making the charts cumbersome and all but impossible to read STAR Atlas PRO automatically limits the Magnitude of charts so that only the brightest celestial objects a
115. atalogues includes more than 100 000 Galaxies each with detailed information The galaxy database includes the following masterful collection of galaxy catalogues Description De Vaucouleurs Galaxy Groups Arakelian Galaxies Arp Peculiar Galaxy Atlas ARP Dickens Galaxies David Dunlap Dwarf galaxies Dressler Catalogue of Clusters of galaxies ESO optical sources Fairall Galaxies Fornax Cluster Catalogue Fornax Galaxies Cluster Catalogue Karachentsev Galaxy pairs Karachentsev Galaxies Hickson Compact Groups of Galaxies Infrared sources Boerngen Karachentseva Dwarf Galaxies Kazarian Galaxies Kiso UV bright Galaxies Markarian Galaxies Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies Rodgers Galaxies Zwicky Galaxy Clusters Principal Galaxy Catalogue STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 203 POX RB SAIT SBS TOLO UGC UGCA UM VV VCC VIIZW WEIN Star Catalogues Emission line objects Prism Objective X Galaxies in Abell 1656 Saito Galaxies Byurakan Galaxies QSOs blue stars Emission line galaxies or QSOs Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies UGC Galaxies addendum University of Michigan Emission line objects Vorontsov Vel yaminov Interacting Galaxies Virgo Cluster Catalogue Galaxies Zwicky Galaxies Weinberger Galaxies These astronomical catalogues describe Stars including Variable and Multiple Stars Catalogues Bright Star Catalogue Hipparc
116. ate and Time manually set in Chart Prefs You may edit the Loca Time input field to alter the date and time to your preferred setting Universal Time This is the Universal Date and Time for the beginning of the Asteroid Path You may edit the Universal Time input STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 70 field to alter the date and time to your preferred setting Interval Between Plots This is the number of Days between each position that is plotted for the Asteroid Number of Plots This is the number of positions to plot Each position is separated by the value specified in the Interval Between Plots input field V Display Date amp Time of If this option is enabled tick mark is each Plot displayed then the Date of each Asteroid position plotted is displayed vV Draw Asteroid to If this option is enabled tick mark is Magnitude Scale amp Display displayed then the Asteroid is drawn to Mag the same scale as the Magnitude of Stars and the Asteroid s Visual Magnitude is displayed Additional Information Before proceeding with the Plot Asteroid Path command you may configure over what time interval and what time span you wish to use for producing the Asteroid plot across the sky As an example suppose we wish the Asteroid plot to display the position of the Asteroid at 9 00PM Local Time every second night over a period of a 20 days Follow this procedure 1 Enter the Local Time Under
117. ation for the selected entry Right Acension R A3143h 26m 48s Rise Time 2 h 42m 34s Declination DEC 47 29 00 Transit Time 07h 45m 18s Altitude ALT 16 33 38 Set Time 16h 48m 01s Azimuth AZ 223 39 23 Angular Seperation 15 53 7 777 The following table describes the positional information that are common to all of STAR Atlas PRO s Astronomical Catalogues Positional Information Description Right Ascension R A The Right Ascension co ordinate position as observed from the Observer s Location Declination DEC The Declination co ordinate position as observed from the Observer s Location Altitude ALT The Altitude position as observed from the Observer s Location Azimuth AZ The Azimuth position as observed from the Observer s Location Rise Time The time that the object will Rise as observed from the Observer s Location Transit Time The time that the object will Transit as observed from the Observer s Location STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 85 Set Time The time that the object will Set as observed from the Observer s Location Angular Separation The angular separation of this object from the last object you selected Locating Celestial Objects Advanced Features The Astronomical Database Manager also allows you to perform a number of advanced search and query features for certain astronomical catalogues Finding Double amp Multiple Stars with a particula
118. ayed at the top right of the Jovian Events window Jupiter s Great Red Spot transits the meridian up to three times each 24 hours Accordingly up to three 3 GRS Transits times may be displayed GRS Transit Times for Other Dates You may also edit the Local Date value displayed on the Jovian Events window and the Great Red Spot Transit Times will be adjusted to match the date you entered This is a good way to find out when GRS transit times will occur for some future date STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 57 Observing Jupiter s Moons The positions of Jupiter s Galilean Moons Io Europa Ganymede and Callisto can be displayed for the current time and date i e right now or any time in the past or future GREAT RED SPOT TRANSIT TIMES 17 01 2009 08 06 23 AM 17 01 2009 06 02 07 PM Europa b Europa i Ganym Update Date Time Label Gany ede Callisto un N GET Time sk Animate Real Time Sync to CPU so Fam ime Skip Prese EA EE i 2 3 6 12 18 24 f Date amp Time The Jovian Events window can displays the Moons in their actual position and may be synchronised with the computer s clock so that you may watch the Moons slowly orbiting Jupiter in real time The display may also be sped up so that time passes quicker e g one minute passes in one second in this way the Moons rush around Jupiter much faster than real time You may also set any past or future date and time to see where the Moons are
119. cally the chart Field Of View determines how much of the sky to display on a chart The Field of View command is a great way to actually Zoom In and Out of different regions of the Sky The entire Sky from one horizon to the opposite horizon has a 180 Field of View Such large scale charts are normally used to show only the brightest celestial objects across the entire sky As you decrease the Field of View down to say 90 30 10 and less you are effectively zooming into the portion of the sky you re looking at accordingly STAR Atlas PRO displays more and more celestial objects Using the Field Of View command permits the viewer to greatly enlarge a celestial object so that it appears on the screen in much the same way as you might observe it through a telescope The size of the object may be increased by decreasing the Field of View The default chart Field Of View is 180 in Sky Chart mode but you can reduce it to less than 1 which greatly enlarges the objects visible on the screen Here is how to use the Field Of View command 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO 2 Click on Chart Mode Star Atlas top right hand corner 3 Click on Field of View on the main menu 4 Ensure that the Field of View is set at either 150 or 120 degrees 5 Find any object say NGC 104 6 Click on Locate on the main menu 7 Inthe Popular Deep Sky pull down menu choose NGC 8 Now type in the numbers 104 9 Click on Find Now i
120. ce Telescope Science Institute s STScI Palomar DSS web server computer This valuable astronomer s resource displays astronomical images for any where in the sky you care to point and click Images may be up to 60 arc minutes in diameter for the position in the sky you select with STAR Atlas PRO As each DSS Image is downloaded and displayed you choose to Keep or Discard the downloaded image If you keep the image then it s linked into the STAR Atlas PRO database ready to display whenever you choose The area of the Sky covered by each DSS Image may also be displayed on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart like other deep sky objects then click on it and the DSS image you previously stored is re displayed STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 119 Note that the yellow indicator lines in the image above were added to this screen shot for clarity You may also browse all the DSS Images you have added to your personal image library plot the position of any Image and like other celestial objects you may slew your telescope straight to the Image s location Using the Digitized Sky Survey Interface The DSS Interface is a very powerful feature that may be used for a variety of reasons here are just two e Perhaps you are planning to observe with your telescope and wish to use STAR Atlas PRO s DSS Interface to see what an object looks like prior to observation e Poor weather may have you simply wandering the STAR At
121. ceeeseeeseeeseseeeseeentenseeneensees 15 Step 4 Begin the STAR Atlas PRO Install Wizard 0 ccccccesccescceseceseceeeceeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeneenaees 15 STAR ATLAS PRO ADDITIONAL FEATURES c csscsssescsseessesecsesscseeesessesssesecssessesessesseessesecsuesseneeeees 15 Step 1 Optionally install the ASCOM Telescope Drivers add on ccessseescseeeeceseeeeeseteeseeneeeees 16 Step 2 Optionally install the Internet Communications add on cccceseeeeeecneeeeceseeeeeseeeeeeeeneeeres 16 Step 3 Optionally install the Guide Star Catalogue GSC 0 cccecccesesseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeseeeeeneensees 17 Step 4 Optionally install the Celestial Image Library 0 0c eeeeceeceseeeeeeceeeeceeeeceaeeeceaecaeeeeeneeeees 18 INITIAL PROGRAM CONFIGURATION cscssssssscssccssssesssssessssescssccscssesssesessscssesscssessecseesessseseeees 20 SUMMARY OF CONFIGURATION STEPS csccscscsesscssesscseeesessesssesecseesscsesesessesesesecsuessssesesesseeeasaessuesseneeetes 20 Configuration for STAR ATLAS PRO aooo o ee e E E E E E E o 20 ESSENTIAL SETTINGS FOR STAR ATLAS PROM ssesesessesessrsesrsssrsseseseeresesresereerenesrnsesrsesrreesesseseseereses 21 Step Begin STAR Atlas PRO for the first time seeseseesseeeesseseesreserssseeressesresresersreseenessreressese 21 Step 2 Initiate STAR Atlas PRO with your Personal CD Key Numbet ceceseceseeeeeeeeeneeeees 21 Step 3 Besin Confiz rati
122. ch symbol s colour may be modified to your own colour choices Set Color Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Default Set Color Set Default F The Chart Symbol Colours are displayed along the bottom on the Legend of Star Chart Symbols window STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 110 Follow this procedure to choose your own colour for chart symbols 1 Choose Legend from STAR Atlas PRO s main menu to display the Legend of Star Chart Symbols window Choose the Set Colour button next to the name of the symbol that you wish to modify Choose the Colour of your choice from the Windows Colour Chooser window and then select OK When you have completed changing the colours of any other symbols choose the Close command to re display the chart using the new symbol colours The Set Default command next to each named symbol will return the symbol to its default colour Label Options Celestial objects displayed on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart are labelled with a name or astronomical catalogue number STAR Atlas PRO provides you with many options for how to display Labels on the desktop chart Label options may be adjusted at any time To open the Label Options window proceed as follows 1 2 3 4
123. chart to the North Cursor Down Pans the chart to the South Cursor Left Pans the chart to the West Cursor Right gt Pans the chart to the East Zoom Out Decreases the chart Field of View Zoom In Increases the chart Field of View The Popup Menu The Popup Menu pictured here is displayed when you right mouse click anywhere on the STAR Atlas PRO chart desktop The Popup Menu provides you with a set of commands that apply to the current position of your mouse pointer such as the object you may be pointing at with your mouse cursor Center Chart Notice that the top left corner of Center amp Zoom e the popup menu will appear Identify Object g p eee precisely where your mouse pointer E Ene t y was positioned when you clicked iis lear The celestial co ordinates of the Meade LX200 bj Draw CCD FOV mouse pointer are also displayed in Draw Eyepiece FOV the STAR Atlas PRO application Add Text window title bar when the popup On Line Data gt Bootes menu is displayed Close The popup menu changes its menu choices depending of a variety of program settings including the charting mode STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 35 To close the popup menu without using any of its functions choose the Close option on the popup menu or left mouse click elsewhere on the desktop chart Each of the commands available on the popup menu are explained in the following table Popup
124. ckground is selected The following table includes a mathematically generated image that displays the range of star colours displayed by STAR Atlas PRO B V Colour Range of Stars B V 0 40 2 00 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 101 Enabling Star Colours Set STAR Atlas PRO to display star colours by following this procedure 1 Choose Chart Prefs from the Main menu 2 Enable the V Display Star Colours option so that there is a tick mark present 3 Choose Redraw and the chart is redisplayed with star colours displayed STAR Atlas PRO includes star catalogues that do not have any colour information available When stars from these catalogues are displayed they are consequently not displayed in colour Display Variable and Double Stars By default STAR Atlas PRO does not display astronomical symbols for Variable or Double Stars Enabling this option displays Double and Variable Stars using the following symbols Variable Star Variable Stars are represented by two concentric circles A centre circle represents the Star s faintest Magnitude and the larger outer circle represents the Star s brightest Magnitude Multiple Star Double Stars and Multiple Star systems are represented by a circle with a horizontal line drawn through it Distinguish Non Stellar Objects GSC The Guide Star Catalogue GSC consists of Stars and Non Stellar Objects Non Stars Enable this opti
125. cknowledgement cccccccecssessesesceesceeceseceeecseeeaeeeseeeeeseeeeereeeteneeneenaees 253 TIME ZONES AND GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS OF WORLD CITIES ssesseesesesssreesesreerssterrsserresresreresserens 254 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 7 Foreword Welcome to STAR Atlas PRO Astronomy Software and thank you for purchasing this product STAR Atlas PRO is a powerful Planetarium and Sky Atlas with all the features you need to locate identify and learn about celestial objects in the Night Sky Spectacularly detailed star charts are displayed in the true colours of Stars complete with Planets Comets and stunning views of the Night Sky littered with countless celestial objects to keep you looking for an entire life time Packed with countless Star Clusters Nebulae and Galaxies the astronomical database manager provides you with access to dozens of different popular and historical celestial catalogues each that you may browse list examine and search Popular objects like the Jewel Box Cluster the Great Nebula in Orion and The Pleiades are all easily located Precision Planet positions include each Planet s phase Magnitude rise and set times along with pages of other vital astrophysical data including the Planet s distance mass length of day and even an analysis of each Planet s atmospheric composition STAR Atlas PRO also calculates the best time to observe Jupiter s Great Red Spot and also displays the positi
126. cscccsseessessseeseeeseeecesecesecaecaecseecaeeeaeeeceseeeeereeeeeseeeseenaees 113 Chart Font ptioly snena a a Ea RAE EEA R EE AEA E ARERR A R N 114 Draw Galaxies Option is 23 cccccccvsscaeeet fecescavicees ceacccancessnaehesidaGetecisestesacdacdeatesctbessdaiebacventeactiseesae seein 114 Real Time Orbital Positions Option cccccsccesseessesseeeeceeeceseceseensecsecsaecseecaeeeseeeeeseeteeeeeeneenseenaees 115 Display Horizon Meridian amp Ecliptic Option cccccecscesscsssceseceeeceseceeecseecaeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneensees 116 THE OBSERVATION PLANNER soi istic esesedourdnseidescvadovesteordondenesptecneensSesenbibbensceuserdubsabs E n 116 Adding objects with the Identify function ceeceecesecesecsceceeecseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeensecnseeeaeeaecaeeseeeaeeeaes 117 Adding objects from the Astronomical Catalogues ccccccssccsseesseeseeeeeeesceeecesecnseensecnaeeaeeaeeeaeeenes 117 Finding Target Objects with the Observation Planner cccccesceeseesseeseeeseeeseeeeeeeeceeeeeeeneeneesees 118 RETRIEVING IMAGES FROM THE DIGITIZED SKY SURVEY cesseceseesseseeeseeeseceeeeesecnseceuecnaecnaecaaeeaeeenes 119 Using the Digitized Sky Survey Interface cccccecsseesceescessceeeceeceaeceeceeecaeeeseeeeeeeeeerseseneeneensees 120 Downloading DSS Images with STAR Atlas PRO 00 ccceccccscceseceecseeeneeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeseeneeneeaees 123 Downloading DSS Images with STAR Atlas PRO Part IL ccceccesecssecseeeneeeseeeeee
127. ct Button Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Tycho Identifier you are prompted to enter Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Henry Draper Catalogue number you are prompted to enter Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Tycho Catalogue Number Hipparcos Catalogue Number Magnitude of star in Johnson V light Known Variable Star from the GCVS NSV Catalogues U apparent variable might be duplicity induced V strong evidence of intrinsic variability W suspected intrinsic variability Magnitude at 15 percentile Magnitude at 85 percentile Trigonometric Parallax milli arc seconds Colour in Johnson B V Filter PPM Catalogue Number Henry Draper Catalogue Number Bonner DM Catalogue Number Proper Motion in milli arc seconds per year in Right Ascension Proper Motion in milli arc seconds per year in Declination J disagreement with GSC1 1 K dubious Tycho parallax STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 247 Common Positional Data Tycho II Catalogue L dubious Tycho proper motion M very uncertain Tycho magnitude error gt 0 3mag Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Locate gt 63 Tycho II Catalogue Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit Number of Entries Menu Commands Find Tycho Common commands Displayed Screen Data Identifier Magn
128. ct Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Arecibo General Catalog Andromeda Galaxies I IV Arakelian Galaxies Arakelian Arp Peculiar Galaxies Arp Dwarf and Dwarf Candidate Galaxies Binggeli Tarenghi Sandage Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies Zwicky Catalog of Galaxies behind the Milky Way Saito Dwarf Galaxies David Dunlap Observatory Dressler Cluster of Galaxies Dressler Durham UKST Survey DUKST Galaxies behind the Milky Way Verheijen ESO optical sources ESO ESO Uppsala Galaxies Lauberts Valentijn Fairall Galaxies Fairall Fornax Cluster Catalogue Flat Galaxy Catalogue Karachentsev Flat Galaxy Catalogue southern Extension Karachentsev EFAR Early type Galaxies Catalogue Wegner Hickson Compact Galaxy Groups Hickson HI bright galaxies in the southern zone of avoidance Henning Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Holmberg Compact and Eruptive galaxies Zwicky Infrared sources Infrared Astronomical Satellite Zwicky compact galaxies Rodgers Galaxies Kazarian Double Galaxies Karachentseva Isolated Galaxies Karachentseva Nearby dwarf Galaxy Candidates Karachentseva Karachentsev Nearby galaxies with HI Dwarf Galaxies Karachentsev Karachentseva Huchtmeier Nearby dwarf galaxies towards the Hercules Aquila void Karachen
129. d Sin narrow line Seyfert 1 S1 Intermediate Seyfert S2 Seyfert 2 S3 Seyfert 3 S unclassified Seyfert S possibly a Seyfert H2 nuclear HII Region HP high optical polarization BL confirmed BL Lac object Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 242 Star Clusters and Associations Locate gt 86 Star Clusters and Associations Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit Number of Entries Menu Commands List Find Other Names Find Common commands Displayed Screen Data Catalog Entry Object Type Description Visual Magnitude Major Diameter Minor Diameter Other Names VII 5A Star Clusters and Associations Selected Data Alter 1970 Excerpt from the Catalogue of Stars Clusters and Associations 14 40 1 039 Description Displays a scrollable list of entries from the Catalogue which may be sorted into Catalogue Identity Order or Common Name Order You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Locate an entry using the Other Names value Locate an entry using the Cata og Entry value Common Commands to all Catalogue
130. d for me Now choose the Close command The object is now stored in the Observation Planner Finding Target Objects with the Observation Planner Once you have decided on the Date and Time that you intend to observe you may utilize the Observation Planner to list and print which of your target celestial objects will be visible You may also set the Horizon Cut Off Angle option which sets the angle above the Horizon that your target objects must be before they are reported as being visible Assuming you added some celestial objects into the Observation Planner the follow this procedure to list and then optionally print currently visible target objects 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose Locate from the main menu 3 Choose 6 Observation Planner 4 Choose Observable and the Observation List Observable window is displayed 5 Notice that the cursor is positioned at the beginning of the Planned Observation Date amp Time input field ready to accept any Date and Time you wish to enter By default it will contain the current Date and Time 6 Choose List Qualifying Target Objects and the target celestial objects that are visible for the Date and Time you entered are then listed in the scrollable menu There are now several features you may exploit 7 Single click any one of your Target Objects from the scrollable list choose Map to display a chart ce
131. d to the telescope co ordinates to match the same Epoch of the STAR Atlas PRO star charts J2000 0 Log Telescope Comms to Clipboard Enable this option to write a log of telescope communications to the Windows Clipboard To access the Telescope Driver Options STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 27 1 Choose Chart Prefs from the main menu or E on the keyboard 2 Choose the Settings and Configuration command or Alt S on keyboard 3 Choose the Telescope Setup tab or Alt T on the keyboard or 1 Click the Options button from the Scope Control menu after you have clicked Scope to make a connection Use the Clipboard Viewer supplied with Windows to view the log The log is displayed in real time so you may open the Windows Clipboard Viewer and view communications events as they occur Choosing an ASCOM Telescope Driver If you select ASCOM from the list of STAR Atlas PRO Telescope Drivers the ASCOM Telescope Chooser window is displayed pictured below w ASCOM Telescope Chooser Select the type of telescope you have then be sure to click the Properties button to configure the driver for your telescope Astro Physics GTO Mount X Properties Click the logo to learn more standards for inter operation of astronomy software Cancel about ASCOM a set of x Select the ASCOM Telescope Driver from the drop down list and then select the Properties button Until you set the Pr
132. ding Dog Star etc ii Note the box Constellation shows that the star is in the constellation Canis Major iii A great deal more information is also to be found here and for those interested it can be accessed clicking Display Info at the bottom iv Finally click Map bottom and this returns you to the desktop with the star Sirius at the centre Exercise 6 Looking for a Planet Jupiter is a World Away Planetary data abounds in this program Here is an example of how to use it 1 2 10 Open STAR Atlas PRO Click on Chart Prefs and then take note of whether Chart Mode is Star Atlas or Planetarium If it is not in Star Chart mode there are two ways this can be corrected but for this example we suggest that in any case you Click on Restore Defaults bottom centre and follow the prompts Now click Redraw bottom right so that you are returned to the desktop On the Main menu click Field of View and restore it to either 120 or 150 degrees as shown earlier in this tutorial and then return to the desktop To find the planet Jupiter click Locate then click 1 Planets This opens the Planets window Click on Jupiter under Choose Planet left lower You will now see some data about Jupiter But Jupiter has some moons doesn t it To find out more about them Click Jovian Events bottom A new menu opens headed Jovian Events This shows the position for the
133. displayed by STAR Atlas PRO which describe how to setup the Argo Navis so that it is ready to accept the download of celestial objects from STAR Atlas PRO a On the Argo Navis turn to Mode Setup b Push Enter c Turn to Setup Load Cat d Push Enter The Argo Navis message then says Load Catalogue Ready e Return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop and click Yes 14 The STAR Atlas PRO Argo Navis User Catalogue window goes blank while the celestial objects are downloaded into the Argo Navis 15 When the download process is finished the Argo Navis User Catalogue how many objects were transferred into the Argo Navis 16 Click Close and the transfer is complete 17 To find the data in the Argo Navis and verify the transfer of celestial objects from STAR Atlas PRO follow this procedure a b O a oO hn Switch the Argo Navis off Then turn it on again Turn to Mode Catalogue Push Enter Turn to User Objects Push Enter STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 177 g The objects you have entered can now be displayed by turning the wheel the objects from the last download are the only ones in the memory STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 178 STAR Atlas PRO Tutorials by Ian Buttfield STAR Atlas PRO is packed full of features which will enhance your understanding of astronomy To assist first time users with using STAR Atlas PRO
134. displays the telescope options window where you may selected the default cross hair reticle or a Eyepiece s field of view or CCD Camera s field of view The Track Scope feature is one of the most useful features It allows you to see on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart exactly where your telescope is pointing This makes it easy to move your telescope to celestial objects displayed on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 175 Downloading Observation Planner objects into the Argo Navis Objects stored in the STAR Atlas PRO Observation Planner may be download into the Argo Navis User Catalogue memory When you take the Argo Navis out for observing you have access to all of the celestial objects you ve stored in the Observation Planner You may also print a list of the celestial objects downloaded into the Argo Navis The Argo Navis Panel window also contains the Argo Navis User Catalogue command section with the following commands that are used These commands are explained in the following table Command Description Purge Removes all objects from the User Catalogue in the Argo Navis Export Downloads all objects from the STAR Atlas PRO Observation Planner into the Argo Navis User Catalogue Print Prints a list of the objects downloaded to the Argo Navis User Catalogue Preview Print Preview a list of the objects downloaded into the Argo Navis User Catalogue
135. drive to UPDATE mode Set Smart drive to ERASE mode STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 166 VvV v v Vv Vv V Vv Focus Vv v v VvV v v Vv Vv V V Focus Rate Vv v v Vv VV V Alignment Mode vv vV Vv Tracking Rate VvV v v viviviv Vv vv V v v v Frequency VvV v v V vV vV v Pointing Precision Viv v Vv Higher Limit LX200 GPS ab c d Command Group x x x Auto Align Sequence x x x Power On Initialize x x x lt x x x x x x x x x v x x xiv x x xiv x x x v GPS GPS Time OTA Temperature Accessory Panel Ra Az PEC DEC LEARN DEC CORRECT In Out Stop Fast Slow Land Polar AIt Az Sidereal Solar Lunar Manual o gt Toggle o Command Button Start Start On Off GPS Update On Off On Set Smart drive to DEC LEARN mode Set Smart drive to DEC CORRECT mode Move focuser In Move focuser Out Stop Focuser Set Focuser speed to Fast Set Focuser speed to Slow Set Alignment Mode to Land Set Alignment Mode to Polar Set Alignment Mode to Alt Az Switch to Sidereal Rate 60 1Hz Quartz Setting scopes default Switch to Solar Rate 60 0Hz Switch to Lunar Rate 57 9Hz Switch to Manual Increase tracking rate by 0 1Hz Decrease tracking rate by 0 1Hz Toggle Telescope Pointing precision Sets the Telescope Higher Limit Degrees Command Description Start Telescope Automatic Alignment Seque
136. e How to use this Manual Many STAR Atlas PRO owners may install and use STAR Atlas PRO without referring to this manual at all However it is recommended that you at least read the following sections so that you do not bypass any optional installation components or important settings e Installing STAR Atlas PRO e Configuring STAR Atlas PRO e Using STAR Atlas PRO The section Using STAR Atlas PRO is a large section of this manual that you may use as a reference guide It explains how to use the many features of STAR Atlas PRO You might also choose to work through this entire section of the manual so that you may become familiar with the many features of STAR Atlas PRO Sections in this Manual The STAR Atlas PRO User Manual is divided into several main sections that each describe certain aspects of installing configuring and using STAR Atlas PRO The major sections of this manual are Installing STAR Atlas PRO Describes the procedures for installing STAR Atlas PRO Configuring STAR Atlas PRO Describes the various settings and options that you should set in STAR Atlas PRO including geographical location time zone and telescope type if any Introducing STAR Atlas PRO Provides an overview of the STAR Atlas PRO chart desktop the menu system and charting modes Using STAR Atlas PRO A large section that explains how to use the many features of STAR STAR Atlas PRO User
137. e R A DEC FOV Chart Date Description of display value The Right Ascension R A at centre of chart The Declination DEC at centre of chart The Current Field of View at the horizontal width of the chart The Local Date of the chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 37 Time The Local Time of the chart Mode The current Charting Mode Mag Limit The current Limiting Magnitude of the chart C S M The current Catalogue Selection Method Telescope The current state of the Telescope Connection Filter indicator Indicates if an Object Filter is applied FILTER is displayed when a filter is applied to the chart Chart Modes STAR Atlas PRO has two distinct modes for drawing star charts these are e Planetarium Mode e Star Atlas Mode Planetarium Mode displays star charts like a planetarium that shows your entire Sky from horizon to horizon The other charting mode Star Atlas Mode is a star atlas and can draw charts that orients charts so they appear much like those in a printed star atlas Users may choose the charting mode that best suits their needs and switch between modes at any time when using STAR Atlas PRO Planetarium chart mode The Planetarium mode is best suited when you wish to display the night sky in the correct orientation as observed from your geographical location or in other words Planetarium mode will display the sky just the way you see it S
138. e The Celestial Image Library e Comet Orbital Elements e Asteroid Orbital Elements e Astronomical images from the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey DSS e Data from on line Astronomical Catalogues that permit you to create Star Charts to as faint as Magnitude 21 The STAR Atlas PRO Internet Communications Package is located in the INET folder on the STAR Atlas PRO Installation CD ROM IMPORTANT This software must be installed in the same folder that you have installed the STAR Atlas PRO software default installation location is the C STARPRO folder STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 16 To install this feature run the setup exe program located in the INET folder on the STAR Atlas PRO Install Disc as follows 1 Select the Windows Start Button and the choose the Run program option When the Run dialog window appears enter D INET SETUP EXE where D is substituted for your own computer s CD ROM Drive letter Then click the OK button This will begin the SAP INET Setup program wizard that will guide you through installation You must then enable the Internet Communications add on in STAR Atlas PRO configuration see Initial Program Configuration Step 3 Optionally install the Guide Star Catalogue GSC The Guide Star Catalogue GSC is very large astronomical database that provides the STAR Atlas PRO user with instant access to over 25 million records of data on celestial objects
139. e displayed do you want to distinguish between variable and double stars Restoring default settings In experimenting within the Chart Prefs settings the final result may not be what you want and you do not know how to fix it If that happens the STATUS QUO can be restored by 1 Chart Prefs 2 Click Restore Defaults 3 Click Redraw bottom right A tour of main chart settings To begin this tutorial 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO 2 Identify the Main Menu floating at the top left of the desktop 3 Click on Chart Prefs on the Main menu 4 Here are some examples of things you can change a To change the colour scheme from Day default to Night click on System Colour Scheme bottom right Night You will notice that the colours change from silver which is optimal for normal day use to red which is great to use at night as the red colour helps maintain night vision When you are finished experimenting with this swap it back to Day again b Now close this menu and review the desktop colour scheme click Close bottom right c Now reopen the menu click Chart Prefs again STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 181 d This time to change the appearance of the desktop under Chart Colour Scheme top left click V Black on White so that a v appears in the option box e Click Redraw bottom right which brings you back to the chart desktop again Notice the radical change in
140. e list 5 The astronomical catalogue window for that celestial object is now displayed and you have access to its menu commands 6 Choose the Close command from the displayed astronomical catalogue window and you are returned to the Objects Locate at cursor window 7 Select another object in from the list and return to Step 4 or simply choose the Close command to return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 51 Locating Celestial Objects STAR Atlas PRO s Astronomical Database Manager is the central location from where you can search for and locate celestial objects The Astronomical Database Manager also is the main menu from where you may access STAR Atlas PRO s Astronomical Catalogues large collections of stars and deep sky objects that you may individually browse list and search From the Astronomical Database Manager you can also access the STAR Atlas PRO Observation Planner the Observation List Generator the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey DSS images you have collected and a variety of other features This section of the manual describes the basic ways to use the Astronomical Database Manager to locate celestial objects Using the Astronomical Database Manager to locate popular objects Begin by opening the Astronomical database manager 1 Choose Locate from STAR Atlas PRO s main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window T Ea Astronomical Databa
141. e list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Locate an entry using the Other Names value Locate an entry using the Cata og Entry value Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description This designation is based on the galactic longitude and latitude of the source centroid quoted to the nearest tenth of a degree Note in this catalogue additional leading zeros are not used Displays SN for Supernova objects Not used in this Catalogue Object s visual Magnitude Largest Diameter of the object arc minutes Smallest diameter of the object arc minutes Displays the Common Name or Other Name of this object Globular Star Clusters in the Milky Way Locate gt 85 Globular Clusters in the Milky Way Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit VII 202 Globular Clusters in the Milky Way Harris 1997 A catalogue of parameters for globular clusters on the Milky Way 17 29 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 220 Number of Entries 147 Hickson s Compact Groups of Galaxies Catalogue Locate gt 82 Hickson Compact Galaxy Groups Catalogue Description Number of Entries Menu Commands List Find Common commands Displayed Screen Data Group Number Group Type Systematic Properties of Compact Groups of Galaxies
142. e menu permits you to perform various functions depending on which astronomical catalogue you are examining The following table describes each of the menu commands that are common to STAR Atlas PRO astronomical catalogue windows Menu Command Command Description Map Display the desktop chart centred on the selected celestial object Copy to Obs Adds the object and details of the object to STAR Atlas PRO s Observation Planner Picture This is the image control button indicator Or If a image is attached to this object Picture is displayed otherwise No Pic is displayed No Pic Click the Picture button to display the image Click the No Pic button to open the Images window which permits you to attach your own astronomical image to the selected celestial object STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 84 Goto Commands your Telescope to slew to the selected object This command is only enabled when you have a current connection to your telescope Sync Calibrates your Telescope s Right Ascension R A amp Declination Dec to match the position of the object you have selected in STAR Atlas PRO I4 Go to the first entry in the catalogue 4 Go to the previous entry in the catalogue gt Go to the next entry in the catalogue gt I Go to the last entry in the catalogue Positional Information common to each Catalogue Each of STAR Atlas PRO s Astronomical Catalogue screens display positional inform
143. e or when you are in an area that is well illuminated SYSTEM COLOR SCHEME Night Daylight 1 Choose Chart Prefs from the Main menu 2 Choose Day 3 Choose Close STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 99 Chart Colour Scheme Options In addition to the system wide colour schemes STAR Atlas PRO also permits you to change the colour scheme of the desktop chart background and foreground colours You may choose from a number of preset schemes or customize the colours of the chart yourself Preset Colour Schemes Preset Chart Colours include Black on White Selects black colours on a white background Colour on White Selects default colours on a white background Colour on Black Selects default colours on a black background The following procedures show you how to change the STAR Atlas PRO chart colour scheme 1 Choose Chart Prefs from the Main menu 2 Choose one of the following preset colour schemes a v Black on White b V Colour on White c V Colour on Black default setting 3 Choose Redraw and the chart is redisplayed using the chart colour scheme you selected Changing the Chart Background Colour The background colour of the chart may be set to any colour you choose Follow this procedure to set the chart background colour 1 Choose Chart Prefs from the Main menu 2 Choose Chart Background Colour 3 Choose the Colour of your choice from the Windows Colour Choo
144. e set so that the sky is accurately depicted for your geographical location and time zone If you know the precise Longitude and Latitude of your geographical location then you may choose to enter these values directly otherwise you may select your location from a list of preset locations by proceeding as follows 1 Click on the Observer s Location tab if this is not already selected 2 Next click on the arrowed selector alongside the Preset Locations button and move the cursor to the city of your choice e g Australia Adelaide 3 This will ask you if you wish to Update your Longitude Latitude and Time Zone settings for the location you selected if correct click Yes 4 Your Location Observers Longitude and Latitude are now automatically set 5 Now click on the Time Zone tab next to the Observer s Location tab you will notice that the time zone will already be correctly set but you have the option to alter the time zone setting if needed These settings only need to be configured the first time you use STAR Atlas PRO or if you change your Observer s Location Your settings are then stored in the STAR Atlas PRO database Step 5 Setting File Locations STAR Atlas PRO may optionally take advantage of other software applications that may already on your computer Such external programs include your Internet Web Browser program e g Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla and any Image Vie
145. e skies using the Plot Path command see next section Plotting the path of an Asteroid STAR Atlas PRO provides a feature that displays the path of an Asteroid as it moves through the sky This is a great planning tool since it allows you to print a chart of an Asteroid s position as it moves through the sky over the next several weeks like the screen shot pictured here STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 68 The path of any Asteroid may be displayed an option permits you to specify the Interval between each plot on the chart and the number of plots to display These settings allow you to control whether the Asteroid s position is plotted for say every night and for how many nights we should plot its path through the sky Prior to proceeding to plot the path of an Asteroid let s look at the different ways in which you may select the Asteroid whose path you wish to plot Selecting the Asteroid from a list Follow this example procedure to plot the path of a Asteroid of your choice 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window OR right mouse click on a chart and select Locate Object from the popup menu Choose 5 Minor Planets Asteroids Choose List to display the Minor Planets Asteroid List window Choose the Asteroid you are interested in by double clicking on it Choose Plot Path from the menu bar along bottom STAR Atlas PRO User Manual
146. e your way to the location of the GSC catalogue this setting depends on which installation option you chose when you installed the GSC If you installed the GSC to your computer hard drive then select the folder where it is located e g C GSC On the other hand if you are accessing the GSC discs from your CD ROM drive then select your computers CD ROM drive letter e g D If you are using 2 CD ROM drives in your computer for access to both GSC discs at the same time then you need to set 2nd Location of GSC to the drive letter of your computers 2 CD ROM drive e g E Step 15 Enabling the Celestial Image Library Regardless of the installation option that you chose you must tell STAR Atlas PRO where to locate the Celestial Image Library before STAR Atlas PRO will utilise it otherwise it will remain unused To enable the Celestial Image Library as follows 1 Choose Chart Prefs 2 Choose Settings and Configuration 3 Click on the File Locations tab if not already selected 4 Click on the three dotted button that appears at the end of the Location of Image Library setting Navigate your way to the location of the Image Library and select the folder where it is installed e g C STARPRO IMAGELIBRARY STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 30 STAR Atlas PRO basics STAR Atlas PRO is a large Astronomy Software application with dozens of program windows and dozens of different features and functi
147. eadings to change the sort order of the list You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Find SAO Finds an entry in the catalogue using the SAO Catalogue number that you are prompted to STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 244 Find DM Find HD Find GC Common commands Displayed Screen Data SAO Catalogue Number Durchmusterung catalog Henry Draper Catalog HD number Boss General Catalog GC number enter Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Durchmusterung catalogue ID that you are prompted to enter Finds an entry in the catalogue using Henry Draper Catalogue HD number that you are prompted to enter Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Boss General Catalogue GC number that you are prompted to enter Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Catalogue Number Durchmusterung catalogue I D Henry Draper Catalog number Boss General Catalog number Strasbourg ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae Locate gt 83 Strasbourg ESO Planetary Nebulae Catalogue Description
148. eccsessceescessceeeceecesecesecnaeceecaeeeaeeeseeneeeneeeerees 169 TELESCOPES WITH DIGITAL SETTING CIRCLES ccscsscssssscssssecssesessssesessccssssecsesesssesees 171 Th Center on Scope command issis tesevenuss n E a ceed anette 172 Th Track Scope command nen ee AE E E E ane E 172 Support for the Argo Navis NGC superMAX esssseesseeeessessrsessresessteressesrsresersteseenessesresse 172 STAR ATLAS PRO TUTORIALS seesessesescsococsosoesssesocossososossesocoseosososessocsosoessessssosoosssosessosesossososes 179 EXERCISE 1 THE DESKTOP mi E these ei E RERA eee Boe hl eas 180 Adjusting the desktop to suit your tastes c ccccesccesecsseceseceeecseecseeeseeeeeeeeeeseenseceseeaecsaeesaecseeeneeeaes 180 EXERCISE 2 DESKTOP CHART AND PLANETARIUM CHART VIEWS cccceessescssscesscesecesecnseeaesaaesaeeenes 182 Star Atlas Chart Mode Star Charting Mode c cccccessceeseeesceeeceeceseceaeceneceaecaeeeaeeeaeeeeeeneeeeeees 183 Planetarium Chart NA Koa le E E A 185 EXERCISE 3 DESKTOP SIZE AND MAGNITUDE ssesseeressesesseesestesteseerrssestestestentsseettsseseseestesteseeetssesees 188 Magnitude KaU AT S EE coc E A E E AE T E E EAE E 188 JT E eI DAAA A EEN O NEE E T EE E E E E E TE EA 189 EXERCISE 4 DESKTOP RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON eseeeessesessessestesresesrtsststestestentsseertssestesestenteseeressesees 190 Identifying objects AN EE E E A E 190 Field Of View sist E N EE ak hese re E E E E EE E E EN
149. ecision Pointing modes Note Each time STAR Atlas PRO is started it assumes your Telescope is set to Low Precision Mode Control Panel for Meade Telescopes The Control Panel for Meade Telescopes is available from the Telescope Control Menu Control Panel for Meade Telescopes e Automatic Alignmen E Moving Emen e est Son ent Mode ing Pre J Toggle Pointing Precisio Higher mie Sse igher Li Start oc ed St ode ie eM orf Me Park Telescope aeia oet Home Position Close Control Panel Complemented by many commands and controls the Control Panel for Meade Telescopes pictured here permits you to temporarily cease controlling your Telescope via the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart and allows you to alter many different Meade Telescope settings The following table provides a listing of each command and which Meade Telescopes commands from the STAR Atlas PRO Meade Control Panel are compatible with In the case of the latest Meade LX200GPS model Telescopes all commands are compatible Key to Telescope compatibility columns LX200 b Autostar c LX200 16 d LX200 GPS STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 165 LX200 o o a lt lt lt lt lt lt ANN lt lt lt joo lt lt lt lt A Sissi lt j SSS fj SSS x XX XxX XLS ONS lt sN4 lt 4 lt 884 lt 8 XX XXX XLS OSS fj o lt lt lt lt lt lt 888 lt 8 lt 8 lt x lt 4 lt lt lt lt lt S
150. ect from the popup menu 3 The DSS Image is then displayed or the Objects Located at Cursor window is displayed then choose the DSS Image from the list Co Ordinate Lines Options STAR Atlas PRO may display several different types of celestial co ordinate lines The options are described here V R A Dec Polar Grid The R A Dec grid displays the Right Ascension R A and Declination Dec celestial co ordinate lines STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 107 V Alt Az Horizon Grid The Alt Az grid displays the Altitude Alt and Azimuth Az celestial co ordinate lines V R A Dec Border Grid Only The R A Dec border grid displays the Right Ascension R A and Declination Dec celestial co ordinate lines around the edge of the chart Switch to Border Grid Automatically enable the R A DEC Border when the desktop chart Field of View reaches falls below this setting To enable the Alt Az Grid To enable the Alt Az Grid follow this procedure 1 Choose Chart Prefs on the main menu 2 Enable the v Alt Az option 3 Choose the Redraw button To enable the R A Dec Grid To enable the R A Dec Grid follow this procedure 1 Choose Chart Prefs on the main menu 2 Enable the V RA DEC option 3 Choose the Redraw button Chart Mode Option The Mode value displays the current selected chart mode either Planetarium or Star Atlas To s
151. ed to the next step 3 Otherwise go to Chart Prefs then Settings amp Configuration and then click the File Locations tab 4 Check that the setting of the option Location to Store DSS Images is set to the folder named IMAGES in the same location you installed STAR Atlas PRO for example if you installed STAR Atlas PRO into the folder D ASTRO STARPRO then you would need to set the option Location to Store DSS Images too D ASTRO STARPRO IMAGES Check 2 1 Chart Prefs the option Display DSS Image Outlines bottom centre should be enabled tick Vmark present Normal Procedure for using the Digitised Sky Survey interface This tutorial is for STAR Atlas PRO Advanced Edition only For the following steps you need to be connected to the Internet 1 Click Chart Prefs and then Star Atlas mode top right so that you are not restricted to star charts only above your local horizon 2 Select a Field of View main menu of 5 Degrees or less To do this Click Field of View and select 5 Degrees 3 Centre the chart so that the celestial object you wish to display a DSS image for can be seen on the chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 194 10 To do this click on the object of interest then right click and then click Centre Chart the first item on this menu or use the Locate feature to find and then Map any object Now right click on the object again so that you are clicking in the centre
152. ellation Scorpius 1 10 11 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window Choose 5 Observation List generator and the Observation List Generator window is displayed From the Select Constellation drop down menu choose the constellation Scorpius By default the _ Enable Magnitude Limit setting is disabled click it so there is a V tick mark present Increase the Magnitude setting to 12 using the selector or directly enter the number 12 via your keyboard By default the _ Enable Object Size Limit setting is disabled click it to enable it so there is a V tick mark present Decrease the arc seconds setting to 10 using the selector or directly enter the number 10 via your keyboard This will automatically change the arc minutes setting to zero Choose the All Off button near the Filter by Object Type setting this will disable all the types of celestial objects Under the Filter by Object Type click _ Planetary Nebulae so that it becomes enabled and there is a V tick mark present this is the type of objects we are performing a search for Now choose Search and all Planetary Nebula brighter than Magnitude 12 whose size is at least 10 arc seconds and located in the Constellation Scorpius are listed You may now click any object in the list and then choose the Examine Selected Entry button which displays this objects data and also permits
153. ely control the number of celestial objects on the desktop chart by limiting the Magnitude of the chart setting the limit of the faintest objects to display This simple exercise will show the user the extremes of setting a high and low Magnitude Limit 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO 2 Take note of the density of celestial objects on the screen and memorise it 3 On the Main Menu click on Mag Filter 4 This opens a window called Set Limiting Magnitude The current and default setting is Automatic Mode and sets the magnitude limit at about 6 5 but this value increases automatically when you zoom into a chart 5 Click on No Limit Display All Objects A warning will alert you to a potential problem but for this exercise ignore this warning by clicking on Yes 6 Now click Close and Redraw at the bottom of the menu 7 The chart will now become cluttered with celestial objects Each chart symbol represents a celestial object most of them very faint 8 Now click Mag Filter again and restore the status quo by enabling Automatic Mode then Close and Redraw STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 188 9 You are back to a happily restored desktop Field of View This command is a little more complex to understand but it is a vital one to use when searching the sky Field of View is an astronomical term that describes how much of the Sky is charted by STAR Atlas PRO when a chart is drawn on the screen Basi
154. emisphere Karachentsev Las Campanas Redshift Survey Shectman Lick Northern Proper Motion ist part Galaxies Klemola Local Group suspected Kowal Lo Sargent UGCA DCL86 CS82 RB67 IISZ 1ZW 2ZW 3ZW AZW 5ZW 6ZW 7ZW 8ZW SHK KDG DRCG DUKST BTS DDO GIN TOL POX UM ESO ESOLV FAIR FGC FGCE FCC 4C BF95 KAZ MAFFEI CGCG RKK WKK DWINGELOO ZOAG WEIN SBS HIZSS HICK v89 IRAS VV KIG KPG LCRSB NPM1G LGS STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 154 Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Holmberg Lyon Groups of Galaxies Garcia Markarian Galaxies Markarian Molonglo Reference Catalogue of Radio Sources Large Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies Nearby dwarf galaxies towards the Hercules Aquila void Karachentseva Karachentsev Richter Nearby dwarf Galaxy Candidates Karachentseva Karachentsev Nearby galaxies with HI Dwarf Galaxies Karachentsev Karachentseva Huchtmeier Perseus Cluster of Galaxies Principal Galaxies Catalogue Paturel RC2 Catalogue of Bright Galaxies de Vaucouleurs Revised Flat Galaxy Catalogue RFGC Karachentsev Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy Sloan Digital Sky Survey Survey for UV Bright Galaxies Kiso Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies Nilson Virgo Cluster Catalogue Binggeli Zwicky compact galaxies Rodgers STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 155 LSBF HOLMBERG LGG MRK MRC MCG KKR KK KKH PER PGC RC2
155. en i a dav AE EA E E 146 The Catalogue Name Search feature ccccecccsseessesscessceesceecesecesecsaeceeecseecaeecaeeeeeseeeeereeeeneeseeaees 148 Number of objects per Constellation cccecccecscescceseceeceseceecseeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeseenseceseeaecnaecaeceeeaeeenes 151 Galaxies by Designation viscccs cciccicceceevelicccsn r i i E a EE aii 152 Galaxies by Catalogue Name vveicc cc ccielieccsaceaescckccesdesicedendcbevicedcucvecescuessvecdecetueccvessosdeedlacecevsesecedacese 153 TELESCOPE CONTR OD ses csesechassin aeaa en aa eara Eros Karo epar Kne asesnsnesesvacveseanounacctvesveseabensasacues 156 SUPPORTED TELESCOPES 5 s cescesncsueptescovestuesnesasbesvndeizetavsn PE EEn VEE A O A EANES iTS EA EEE NEEE SEA EE EEEE 156 ENABLING TELESCOPE CONTROL s cavisssesnvscesncuseevensnesenyssnnss aaraa anainn ar uraani aa a S aana Nina AEn i aS 157 TELESCOPE CONTROL MENU csvavese coucoscpseuseows coucdbesstvsestasutedeobecuideentuuns E E E 158 Connecting and Disconnecting the Telescope sss ssssseseseesseesessteeessesetseseesessteressestestesersessreressesees 158 Controlling Robotic Telescopesscscccreenenae a ea ee ee et 159 Stopping a Telescope Sle wes iesss oxic awescecee e a tesa cnet sae eee el eee 163 Setting Upa Telescope Reticle tison eanna a ee eet ae ee os 163 Support for Medde LX200 Telescopes enmi nein ceeded cee E soe ewe eens 164 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 5 Support for the FS2 Telescope Drive Unit cccccc
156. en you return to STAR Atlas PRO you are asked Was the DSS Image successfully saved to disk If you answer Yes then STAR Atlas PRO integrates the DSS Image details so that it may chart the position of the DSS image on charts and permit you to peruse the DSS image using the STAR Atlas PRO DSS Image Library feature Downloading DSS Images with STAR Atlas PRO Part II A DSS Image can be downloaded for almost any celestial object that appears on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 124 You do not need to locate any particular object prior to downloading a DSS Image you may simply Pan and Zoom charts and choose any location in the sky to request a DSS Image Since the size of DSS images are relatively small the chart Field of View should be set to a small value such as 5 or 10 to do this choose Field of View from the main menu and choose a new Chart Field of View of 10 or less Prior to retrieving DSS Images it is recommended you enable the V Display DSS Image Outlines in Chart Preferences to do this choose Chart Prefs from the main menu and then make sure there is a tick mark in the V Display DSS Image Outlines option When the chart is positioned follow this procedure 1 Right mouse click at the exact location on the chart that will be the centre of the DSS Image you are going to download with STAR Atlas PRO From the popup menu choose On Line Data and
157. er Manual Pg 222 BT asymptotic mag ext Abs Mag Names Hipparcos Catalogue B_T_ asymptotic magnitude corrected for internal and external extinction Absolute magnitude of individual galaxies h HO0 100 HO Hubble constant Other names Locate gt 52 Hipparcos Catalogue Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit Number of Entries Menu Commands List Find HIP Find HD Find Star in Bright Star Catalogue Common commands Close Displayed Screen Data The Hipparcos Catalogue European Space Agency 1 239 The Hipparcos Catalogue ESA 1997 The Hipparcos Stellar Catalogue contains 118 218 entries of very accurate data on stars collected from the European Space Agency s star measuring satellite Hipparcos Fainter than Magnitude 8 118 218 Stars Description Displays a scrollable list of stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Find Star using its Hipparcos Catalogue number Find Star using its Henry Draper Catalogue Number Lookup information for this Star from the Bright Star Catalogue Note less than 10 of the stars in the Hipparcos Catalogue exist in
158. ereeeeeneeeseesees 124 DSSilimage Verb rary cies 5 8 EA E taegess ses E E satin paeusere EAA 126 UPDATING STAR ATLAS PRO WITH DATA THAT CHANGES cecsecsesseeeessceeseeecesecesecsaecaesaaeeseeenes 128 Updating the Longitude of Jupiter s Great Red Spot cceccecccsscesseeeseesseeseeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeereneeneensees 128 Updating Comet Orbital Elements 0 cccccecccseesseesceeseeeeeeseeeseeseceaecseecseecaeeeaeeeaeseeesereeeeeaeeneenaees 128 Updating Asteroid Minor Planet Orbital Elements 0 0 cecccecceeseeeseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeereeeeeeeeneensees 131 ADDING ASTRONOMICAL PICTURES necim eii i i e a o E r na 132 Adding ttia pE S N E Rei Se 133 Viewing Multiple Images reunaa seek tvs A EE E Ra ee 134 Using an External Image Viewer ccccsecsssesseersesnsesscesseessessessresoseconeconsensesnsvensssesssesssssretsaseseess 134 DISPLAYING WIDE FIELD DEEP SKY CHARTS ccccsscssscssecssecssecseecseseseseaeeseeeeeeeeessecsecsuecauecnaecaaeeseeenes 135 USING THE HYPER LEDA GALAXY DATABASE sccescesecssecsseceecseeeseseaeeseeesecseessecssecsuecsaecnaesaaesnaeenes 138 The Hyper LEDA and PGC2003 database 0 cccccecssessseesceseceeeceseeesecenecseecaeeeseeeeeseeeeerseeeeneenseenaees 139 Display Settings ernier i reie e iE ERA ashen R a e E a o E N A 140 Menu Commiands is s04 oh ices hak is cheiea chistes en A ee ee A ee 142 Astrophysical data seccic cise hc iseccsec anren i A aai E E R 144 Positional Information iss
159. essing major functions These include accessing the Astronomical Database Manager the Chart Preferences amp Program Settings window the Magnitude Filter and dozens of other program features The Popup Menu appears when you click the right mouse button on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart The popup menu provides you with a set of menu choices that apply to the current chart position of your mouse pointer when you right mouse click The top left corner of the popup menu appears on the chart exactly where you mouse clicked Adjusting the desktop to suit your tastes STAR Atlas PRO gives you great flexibility in adjusting many features and settings to assist in optimal viewing The primary function of the Chart Prefs command button on the STAR Atlas PRO main menu is to allow you to alter a wide range of settings that change how charts are displayed This tutorial describes how you can change adjustable settings of STAR Atlas PRO to suit your individual needs Among the many settings which can be changed are e Day Night colour scheme STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 180 Colours of the desktop chart Altering the colours of chart symbols Filtering of the objects you want displayed on the desktop chart do you want to just galaxies for example Setting Planetarium or Star Atlas charting modes Altering how the constellations are displayed Setting sizes of stars Setting what features of stars ar
160. etary Data information box includes a substantial collection of known planetary data from NASA JPL Planetary data consists of many known data for Solar System objects and includes the information listed below data may differ for the Sun and Moon e Mass e Equatorial Radius e Polar Radius e Escape Velocity e Semi major Axis e Sidereal Orbit Period e Perihelion e Aphelion STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 240 Common Positional Data e Mean Orbital Velocity e Orbit Inclination e Sidereal Rotation Period e Length of Day e Minimum Distance from Earth e Maximum Distance from Earth e Minimum Apparent Diameter from Earth e Maximum Apparent Diameter from Earth e Maximum Apparent Visual Magnitude e Temperature range e Atmospheric composition Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Quasars Active Galactic Nuclei AGN and BL Lac objects Locate gt 80 Quasars AGN BL Lac objects Catalogue Description Number of Entries Menu Commands List Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei VII 207 Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei 8th Ed Veron 1998 This catalogue contains 11 358 Quasars brighter than absolute magnitude 23 0 plus 3 334 galaxies that have Active Galactic Nuclei and 357 Confirmed or probable BL Lac objects 11 358 Quasars 357 BL Lac Objects 3 334 Galaxies with Active Nuclei Total of 15 049 objects Description Displays
161. for Deep Sky Objects regardless of the selections made in the following Deep Sky Object Labelling options Enabling Smart Labels attempts to improve the Labelling on charts by only labelling the largest deep sky objects Commonly when you view a rich field of celestial objects dozens or even hundreds of labels can overwhelm the chart making it difficult to read The Smart Labels option only displays labels for the largest deep sky objects on a chart thereby alleviating excessive labels when a large number of deep sky objects appear Zooming In or Zooming Out of the chart affects which labels are displayed i e decreasing or increasing the chart Field of View The follow options permit you to choose which individual astronomical catalogues that you wish to label This can be helpful when you don t wish to display labels for more obscure astronomical catalogues such as the Abell Galaxy Clusters catalogue Display the popular names of Deep Sky Objects e g the Andromeda Galaxy the Helix Nebula Display labels for NGC IC and Messier objects Display labels for all galaxies from the Leda Galaxy database STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 112 V Abell Galaxy Clusters V Quasars AGN amp BL Lac Objects V Milky Way Globular Star Clusters ESO Planetary Nebula Supernova Remnants V User Objects Display labels for Abell Galaxy Clusters Display labels for Quasars AGN amp BL Lac Objects Dis
162. for this example we suggest that in any case you 3 Click on Restore Defaults bottom centre Yes and follow the prompts 4 Now click Redraw bottom right so that you are returned to the desktop 5 On the Main menu click Field of View and restore it to either 120 or 150 degrees as shown earlier in this tutorial and then return to the desktop To find out if there is a star called Sirius 1 Click on Locate on the Main menu 2 Now find menu 57 Star Names under Stars lower centre 3 Click this command and a new menu appears called Star Names 4 Click Find Star bottom left and you now come to another menu called Star Names 5 To find out if Sirius exists click S on the Index to Star Names and then scroll down to you guessed it Sirius and by some coincidence it does appear in the menu confirming that such a star does indeed exist 6 The next trick is to see if we can find it on the desktop STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 191 To do that first click anywhere on the line Sirius to select it and when this is done correctly the Sirius box becomes highlighted Now click Select bottom and you are then returned to menu called Star Names and the name of the star is highlighted in bold Sirius There is a great deal of data about this star in STAR Atlas PRO but two pieces of information are of interest now i Other names for it are shown below the chosen name inclu
163. g this example procedure 1 Position the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart so it displays the area of the sky you wish to chart Choose the Chart Prefs command on the main menu Choose the Catalogue Selection Method command to display the Catalogue Selection Method window Choose the Manual command and a list of options under the Manual Selection column are now displayed Choose the All Off command which disables all the Manual Selectors making it easy to select the options you want Now click on the LEDA Database V option so there is a tick mark present This manually enables the LEDA Database of galaxies for charting regardless of other chart settings including the chart Field of View Now choose the Close command and you are returned to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop The chart is displayed with all galaxies from the LEDA Database regardless of the chart s field of view STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 136 8 When you have finished choose the Chart Prefs command and then the Catalogue Selection Method command On the Catalogue Selection Method window choose Auto to return to normal charting mode This same procedure may be applied to manually select various astronomical catalogues to be displayed on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart On the Catalogue Selection Method window there are a number of astronomical catalogues that may be forced to display using the Manual Catalogue Selection Method
164. ge File command to create the bitmap file of the desktop chart You may now use a graphics software application to open the Bitmap image of the desktop chart Adobe Postscript file The desktop chart may be exported to a Postscript output file which may then be imported into typesetting applications for high resolution printing Postscript files may also be converted to Adobe Portable Document Format PDF with up to 2400 dpi dots per inch resolution for high resolution printing on your own Windows compatible printer Applications that can import or process Postscript files include Adobe Distiller and Jaws PDF Creator To generate a Postscript output file of the displayed chart 1 On the Print Chart window the output Postscript file name will be created in the same folder where you installed STAR Atlas PRO and the file will be named STARPRO PS Alternatively you may choose the adjacent command to select another Postscript file name and location 2 Optionally enter a description in the Chart Title input field and enable the V Print Chart Title option STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 45 3 Optionally enable the V Print Chart Details option to display a Magnitude Scale Date and Time of chart and other details in the Postscript output 4 Choose the Create Postscript File command to create the Postscript output file You may now import the Postscript file into your software application Measur
165. ger the star appears on a chart then the brighter it is conversely the smaller the star appears then the fainter it actually is Command Option Size of Brightest Stars Description Disables other Star Size settings and increases the maximum star size set in the Size of Brightest Stars setting Disables other Star Size settings and decreases the maximum star size set in the Size of Brightest Stars setting Adjust the Size of Brightest Stars setting Chart Date and Time options The Chart Date and Chart Time affect how charts are displayed the position of Planets and Comets and the local horizon The Chart Date and Chart Time also affect the positions of Zenith the Ecliptic and the Meridian The STAR Atlas PRO default Chart Date and Chart Time setting synchronizes STAR Atlas PRO with the date and time on your computer You may also set a Chart Date and Chart Time of your choice This is particularly useful if you are planning an observing session at some future date and wish to see how the sky will look then The following Chart Date and Time options are available Values and commands Mode Set Manually Sync to Computer Description The Mode value displays COMPUTER when the chart Date and Time are synchronized with the computer s clock The Mode value displays MANUAL when the chart Date and Time are not synchronized with the computer s clock and set to an alternate da
166. gitude Time Zone R Hemi Degrees arc min sphere Degrees arc min hrs Region Locality Latitude Hemi Longitude Time Degrees arc min sphere Degrees arc min Zone hrs Australia Adelaide 34 55 South 138 35 East 9 Brisbane 227 28 South 153 2 East 10 Broken Hill 31 57 South 141 27 East 9 Darwin 12 28 South 130 50 East 8 Hobart 42 53 South 147 19 East 9 Lindeman 20 16 South 149 0 East 9 Lord Howe 31 33 South 159 5 East 10 Melbourne 37 49 South 144 58 East 9 Perth 31 57 South 115 51 East 7 Sydney 33 52 South 151 13 East 10 Region Locality Latitude Longitude Time Zone o X Hemi 9 i Degrees arc min sphere Degrees arc min hrs Europe Amsterdam 52 22 North 4 54 East 0 Andorra 42 30 North 1 31 East 0 Athens 37 58 North 23 43 East 1 Belfast 54 35 North 5 55 West 0 Belgrade 44 50 North 20 30 East 1 Berlin 52 30 North 13 22 East 0 Bratislava 48 9 North 1i 7 East 1 Brussels 50 50 North 4 20 East 0 Bucharest 44 26 North 26 6 East 1 Budapest 47 30 North 19 5 East 1 Chisinau 47 0 North 28 50 East 1 Copenhagen 55 40 North 12 35 East 0 Dublin 53 20 North 6 15 West 0 Gibraltar 36 8 North 5 21 West 0 Helsinki 60 10 North 24 58 East 1 Istanbul 41 1 North 28 58 East 1 Kaliningrad 54 43 North 20 30 East 1 Kiev 50 26 North 30 31 East 2 Lisbon 38 43 North 9 8 West 0 Ljubljana 46 3 North 14 31 East 0 London 51 28 North 0 18 West 0 Luxembourg 49 36 North 6 9 East 0 Madrid 40 24 North 3 41 West 0 Malta 35 54 Nort
167. graphics application program file You are then returned to the program where Image Viewer Program setting will be set to the location of your graphics application Step 9 Setting the PDF File Viewer Program STAR Atlas PRO can utilise an external Adobe Acrobat PDF file viewer application to display the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual from the Help button in STAR Atlas PRO The PDF File Viewer Program setting should be set to point to the program file that displays Adobe PDF Files Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader is recommended freely available from http www adobe com products acrobat readstep2 html Proceed as follows 1 Click on the three dotted button that appears at the end of PDF File Viewer Program setting 2 Navigate your way to the location of your PDF viewer application and Select the application program file You are then returned to the program where PDF File Viewer Program setting will be set to the location of your PDF viewer Step 10 Setting the Pixel Graphics option STAR Atlas PRO can use a single picture element or pixel on your display adapter to represent the faintest stars on a star chart recommended thereby much improving the appearance star charts There may be some instances where you do not wish to employ this option Disabling this option will then result in the faintest stars smallest stars appearing larger and more legible than a single pixel element IMPORTANT This op
168. h North North Hemi sphere South South South South South South South North South South South Hemi sphere South South South South South South South South South South South South North North North North North North North South North South South South South South North South 12 18 34 21 23 18 24 19 22 9 12 16 25 21 15 35 8 Longitude o Degrees 47 72 105 96 43 70 55 73 57 45 55 Longitude o Degrees 171 174 176 109 168 171 171 178 179 89 134 160 144 157 168 157 162 167 171 139 177 166 169 167 165 170 134 130 28 25 26 19 45 50 18 31 27 20 19 58 10 32 arc min 31 25 43 55 16 13 28 30 30 14 28 arc min 44 46 30 27 25 5 14 25 13 36 57 12 45 51 30 20 59 20 12 30 22 55 55 58 30 42 29 5 East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East East West East West West East West West East East West West East East West West West East East East West West East East East East West East West ONKFPRFRRFPRFROORRPHRPHPHPHENHO Time Zone hrs WWWAWANAN HRW a 3 Zone hrs 11 11 11 7 11 11 11 11 11 8 10 10 11 10 10 11 11 9 11 11 11 11 11 11 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 260 Ponape P
169. h North South North North South South North North South North South North North South North North North North North South North North North North North North South North North North North North North North South North North North 83 61 113 69 89 38 59 51 60 71 61 61 90 79 58 63 82 110 86 86 85 86 113 68 76 65 134 84 68 i 118 85 35 86 60 61 106 68 87 89 99 56 100 56 73 62 77 74 88 165 32 101 79 65 55 112 61 72 63 66 94 92 24 28 52 12 30 57 44 25 45 32 31 50 10 36 22 58 37 20 30 28 48 18 25 50 14 45 43 17 25 49 36 37 20 19 11 34 13 21 16 24 25 17 32 44 10 31 20 54 29 10 West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West West STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 256 Recife 8 3 South 34 54 West 2 Regina 50 24 North 104 39 West 6 Rio Branco 9 58 South 67 48 West 4 Santiago 33 27 South 70 40 West 4 Santo Domingo 18 28 North 69 54 West 4 Sao Paulo 23 32 South 46 37 West 3 Scoresbysund 70 30 North 22 15 West 1 Shiprock 36 47 North 108 41 West 7 St Johns 47 34 No
170. h 14 31 East 0 Minsk 53 54 North 27 34 East 1 Monaco 43 42 North 7 23 East 0 Moscow 55 45 North 37 35 East 2 Oslo 59 55 North 10 45 East 0 Paris 48 52 North 2 20 East 0 Prague 50 5 North 14 26 East 0 Riga 56 57 North 24 6 East 1 Rome 41 54 North 12 29 East 0 Samara 53 12 North 50 9 East 3 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 259 Region Indian Region Pacific San Marino 43 Sarajevo 43 Simferopol 44 Skopje 41 Sofia 42 Stockholm 59 Tallinn 59 Tirane 41 Uzhgorod 48 Vaduz 47 Vatican 41 Vienna 48 Vilnius 54 Warsaw 52 Zagreb 45 Zaporozhye 47 Zurich 47 Locality Latitude o Degrees Antananarivo 18 Chagos z7 Christmas 10 Cocos 12 Comoro 11 Kerguelen 49 Mahe 4 Maldives 4 Mauritius 20 Mayotte 12 Reunion 20 Locality Latitude o Degrees Apia ails Auckland 36 Chatham 43 Easter 27 Efate 17 Enderbury 3 Fakaofo 9 Fiji 18 Funafuti 8 Galapagos 0 Gambier 23 Guadalcanal 9 Guam 13 Honolulu 21 Johnston 17 Kiritimati 1 Kosrae 5 Kwajalein 9 Majuro 7 Marquesas 9 Midway 28 Nauru 0 Niue 19 Norfolk 29 Noumea 22 Pago Pago 14 Palau 7 Pitcairn 25 55 52 57 59 41 20 25 20 37 54 13 41 15 48 50 23 arc min 55 20 25 10 41 21 40 10 10 47 52 arc min 50 52 55 10 40 8 22 8 31 54 8 32 28 18 0 52 19 5 9 0 13 31 1 3 16 16 20 4 North North North North North North North North North North North North North North Nort
171. he Asteroid of your choice with a double click which returns you to Asteroids and Minor Planets Database window Choose the Plot Path command to open the Plot an Asteroid s Path through the Sky window Configure the Asteroid Plotting options to your requirements described earlier in this chapter Enable the V Save Asteroid Ephemerides to Web Browser File option so that a V appears Optionally choose the command next to the Export Ephemerides to this Folder option to select the location to store the Ephemerides Optionally enable the V Open Ephemerides in Web browser option so that a V appears Enabling this option will open the Ephemerides file in your web browser Now choose the Plot Asteroid Path command to generate the Ephemerides output file STAR Atlas PRO now returns you to the chart desktop with the chart centred at the first plotted position of the Asteroid If you selected to open the ephemerides in your web browser then your web browser will automatically open and display the ephemerides You may now print the ephemerides On the Web Browser menu choose the File menu and then select the Print command STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 72 Celestial Image Library The Celestial Image Library is a vast collection of celestial images that integrate with STAR Atlas PRO celestial charts to allow you to easily display images of countless deep sky objects within the reach of amateur telescope
172. he object arc minutes Not used in this catalogue Displays the Common Name or Other Name of this object Guide Star Catalogue GSC Locate gt 60 The Guide Star Catalogue Catalogue Description Magnitude Limit Number of Entries The Guide Star Catalogue Version 1 1 ACT GSC ACT Catalogue 1 255 The HST Guide Star Catalogue Version GSC ACT Lasker 1996 99 The Guide Star Catalogue provides STAR Atlas PRO with instant access to the revised Guide Star Catalogue GSC Version GSC ACT consisting of over 25 million records of data for 15 1 million individual Stars and 3 6 million Non Stellar Objects down to magnitude 15 5 Integrated seamlessly with STAR Atlas PRO s Hipparcos and Tycho Stellar catalogues users can optionally distinguish Non Stellar objects from Stars and even display multiple entries for the same GSC object from different GSC Plates Plate data is provided for every GSC entry and users can also locate and chart known GSC objects 15 5 18 668 041 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 217 Menu Commands Find GSC Common commands Displayed Screen Data GSC Identity Class Magnitude Magnitude Band Emulsion amp Filter Magnitude Error Position Error GSSS Internal Plate Number Flag for additional entries Exposure Start Date and Time UT Exposure Time mins SRC Palomar Supplemental Field Number GSC Internal Plate Number Observato
173. he observation planner can be downloaded into the Argo Navis User Catalogue How do I add objects to the Observation Planner To use this feature 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO 2 Click on Locate on the main menu 3 Then click on 6 Observation Planner To add a celestial object into the Observation Planner choose one of the methods described following METHOD ONE ADDING DIRECTLY INTO THE PLANNER You can add celestial objects of interest directly into the Observation Planner using the Add button however this is not the recommended method as there are simpler techniques easily available METHOD TWO ADDING FROM THE ASTRONOMICAL DATABASES 1 Locate an object of interest and add it into the Observation Planner STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 198 a Click Locate b Enter M31 and click Find Now this will find Messier 31 the Andromeda Galaxy The astronomical catalogue data window is now displayed Now click Copy to Obs command bottom centre Answer Yes to copy M31 into the Observation Planner Now click Map which takes the viewer to the desktop centred on Messier 31 Now if you re examine the Observation Planner you will see M31 is entered a Click on Locate on the main menu b Then click on 6 Observation Planner c Note that STAR Atlas PRO automatically inserts notes into the Planning Notes section METHOD THREE ADDING DIRECTLY FROM THE DESKTOP The next way
174. he selected object of interest and then go to On Line Data then STCsI Digitised Sky Survey This brings up the Digitized Sky Survey DSS Interface window Set Image Height to 5 and Image Width to 5 Click on Download amp Display DSS Image and wait while the image is downloaded If the resulting image if the picture is too large it is worth changing Image size Height and Width to 10 so the size of the image in the picture is a little smaller and can be easily seen Varying the Image Size and Width can alter how the downloaded items will appear A little experimentation is worth the effort N B The size of the picture does not change with the change in Image Size rather the Field of View of the DSS image changes When you have a Satisfactory image you are given the opportunity to Store Image TO associate the image with the location within SAP go to Locate on the main menu Under User Objects click 10 Digitised Sky Survey images The picture just downloaded will appear If it is not the correct image click List and a gallery of the DSS pictures you have collected will appear Double click on the selected image and then Map and you will be bought back to the selected item on the desktop To review the image right click on the selected image NGC104 and then click Identify Object This will bring up a list STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 196 14 The list includes the name of
175. hen a Click on Examine Entry which take the program to the relevant catalogue you can also do this by double clicking the entry in the list b You may now chart the object s location with the Map button or copy the object into the Observation Planner as follows c Click on Copy to Obs Yes then Yes or No d Next click Close and Close which returns the viewer to the desktop 6 Finally the Observation Planner can be checked by a Click on Locate 6 Observation Planner and this will show the results of the selection process This system of storing celestial objects is great since it reminds when objects I want to view become visible it may be a six month wait for some objects before they become visible STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 201 Astronomical Catalogues STAR Atlas PRO s Astronomical Database Manager accessible from the Locate command provides you with access to a wide variety of Astronomical Catalogues that you may search list and browse This section of the manual describes the screen information and commands that are displayed on each of the Astronomical Catalogue windows Deep Sky Object Catalogues Deep Sky Catalogues describe deep sky objects such as Nebulae Star Clusters Galaxies and many other types Catalogue Catalogue Description NGC amp IC Catalogues Popular catalogues of 13 300 Nebulae Planetary Nebula Star Clusters Globular Clusters Galaxies Aster
176. hich lists the object names together with an entry named DSSIMAGE e In this menu double click the entry DSSIMAGE and the DSS image for that celestial object will be displayed 3 The final technique can be very useful a Download the DSS image of an object of your interest b Then find the object on the desktop Note the number of the image attached as described above STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 197 c This time when the menu for that object comes up it will have at its centre bottom a button labelled No Pic d Click on this and you will see an Images menu displayed e Click Add Image bottom centre and you can now add the image from the folder where STAR Atlas PRO stores the DSS images by default C STARPRO IMAGES to the object of interest so that each time you find the celestial object where you have added the image you will see the button Pic bottom centre and clicking on this will reveal the image Exercise 9 Observation Planner Using The Observation Planner is a very useful feature of STAR Atlas PRO and may be utilised in a number of ways The purpose of this feature is to allow the user to store information on any object of interest so that when it comes to viewing time with the telescope or binoculars STAR Atlas PRO will list which of the Target Objects in the Observation Planner will be observable from your geographic location Argo Navis users note objects in t
177. ightness This is the last calculated magnitude estimate This value is updated every time the Comet positions are re computed Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Note The Comet s current Right Ascension and Declination co ordinates are updated every time the Comet positions are re computed and when STAR Atlas PRO is started Menu Commands List Description Displays a scrollable list of entries from the Catalogue which may be sorted into Catalogue Identity Order or Common Name Order You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 216 Find Other Names Find Common commands Displayed Screen Data Catalog Entry Object Type Description Visual Magnitude Major Diameter Minor Diameter Other Names will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Locate an entry using the Other Names value Locate an entry using the Cata og Entry value Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Cluster Name Displays GB for Globular Star Clusters Not used in this Catalogue Object s visual Magnitude Diameter of t
178. ility Type Blank star could not be classified as variable or constant C no variability detected star is constant D duplicity induced variability M possible a micro variable with a change in magnitude lt 0 03 P periodic variable STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 224 Position Angle Angular Separation Common Positional Data R V I colour index was revised U unsolved variable which does not fit in other categories theta Position Angle between components rho Angular Separation of components Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Hipparcos Visual Double Stars Catalogue Locate gt 55 Hipparcos Double Stars Catalogue Description Number of Entries Menu Commands List I 260 Visual Double Stars in Hipparcos Dommanget 2000 This catalogue lists all known double and multiple stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue Totalling 41 255 entries there are 18 644 different Multiple Star System This screen lists the Component Stars that form a Double or Multiple Star System in a grid referenced to the Catalogue of Components of Double and Multiple Stars CCDM of the Double or Multiple Star System The CCDM is number described in the Catalogue of the Components of the Double and Multiple Stars The CCDM number is constructed from the RA and DEC coordinates of the star system in the form HHMMm DDMM RA Hours Minutes and tenths of a a
179. ing objects in selected constellations cccesseesseesceesceesceeceeceseeesecaecaeecaeeeaeeeseeseeensesereees 80 BROWSING SEARCHING AND LISTING ASTRONOMICAL CATALOGUES cccssseseessececeesececseseeeeesteeecseaes 82 Locating Objects by Name or Designation ccccccsseessesseeesceesceecesecesecsecnaeceaecseecaeeeaeeeseeeeeenseeereeas 82 Astronomical Catalogue Helpers cccccecscesscesseesecesecseecseeeseceneeeeeseensecnsecaecnaecnaecaeecaeeeaeeeseeneeetenes 83 Commands common to each Astronomical Catalogue ccccccecsceeceseceseceseceeeceecaeeeseeeaeeeeeeneeesrenes 84 Positional Information common to each Catalogue ccceccceesceescessceseceeceseceaeceecaeeeseeeaeeneeenseeerens 85 LOCATING CELESTIAL OBJECTS ADVANCED FEATURES cscsssescsseescsseeeseecssessceeescssesssesessuesssseessenes 86 Finding Double amp Multiple Stars with a particular brightness range cescceseesseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeereees 86 Find Variable Stars that exhibit a certain Brightness range and Variability period ee 87 Find Stars discovered by Hipparcos to be Variable cccccecssesscessceseceeceseceseceecseeeseeeaeeneeeesenerenes 88 Listing individual galaxies in Hickson Galaxy GroupS c cccccesscessceseceeceseceeecseecseeeseeeaeeseeenseeereees 89 Displaying Astrophysical information for Stars cccccccecsesscesscessceesceseceseceseceaecseecaeeeseeeseesaeenseeereees 90 OBSERVATION LIST
180. ing the Angular Separation of Celestial Objects Measuring the angular separation between any two celestial objects is easily achieved with STAR Atlas PRO Follow this procedure to measure the angular separation between any two celestial objects of your choice 1 Position the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart so that the first celestial object is displayed 2 Right click on the first celestial object and choose Identify Object from the popup menu to display the astronomical catalogue window for that object and then choose Close to return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart 3 Position the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart so that the second celestial object is displayed if not already displayed Right Acension R A 47h 14m 38s Rise Time 04h 14m 44s Declination DEC 14 23 24 Transit Time 09h 38m 48s Altitude ALT 22 13 39 Set Time 15h 02m 53s Azimuth AZ 305 44 29 Angular Seperation 05 15 37 42 4 Right click on the second celestial object and choose Identify Object from the popup menu to display the astronomical catalogue window for that object The angular separation between the two celestial objects is displayed in the positional information of the astronomical catalogue window in this accompanying screen shot the angular separation is 05 15 37 42 Rotating and Flipping Charts The desktop chart may be rotated and flipped to match any orientation To access any of the ch
181. ioeie n E E E E E E A e 21 Step 4 Setting the Observer s Location and Time Zone ssssesssssesssesersrsseeressesresreserseseenessreressese 22 Step 5 Settine File Locations yaen ran E E ee eee 22 Step 6 Setting the Location to store Images s sesssesessseseesessteeesstsrtsreserstssteressesresresersteseenessreresse 23 Step 7 Setting the HTML Web Browser Program cccccesseessceseeeeceseeeeeaeeeseeeeeeeeeeereneeneeneeenaees 23 Step 8 Setting the External Image Viewer Program c cccccescesseeeseceseeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeseeneeneeaees 23 Step 9 Setting the PDF File Viewer Program 0 c cccscssseessceseceseeeseceeecseecseeeseeeeeeeseeeeneenseeneeaees 24 Step 10 Setting the Pixel Graphics Option cccceessesscesscessceeceseceseceecseecaeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeaees 24 Step L1 Configuring Telescope Control maicne rein nee nE ea eae eA E 25 Step 12 Fine tuning Telescope Drivers cccccsccesseessessceeseeeeceseceseceaecseecaeecaeeeseceeeseeeeereseeeeeeeenaees 26 Step 13 Enabling Internet Communications ccccceeccesscesscesecesecesecnecseecaeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneenaees 29 Step 14 Enabling the Guide Star Catalogue GSC ccccsceccesseceseceseeeeeceecaeeeseeeeeeneeeeeesereneeneeaees 29 Step 15 Enabling the Celestial Image Library ccccccceccceeseescceseceseccecseecaeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeneeneeeteenaees 30 STAR ATLAS PRO BASICS sicsccvspssssectzeccsosepsos
182. ional Geographic Society Palomar Observatory Sky Atlas POSS I was made by the California Institute of Technology with grants from the National Geographic Society STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 253 The Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey POSS II was made by the California Institute of Technology with funds from the National Science Foundation the National Geographic Society the Sloan Foundation the Samuel Oschin Foundation and the Eastman Kodak Corporation The Oschin Schmidt Telescope is operated by the California Institute of Technology and Palomar Observatory The UK Schmidt Telescope was operated by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh with funding from the UK Science and Engineering Research Council later the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council until 1988 June and thereafter by the Anglo Australian Observatory The blue plates of the southern Sky Atlas and its Equatorial Extension together known as the SERC J as well as the Equatorial Red ER and the Second Epoch red Survey SES were all taken with the UK Schmidt All data are subject to the copyright given in the copyright summary Copyright information specific to individual plates is provided in the downloaded FITS headers Supplemental funding for sky survey work at the STScI is provided by the European Southern Observatory Copyright Notice Each sky survey image is copyright 1995 by the Association of Universities for Research in Astr
183. irectly above you in the sky STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 184 The next time you run STAR Atlas PRO the chart will return to the last position you charted with the same chart Field of View To re orient yourself click Zenith on the main menu Planetarium Chart Mode The Planetarium chart mode displays the Sky with the Local Horizon and in the same orientation as observed from your geographical location for the current date and time This view is optimal when the viewer is exploring the sky in his or her local region such as when you wish to identify celestial objects overhead on a particular night It works well when used in conjunction with a telescope All charts are limited by your horizon When you switch to Planetarium chart mode from Star Atlas chart mode an Horizon Chart is automatically displayed and two additional features may then be activated the Sky Chart and the Horizon Charts Sky Chart The Sky Chart displays the Observer s entire Night Sky for the current date and time STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 185 GB stan acas Pto 17 01 2005 21 3000 PLANETARIUM 25h Meme Zis 32 S4 S FO 187 0 MAG AUTOS S COM AUTO rdir LN The Sky Chart is always centred on the Observer s Zenith the point directly above the Observer and has limited features compared to other charting modes For example when you right click on the Sky Chart and you are forced to choose a horizon view rather than actual
184. is Follow this procedure to first enable the Argo Navis and STAR Atlas PRO 1 First connect the Argo Navis to the telescope and ensure that all cables are correctly positioned the device will not work if this is not correct Next connect the Serial 1 port on the Argo Navis to the Serial COM port on your computer using on cable supplied with the Argo Navis Now proceed to do the star alignment with the Argo Navis as you would normally do prior its use Start STAR Atlas PRO Right click the mouse on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Choose the Argo Navis menu and then the Connect option Upon successful connection to the Argo Navis STAR Atlas PRO displays the Telescope Menu which floats on the desktop chart Following is an explanation of the main features you can now use from the Telescope Menu and the Argo Navis option on the popup menu Centre on Scope receives the co ordinates from the Argo Navis and centres the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart at the location where the telescope is pointing too Track Scope receives the co ordinates from the Argo Navis with a reticle on the desktop chart The reticle floats across the desktop chart indicating the position that your Telescope is pointing too When using the Track Scope feature use the Esc escape key on the keyboard to stop Auto tracking or right mouse click and choose Stop Auto tracking from the popup menu Options
185. is object known by these additional catalogue names B if galaxy is Bar R is galaxy is Ring M for Multiple C for Compact D for Diffuse Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 237 NGC IC and Messier Catalogue Locate gt 77 NGC IC and Messier Objects Catalogue Description Number of Entries Menu Commands LIST NGC IC Popular Name Messier LEDA Common commands NGC IC The General Catalogue and Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters VII 118 Also includes position updates from VII 239A History and Accurate Positions for the NGC IC Objects Corwin 2004 Version July 2004 Harold G Corwin Jr Updated version of the New General Catalogue NGC and Index Catalogue IC combined containing 13 326 entries for Deep Sky Objects which include star clusters globular star clusters nebulae galaxies planetary nebula and asterisms Copyright Warning Please note that some remaining data contained in the NGC IC Catalogue may be Copyrighted by Sky Publishing Corporation 13 535 Description Displays a scrollable list of NGC and IC objects You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear a
186. isms and other types of Deep Sky Objects Messier objects All Messier Objects Popular Deep Sky objects Beehive Cluster Andromeda Galaxy Helix Nebula and all other popular deep sky objects Abell Rich Clusters of Galaxies This catalogue includes 5 250 clusters including both the North amp South Abell catalogues of Galaxies spread over the North and South Hemispheres Each Galaxy Cluster has at least 30 individual member galaxies which are listed by STAR Atlas PRO The Caldwell Catalogue Popular Caldwell catalogue of deep sky objects Barnard s Catalogue of Dark Objects Barnard s catalogue of 349 dark objects Hickson s Compact Groups of Galaxies Extensive data for each individual galaxy group Strasbourg ESO Planetary Nebulae Over 1 143 planetary nebulae Globular Star Clusters in the Milky Way 147 Globular Star Clusters in the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 202 Supernovae Remnants Star Clusters amp Associations Quasars and Galaxies with Active Galactic Nuclei Lyon Meudon Extragalactic database of Galaxies PGC1996 Abbreviation ANON ARAK ARP DCL DDO DRCG ESO FAIR FCC FGC FGCA FGCE HICK IRAS KARA KAZA KUG MARK MCG nSZW nZW PGC Milky Way galaxy All known Galactic remnants supernova An additional 1 000 fainter and small Star Clusters Over 11 000 Quasars and more than 3 000 Galaxies with Active Nuclei Extensive database of numerous galaxy c
187. iter Inclination to ecliptic deg 5 145 Inclination to equator deg 18 28 28 58 Satur Sidereal Rotation Period hours 655 728 Uranus Recession rate from Earth cm yr 3 8 Neptune Temperature range Kelvin 100 to lt 400 Pluto Estimated Composition particles per cubic cm Helium 4 4He 40 000 Neon 20 20Ne 40 000 Relative Apparent Size Ephemeris Map No Pic Close Here is an example of one way that you can locate planets In this example procedure we ll suppose we are looking for the planet Jupiter 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 1 Planets which then displays the Planets window 3 From the list of planets at the lower right side of the window click on Jupiter to select that planet 4 The Astro physical information for Jupiter is now displayed you could choose the Map button to plot Jupiter s position 5 Perhaps while examining Jupiter on the Planets window you may care to see the position of Jupiter s Moon s Io Europa Ganymede and Callisto Choose Jovian Events 6 The Jovian Events window displays the current position Jupiter s moons STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 55 7 For now click Close to close the Jovian Events window as this feature is described further in a following section of this manual 8 On the Planets window choose the Map command to display a chart of Jupiter s location
188. iterature Mag At Min from Literature Photometric Band those Variable stars that have been identified as New by the Hipparcos Catalogue Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Hipparcos Catalogue Number you are prompted to enter Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Henry Draper Catalogue number you are prompted to enter Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Hipparcos Catalogue Number Hipparcos Defined type of Variable C no variability detected D duplicity induced variable M possible micro variable P periodic variable R V I colour index was revised to variability analysis U unsolved variable which does not fall into the other categories Known Variable Star from the GCVS NSV Catalogues Spectral Type Magnitude at maximum brightness from curve fitting The flag gt indicates that the true magnitude at minimum brightness is likely to be larger than the minimum magnitude given Magnitude at minimum brightness from curve fitting Mean Period in Days Epoch Julian Date 2440000 0 Flag is displayed if this is a New Variable Star Variable star name Period from Literature Epoch from Literature Magnitude at Maximum from Literature Magnitude from Minimum from Literature Photometric Ban STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 228 Common Positional Data Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC
189. ith the proper abbreviation of the astronomical catalogue you selected STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 148 Astronomical Database Manager Astronomical catalogue designation helpers Deep Sky es Planetary Nebula Find Object sia custers cames 7 DDo Eind Now cloner custers 7 camiso M Entry Format DDO 999 Catalogue Dwarf Galaxies David Dunlap Observatory Example 1 DDO001 Example 2 DD0243 6 Notice that below the Find Object input field two lines of information appear a Entry Format DDO 999 b Catalogue Dwarf Galaxies David Dunlap Observatory c Example 1 DDOOO1 d Example 2 DDO243 The Entry Format dictates how a designation should be entered the digit 9 represents where a numeric value is expected 999 represents up to three numbers are expected This means if you are looking for object number 1 then you must enter the two leading zeros 001 to meet the Entry Format criteria Therefore to find object number 50 from this catalogue you must enter 050 entering 50 will not work 7 Now enter the numbers 050 zero five zero since it is object number 50 from the David Dunlop Observatory Catalogue of Dwarf Galaxies that we are looking for Astronomical Database Manager Astronomical catalogue designation helpers S e Deep Sky si Planetary Nebula Find Object starousters 7 oases DDO 050 Find Now citur custers v Galenies NDP Entry Format DDO 999 Catalogue Dwarf Galaxies
190. ithin the Chart Prefs menu that the final result is not what you want and you do not know how to restore the settings If this case you may restore STAR Atlas PRO default settings using the Restore Defaults button location at bottom centre of the Chart Preferences and Program Settings window STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 98 Use the Chart Prefs command on the main menu to select the Chart Preferences and Program Settings window Following are example procedures of how to change common settings System Colour Scheme Options STAR Atlas PRO supports two distinct colour schemes that change the appearance of STAR Atlas PRO You may change between colour schemes at any time A colour scheme that is suitable for using STAR Atlas PRO during daylight is available in addition to a colour scheme for using STAR Atlas PRO during the night The following procedures show you how to change the STAR Atlas PRO system wide colour scheme To change the Colour Scheme from Day mode to Night mode This colour scheme selects red tones on a black background and is suitable for using STAR Atlas PRO during the night as the red colours affect your eyes less when you re in the dark 1 Choose Chart Prefs from the Main menu 2 Choose Night 3 Choose Close To change the Colour Scheme from Night to Day mode This colour scheme selects the silver grey tones optimal for using STAR Atlas PRO during the daytime us
191. itude Blue Magnitude Visual Proper Motion RA Proper Motion DEC I 259 The Tycho II Catalogue ESA 2000 European Space Agency 1 259 The Hipparcos Catalogue ESA 2000 The Tycho II Stellar Catalogue derived from the European Space Agency s star measuring satellite Hipparcos contains accurate data on 2 539 913 stars 11 5 2 539 913 Stars Description Will find a Tycho 2 star Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description The TYC identifier is constructed from the GSC region number the running number within the region and a component identifier which is normally 1 Some non GSC running numbers were constructed for the first Tycho Catalogue and for Tycho 2 The recommended star designation contains a hyphen between the TYC numbers e g TYC 1 13 1 Magnitude from Blue Plate Visual Magnitude Proper motion in RA Proper motion in Dec STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 248 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 249 Appendices Keyboard Commands R Alt F2 F2 F3 Alt F3 Alt F4 Alt F5 Alt F7 Alt F8 Alt F9 Command Description close the displayed window Locate celestial object Chart Field of View Magnitude Filter Center chart on a selected R A and DEC position Chart Orientation Centre chart on the current Zenith position Sky Chart Select North South East or West Horizon View Display Time
192. ive Galaxies Zwicky Compact groups of galaxies Shakhbazian Double Galaxies Karachentseva Dressler Cluster of Galaxies Dressler Durham UKST Survey DUKST Dwarf and Dwarf Candidate Galaxies Binggeli Tarenghi Sandage Dwarf Galaxies David Dunlap Observatory EFAR Early type Galaxies Catalogue Wegner Emission line galaxies or QSOs Tololo Emission line objects Prism Objective X Emission Line Objects University of Michigan ESO optical sources ESO ESO Uppsala Galaxies Lauberts Valentijn Fairall Galaxies Fairall Flat Galaxy Catalogue Karachentsev Flat Galaxy Catalogue southern Extension Karachentsev Fornax Cluster Catalogue Fourth Cambridge Survey Pilkington Galaxies Bettoni Fasano Galaxies Kazarian Galaxies Maffei Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies Zwicky Galaxies behind Southern Milky Way Kraan Korteweg Galaxies behind Southern Milky Way Woudt Galaxies behind the Milky Way Verheijen Galaxies in the Zone of Avoidance Weinberger Galaxies near the northern galactic plane Weinberger Galaxies QSOs blue stars second Byurakan Survey HI bright galaxies in the southern zone of avoidance Henning Hickson Compact Galaxy Groups Hickson High Luminosity Spirals in direction of Great Attractor Van Den Bergh Infrared sources Infrared Astronomical Satellite Interacting galaxies Vorontsov Vel yaminov Isolated Galaxies Karachentseva Isolated pairs of galaxies in the Northern H
193. ixel in the X axis of the CCD chip then press the TAB key on your keyboard which will move you to the Y Pixel Size column 9 Type in the size of Pixel in the Y axis of the CCD chip 10 This completes this part of the procedure However you may start over again and add further entries for additional CCD Cameras Using Reticles A reticle is displayed on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart centred on the position of your mouse pointer The reticle will represent the field of view seen through the eyepiece or camera To display an Eyepiece Reticle A circular shaped reticle is displayed on the chart which represents the Field of View observed when the Telescope and Eyepiece combination are selected 1 Right click on STAR Atlas PRO desktop to display the popup menu 2 Choose Eyepiece FOV 3 Single click on the Telescope entry that represents the Telescope in use 4 Now also single click the Eyepiece entry that represents the Eyepiece in use Notice that the calculated Field of View is displayed under OPTICAL CALCULATIONS 5 Choose Draw Reticle and the reticle is then displayed on the chart To move the Reticle to another location 6 Right click elsewhere on the chart and then continue from step 2 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 97 To display an CCD Camera Reticle A rectangular shaped reticle is displayed on the chart which represents the Field of View observed when the Telescope and CCD Camera combination are
194. jects to display from the Hyper LEDA The V Object Size Limit is useful to filter out smaller galaxies on STAR Atlas PRO charts You can set the minimum size a galaxy must be before it is displayed on STAR Atlas PRO charts by changing the Minimum Size selector value ME For example setting the Minimum Size selector to a value of 1 equates to a galaxy must be at least 1 arc min in size before it is displayed on a chart This feature also works in combination with the STAR Atlas PRO Magnitude filter making it is possible to effectively filter galaxies by Magnitude and Size V Display Galaxy Colours V Enabling this option displays Galaxies in total apparent corrected B V colour applies to galaxies with colour information _ Disabling this option displays all objects in the default colour of galaxies as configured in STAR Atlas PRO STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 141 Menu Commands A majority of larger galaxies have colour data enabling STAR Atlas PRO to chart these galaxies in their effective B V colour When this option is enabled STAR Atlas PRO will display these galaxies in colour The following section describes the menu commands displayed along the bottom of the Hyper LEDA database window Command List Find PGC Find Name Command Description List objects starting from the selected object Opens a dialog window that prompts you to enter a Principal Galaxy Cat
195. larger than the minimum magnitude given Magnitude at minimum brightness from curve fitting Median Hp Intrinsic Variability Amplitude Flag is displayed if this is a New Variable Star Variable Star Name Period from Literature STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 230 Epoch JD 2440000 from Epoch from Literature Literature Mag At Max from Literature Magnitude at Maximum from Literature Mag At Min from Literature Magnitude from Minimum from Literature Photometric Band Photometric Band Common Positional Data Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Hyper LEDA Locate gt 40 Hyper LEDA and PGC2003 Catalogue The Hyper LEDA Catalogue including the PGC2003 Catalogue The Hipparcos Catalogue ESA 1997 Description This program lists Unsolved Variable Stars extracted from the Hipparcos Catalogue and enables you to filter the catalogue so that Variable Stars only exhibiting the criteria you choose are displayed Number of Entries 1 551 560 Galaxies and other objects Galaxies 1 377 692 Objects consisting of several galaxies 2 859 Quasi Stellar Objects QSOs 33 221 Extra galactic objects of 137 788 unidentified nature or extended sources Name References and 3 098 879 Menu Commands Command Description List List objects starting from the selected object Find PGC Opens a dialog window that prompts you to enter a Principal Galaxy Catalogue PGC
196. las PRO desktop charts and choosing celestial objects at random before downloading a DSS Image for that object Object that you find interesting can then easily be added into STAR Atlas PRO s Observation Planner STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 120 Understanding the DSS Interface download options The Digitized Sky Survey DSS Interface window and the options you may set prior to downloading a DSS Image are explained here Digitized Sky Survey DSS Interface Accessing On Line Catalogue Center of Image co ordinates STScI Digitized Sky Survey RA 12h 34m 5s DEC 12 44m 46s DSS Image Retrieval Status idie DSS Image Options Image Size Presets i x M 5x5 Image Size 15002 x Sees I tare mates x a Height Width x10 30x30 2 r 60 x 60 arc Baie J 45x45 minutes max Equinox of Image J2000 X 20x20 M 60x60 DSS Survey 3 lt Key to DSS Surveys 4 First Generation survey garden variety 2 Second generation survey incomplete 3 Check the 2nd generation if no image available then use 1st generation 4 The Quick V Survey Download DSS Image with Web Browser Download amp Display DSS Image Close Options amp Description Commands Image Size The two Image Size selectors Height and Width set the Vertical and Horizontal size of the DSS Image that you are requesting Both values are measured in arc minutes Note The maximum DSS Image size that you may retrieve is 60 x 60 arc minutes Equinox You
197. laxies in the Zone of Avoidance Weinberger Galaxies Bettoni Fasano Cluster System of M33 Christian Schommer Centaurus Cluster of Galaxies Dickens Currie Lucey Coma Cluster Galaxies Rood Baum RC2 Catalogue of Bright Galaxies de Vaucouleurs High Luminosity Spirals in direction of Great Attractor Van Den Bergh Galaxies by Catalogue Name Following is a list of Catalogues included in Hyper LEDA ordered by the catalogue name Catalogue Name Designation 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey 2dFGRS Team 2DFGRS 2MASS All Sky Catalog of Point Sources Cutri 2MASXJ 3rd Cambridge Catalogue Edge 3C Andromeda Galaxies I IV AND Arakelian Galaxies Arakelian ARK Arecibo General Catalog AGC Arp Peculiar Galaxies Arp ARP Catalog of Galaxies behind the Milky Way Saito CGMW STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 153 Catalogue of Selected Non UGC Galaxies UGC Addendum Centaurus Cluster of Galaxies Dickens Currie Lucey Cluster System of M33 Christian Schommer Coma Cluster Galaxies Rood Baum Compact and Eruptive galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Erupt
198. laxy or choose the Select command to choose the highlighted galaxy from the list After selecting a galaxy you are returned to the Hyper G Atlas window where the astrophysical data is displayed for the galaxy The Map command centres the STAR Atlas PRO chart on the selected galaxy object Copies the selected object and details into the STAR Atlas PRO Observation Planner You may also add notes to accompany the addition of the object into the Observation Planner Refer to the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for complete details of this command This is the image control button indicator If an image is attached to this object Picture is displayed otherwise No Pic is displayed Click the Picture button to display the attached image Click the No Pic button to open the Images window STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 233 which permits you to attach your own astronomical image to the object selected in the Hyper G Atlas Refer to the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for complete details of this command GOTO Commands your Telescope to slew to the selected Hyper G Atlas object This command is only enabled if STAR Atlas PRO is connected to your telescope and the on line indicator is active Refer to the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual for complete details of the Goto command SYNC Calibrates your Telescope s Right Ascension R A amp Declination Dec to match the position of the object you
199. learn more about 7 Now double click on this objects name and another data menu will popup with more data about your object of interest Field of View 8 Click the right mouse button again but this time identify Field of View 9 Click on this and a menu appears which you have seen earlier in this tutorial it is the Set Field of view menu 10 Try resetting the Field of View to a number of different settings and see the effect these changes have on the object you have selected STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 190 Exercise 5 Locating Celestial Objects of Interest The Locate menu is the centre of the search component of STAR Atlas PRO and this section of the manual is intended to give users an introduction to searching for data Here are three examples of what can be found e Finding a common star e Looking for a planet e Using the NGC search Finding a common star Rumour has it that there is a star called Sirius and that this star is actually quite bright Could this be true This tutorial will show you how a search for stars but the star you wish to locate may not be within your horizon To make sure that the search is easy it is necessary to reset STAR Atlas PRO to Star Atlas chart mode Here is how 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO 2 Click on Chart Prefs and then take note of whether Chart Mode is Polar or Horizon If it is not in Polar mode there are two ways this can be corrected but
200. located at that time Displaying the position of Jupiter s Moons in Real Time Follow this procedure to make the display update the positions of the Moons in real time 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 3 Jupiter s Great Red Spot and Moons button STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 58 3 The Jovian Events window is displayed which shows the position of the Galilean Moons for the time and date set in the Date amp Time inputs usually the current computer time 4 Now change the Delay Between Frames setting to a value of 10 i e the values is entered in 1 10 of a Second units therefore 10 x 1 10 a 1 second delay 5 Now choose the Sync to CPU command and a warning message is displayed reminding you to cease the real time tracking of Jupiter s Moons you should press the ESC key on your keyboard The display now updates the position of Jupiter s Moons every 1 second synchronised to the computer s date and time Notice that the Date amp Time values are also being updated each time the display is update in this way you know the date and time that the Moons will be in this position Press the ESC key on your keyboard to stop the display at anytime When the display is stopped the date and time of this arrangement of Moons is displayed in the Date amp Time values You may now Time Step back and or forward to adjust the positions of the Moons a
201. lusters of Galaxies VII 110A Rich Clusters of Galaxies Abell 1989 Description The Abell Catalogue of Rich Clusters of Galaxies contains the location of 5 250 Rich Clusters of STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 206 Number of Entries Menu Commands List Find ABELL Common commands Displayed Screen Data Prefix Abell Number Abell s Class Bautz Morgan Class Galaxies located in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Skies Each entry in the Cluster of Galaxies catalogue has at least 30 individual galaxies within a certain brightness range of each over and each cluster member has a redshift of less than 0 2 The brightness range of cluster members individual galaxies must be in the range of Magnitude of 3rd brightest cluster member to magnitude of 3rd brightest cluster member 2 0 5 250 includes Revised Northern Southern and Supplemental Southern Abell Catalogue Description Displays a scrollable list of Galaxy Cluster objects You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Find Abell Cluster using Catalogue Prefix and Abell Number Catalogue Prefix must be A original Northern Abell Clusters or S for S
202. ly centring the chart where you clicked Planetarium amp Sky Chart mode To display the Sky Chart choose Sky Chart from the STAR Atlas PRO main menu while in Planetarium chart mode open STAR Atlas PRO 1 Click on Chart Prefs button on the main menu This opens the menu which allows you to set the program as you wish 2 Click on Restore Defaults near the bottom left of the page 3 Click on Planetarium at the top right hand corner of the page 4 Click on Redraw bottom left 5 Click on Sky Chart on the main menu This gives you the circular SKY VIEW which fills the screen as shown in the picture above STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 186 Horizon Charts North South East West This feature permits you to display a chart of each Horizon direction North South East and West 6 To view the Horizon Charts you can either i Right click on the part of the SKY CHART you are interested in and then click Display Horizon on the popup menu or ii Click on Horizon on the main menu and then select the direction you would like to explore North South East or West When in Planetarium chart mode the chart appears on the screen in such a way that you are at the bottom of the screen looking toward the direction stated in the view this would be towards the South in the Southern view and can be identified by the S in the centre of the screen near the bottom
203. m Penh 11 33 North 104 55 East 6 Pontianak 0 2 South 109 20 East 7 Pyongyang 39 al North 125 45 East 8 Qatar 25 17 North 51 32 East 3 Qyzylorda 44 48 North 65 28 East 4 Rangoon 16 47 North 96 10 East 6 Riyadh 24 38 North 46 43 East 3 Saigon 10 45 North 106 40 East 7 Sakhalin 46 58 North 142 42 East 9 Samarkand 39 40 North 66 48 East 4 Seoul 37 33 North 126 58 East 8 Shanghai 31 14 North 121 28 East 8 Singapore 1 17 North 103 51 East 6 Taipei 25 3 North 121 30 East 8 Tashkent 41 20 North 69 18 East 4 Tbilisi 41 43 North 44 49 East 2 Tehran 35 40 North 51 26 East 3 Thimphu 27 28 North 89 39 East 5 Tokyo 35 39 North 139 44 East 9 Ulaanbaatar 47 55 North 106 53 East 7 Urumqi 43 48 North 87 35 East 5 Vientiane 17 58 North 102 36 East 6 Vladivostok 43 10 North 131 56 East 8 Yakutsk 62 0 North 129 40 East 8 Yekaterinburg 56 51 North 60 36 East 4 Yerevan 40 11 North 44 30 East 2 Region Locality Latitude Longitude Time Zone Hemi Q 7 Degrees arc min sphere Degrees arc min hrs Atlantic Azores 37 44 North 25 40 West f STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 258 Bermuda 32 17 North 64 46 West 4 Canary 28 6 North 15 24 West 1 Cape Verde 14 55 North 23 31 West 1 Faeroe 62 1 North 6 46 West 0 Jan Mayen 70 59 North 8 5 West 0 Madeira 32 38 North 16 54 West 1 Reykjavik 64 9 North 21 51 West 1 South Georgia 54 16 South 36 32 West 2 St Helena 15 55 South 5 42 West 0 Stanley 51 42 South 57 51 West 3 Region Locality Latitude Lon
204. m b m a lt 0 5 Where m a and m b are the estimated red magnitudes of the brightest and second brightest members respectively of the cluster Number of galaxies in the group Only those galaxies within three magnitudes of the brightest galaxy are counted as members Angular diameter in arc minutes of the smallest circle containing the geometric centres of all galaxies in the group Total estimated red magnitude of those galaxies counted as group members Estimated red magnitude of the brightest galaxy Corrected redshift of the brightest galaxy Other designations of the galaxy group Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Galaxies belonging to the Hickson Group Displayed Value Component Semi major Semi minor Hubble Morphological Numerical Heliocentric Est rms Bmag Dia 24 5mag R mag 24 5 Dia of r 24 5 Color 24 5 BT asymptotic Description Galaxy in HCG group a i Semi major axis at 25 0mag arcsec 2 isophote Semi minor axis at 25 0mag arcsec 2 isophote Hubble Morphological type Numeric morphological type Heliocentric velocity Estimated rms in Rvhel B magnitude within 24 5mag arcsec 2 isophote Diameter of B 24 5mag arcsec 2 isophote R magnitude within 24 0mag arcsec 2 isophote Diameter of R 24 0mag arcsec 2 isophote Colour within the 24 5mag arcsec 2 isophote B_T_ asymptotic magnitude STAR Atlas PRO Us
205. may request a DSS Image with an equinox of B1950 or J2000 default DSS Survey You may request a DSS Image from either of the DSS Surveys Valid Surveys are 1 First generation 2 second generation survey 3 Check the 2 generation if no image available then use the 1 generation default 4 The Quick V Survey Download DSS Image Retrieving Digitized Sky Survey Images with Web Browser Interactively This command will start your Internet Web Browser and automatically retrieve the DSS image using your Web Browser STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 121 To integrate the DSS image into STAR Atlas PRO follow the instructions given in the web page that displays the DSS image These instructions will explain how to discard or store the DSS image Download amp Display Automatically retrieve the DSS image and then DSS Image display it with the option of keeping or discarding the image Note STAR Atlas PRO Advanced Edition is required for this function to work Downloading DSS Images for selected Celestial Objects The procedure locates the galaxy Messier 81 and then shows you how to download an image for that object You may of course use this procedure to locate objects of choice 1 Before proceeding set STAR Atlas PRO to Star Atlas mode so that you may locate objects with being restricted by the local horizon To do this choose Chart Prefs gt Star Atlas Choose Locate from the main men
206. mmediately to the right of this 10 Then click on Map lower centre A wide area chart is displayed the NGC104 can be seen at the centre of the chart 11 Now change the Field of View main menu to 2 degrees STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 189 12 You can now see that the object NGC 104 a Globular Cluster is much larger and many more stars are displayed Exercise 4 Desktop Right mouse button When working on the desktop clicking the right mouse button will bring a number of options to the user More of these options will be described later in this text but here are some examples to illustrate the use of this feature e Identifying objects e Chart Field of View Identifying objects 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO 2 Identify an object of interest on the desktop preferably a bright one such as a named star choosing a bright or large object will make this example simpler 3 Precisely centre the cursor over the object you have selected 4 Now click the right mouse button to display the popup menu 5 This menu has a number of commands Click the 3rd one from the top Identify Object 6 This will now bring up a new set of data relevant to the object of interest Amongst the data provided will be the name of the object There may be a number of items identified but the brightest one is indicated by the magnitude that is the object with the smallest magnitude number is likely to be the one you want to
207. n H Andernach s List of Astronomical Catalogues Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Locate gt 81 Arp Peculiar Galaxies Catalogue Description Contemporary Index into Halton Arp s Peculiar Galaxies VII 192 Arp s Peculiar Galaxies Webb 1996 A collection of unusual galaxies that seem to be either ejecting material or connected in some way to another Galaxy or a Quasar Astronomer Halton Arp made 338 photographs of unusual galaxies which resulted in this catalogue originally published in 1965 The ARP Catalogue screen contains a grid that STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 208 Number of Entries Menu Commands List Common commands Displayed Screen Data ARP Number Common Name Size Orientation Focal Length for CB245 Focal Length for ST6 Focal Length for ST5 Common Positional Data lists the component Galaxies that form the ARP object 338 Arp Objects 592 Individual Objects Description Displays a scrollable list of ARP objects Use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture
208. n as it moves through the sky over the next several weeks like the screen shot pictured here STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 63 The path of any Comet may be displayed and option may be altered so that you specify the Interval between each plot on the chart and the number of plots to display These settings allow you to control whether the Comet s position is plotted for every night and for how many nights we should plot its path through the sky Prior to proceeding the plot the path of a Comet let s look at the different ways in which you may select the Comet whose path you wish to plot Selecting the Comet from a list Follow this example procedure to plot the path of a Comet of your choice 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window Choose 2 Comets Choose List to display the Comet List window Choose the Comet you are interested in by double clicking on it Choose Plot Path from the menu bar along bottom Now from the Plot a Comet s Path through the Sky window choose the Plot Comet Path STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 64 The desktop chart displays the path of the Comet you selected each day for the next seven days Selecting a Comet with the Identify function More than often you wish to plot the path of a Comet that already appears on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart Follow this procedure 1 Right mouse click on the Comet 2
209. nce Cease current operations and restart at power on initialization Turn GPS On Turn GPS Off Powers up GPS and update the telescope time from the GPS data Get Optical Tube Assembly Temperature Turn Accessory Panel On Turn Accessory Panel Off Enable Dec Alt REC STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 167 x x xi v x x gt x vV Dec Alt PEC x x xiv AUTOSTAR ab c d Command Group x Vv x v Focuser Speed x vV Sleep Mode x x v x vV v V Park Telescope LX200 16 ab c d Command Group x x v x Fan Control x x vV x x x v v Field De Rotator x x viv x x vV v Home Position Off On Off Command Button 1 2 3 4 Sleep Wake Park Telescope Command Button On Off On Off Set Home Position Disable Dec Alt REC Enable Ra Az PEC Disable Ra Az PEC Command Description Set Focuser Speed to 1 Set Focuser Speed to 2 Set Focuser Speed to 3 Set Focuser Speed to 4 Sleep Telescope Wake up Sleeping Telescope Slew to Home Position Command Description Turn Fan On Turn Fan Off Turn De Rotator On Turn De Rotator Off Save the current telescope position as the Home position STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 168 Support for the FS2 Telescope Drive Unit STAR Atlas PRO supports the FS2 telescope drive unit To Setup the FS2 1 Align the FS2 to a reference star The FS2 will display M or E in the lower right corner of
210. nd Date amp Time values explained in further detail in the following sections Animating Jupiter s Moons through Time The positions of Jupiter s Moons may be advanced or reversed through Time You may begin at the current date and time or any date and time you care to set This feature also permits you to speed up Time so that you may animate the Moons orbiting Jupiter much faster than real time Using this feature you may see where the Moons will be located at some time in the future or the past Animation Controls amp Settings A number of settings on the Jovian Events window permit you to alter the options of the animation These options dictate how fast or slow you move through time how far you move First it is important to note the distinction between the term Time Step and Time Skip a term the animation controls reference Command Description Time Step Performs a single animation step using the animation options you have set Time Skip Uses the animation options you have set and continuously updates the animation display until the animation expires or you press ESC on you STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 59 keyboard Each of the animation controls found in the Animate section of the Jovian Events window are described in the following table Command Description Update Date Time Sets the date amp time settings to match the computer s clock Sync to CPU Synchronize the animation with
211. nitude Popular Name Object Size Comets Database Locate gt 2 Comets item s selection Click the Select Button Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description The Caldwell Catalogue number The Constellation in which this object resides A description of the type of celestial object This visual Magnitude of the celestial object The popular name of the celestial object The largest diameter of the celestial object arc minutes The Comet Database is used to store the Orbital Elements of Comets Orbital Elements can be directly imported into STAR Atlas PRO from a text file conforming to the MPC Format Minor Planetary Center Menu Commands Julian Date Calculator List Add Load Orbital Elements Calculate Comet Positions Description The Epoch of Orbit Elements is sometime given in the form of YYYY MM DD DDD Where Y is the year M is the Month and DD DDDD is the Day and decimal portion thereof If you are adding or updating the Epoch the Julian Date Calculator will convert this format to the correct Julian Date necessary for STAR Atlas PRO Displays a scrollable list of Comets from which you can select a certain Comet You can also click at the top of each grid column to sort the list either by MPC Designation order Comet Name order or Visual Magnitude Estimate order Double click to select a comet from the list
212. nner the telescope control features all work with the Hyper G Atlas The Hyper LEDA and PGC2003 database This section of the manual describes the Hyper LEDA database the astrophysical data it displays the many user commands available and how to use the inbuilt settings effectively The Hyper G Atlas contains the entire Principal Galaxy Catalogue 2003 PGC2003 a catalogue of about one million galaxies brighter than Magnitude 18 B Mag In addition the Hyper LEDA contains a further 0 5 million objects from the Hyperleda catalogue HyperLEDA including more than 33 000 Quasi Stellar Objects and 137 000 other point sources non stars There are also more than 3 million name references in the Hyper LEDA Many galaxies are known by more than one name As an example let s look at Messier 81 NGC 3031 this galaxy is also known by the following catalogue names MESSIER81 NGC3031 CGCG333 007 MCG 12 10 010 2MASXJ09553318 6903549 LGG176 G93 003 IRAS09514 6918 KPG218A PGC028630 UGC05318 The Hyper LEDA contains positional information with a typical accuracy better than 2 arc seconds The total number of celestial objects in the Hyper LEDA is 1 551 560 objects consisting of 1 377 692 Galaxies 2 859 Objects consisting of several galaxies 33 221 Quasi Stellar Objects QSOs 137 788 Extra galactic objects of unidentified nature or extended sources 1 551 560 Celestial objects and 3 098 879 Name References STA
213. ns Displays the current state of the Filter Enabled or Disabled Enables the Filter settings and returns you to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 109 Disable Filter Disables the Filter settings and returns you to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart Example Filter Setting To display only Galaxies and Planetary Nebula proceed as follows 1 Choose the Chart Prefs command 2 Choose the Object Filter command 3 Choose the All Off command which then removes all the tick marks from each filter option this is a shortcut 4 Now enable the V Galaxies option so there is a tick mark present 5 Also enable the V Planetary Nebulae option so there is a tick mark present 6 Choose the Apply Filter command and you are then returned to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart with the filter applied notice in the STAR Atlas PRO Status display the word FILTER appears reminding you that a filter is in effect To subsequently disable the filter and resume normal charting follow this procedure 1 Choose the Chart Prefs command 2 Choose the Object Filter command 3 Choose the Disable Filter command and you are then returned to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart with the filter removed and charting returned to normal Chart Legend Options Each celestial object displayed on a chart is represented by a different symbol painted in a particular colour Ea
214. ntred on the object s location or use any other of STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 118 the menu commands to perform other commands for the object you have selected such as Goto to slew your Telescope to the object 8 Choose the Export to Browser command to create a HTML Web Browser file that you may store and print Export to Browser command The Export to Browser command exports the list of Target Objects to an output file that may be viewed with your web browser program like Internet Explorer Mozilla The output file is written to your Windows Desktop and is named ObservationList html If you have configured STAR Atlas PRO to use your web browser then STAR Atlas PRO will display the report file it created on your desktop otherwise go to your Windows Desktop and open the ObservationList html file to display the exported list of Target Objects Horizon Cut off Angle option The Horizon Cut off Angle setting permits you to exclude objects from qualifying in the Observable list when they are too low on the Horizon Set the number of degrees above the Horizon by increasing the Elevation from Horizon Degrees setting to an angle you consider suitable for your observing site A value of around 15 is normally suitable Retrieving Images from the Digitized Sky Survey STAR Atlas PRO s Digitized Sky Survey DSS Interface DSS Interface uses your Internet connection to retrieve display and store images from the Spa
215. nu commands that control the FS2 Alternatively you may right click on the desktop chart then choose FS2 from the popup menu and then the following commands are available from the FS2 menu Centre on Scope receives the co ordinates from the FS2 and centres the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart at the location where the telescope is pointing too Slew to Mouse use this method to slew your telescope to the celestial location indicated by the position of your mouse pointer available from the FS2 menu when you right mouse click on the desktop chart and select the FS2 menu Track Scope tracks the pointing position of the FS2 with a cross hair eyepiece ccd reticle on the desktop chart The reticle floats across the desktop chart indicating the position that your Telescope is pointing too Stop Slew halts any slew operation in progress Options displays the telescope options window where you may selected the default cross hair reticle or a Eyepiece s field of view or CCD Camera s field of view Control Panel opens the STAR Atlas PRO display panel for the FS2 controller The display panel allows you to set the FS2 speed rate to 1 2 3 or 4 There are four buttons for moving the scope in N S E W directions A stop button halts the scope You may also toggle the FS2 pointing precision mode between High and Low precision STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 170 STAR Atlas PRO provides features for Telesc
216. o that only the stars that meet the rules you have defined are listed Button Commands List all Variable Stars Removes any filter rules you have applied and displays the entire list of Stars Constellation Order Sorts any variable stars listed in the grid into Constellation Order HIP Order Sorts any variable stars listed in the grid into Hipparcos Order Select Returns you to the main window with the variable star you have selected by left mouse clicking the relevant grid line Filter Commands V Apply Magnitude Filter When enabled the Magnitude range specified at the Maximum Magnitude and Minimum Magnitude settings will apply to the list and only those Variable stars that fall within the Magnitude range are listed V Apply Variability Period When enabled the Period of Variability range specified at the Maximum Period and Minimum Period settings will apply to the list only those Variable stars that fall within this range are listed V List only New Variable Stars list only STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 227 Find HIP Find Star in Hipparcos Catalogue Common commands Displayed Screen Data Hipparcos Identifier Hipparcos Variability Type Variable Type in GCVS NSV Spectral Type Magnitude at Max Limit Flag Magnitude at Min Mean Period Epoch JD 2440000 New Variable Flag Variable Star Name Period from Literature Epoch from Literature Mag At Max from L
217. object s Visual Magnitude is shown The object s popular name Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT Description The Chooser List permits you to quickly choose the Planet of interest Keyboard Shortcut Note Use a combination of Cursor Up and Cursor Down keys and then the ENTER key to select a Planet from the list STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 239 Ephemeris Common commands Displayed Value Object Apparent Magnitude Apparent Equatorial Diameter Elongation Phase Angle Phase Distance Parallax Planetary Data Lists an Ephemerides of the Planetary positions which may then be printed Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Note Copy to Obs is not available for Planetary Objects Description Planet Name Calculated Visual Magnitude Apparent equatorial diameter of the Planet Angular Separation between the Planet and the Sun This is the angle between the Sun Planet and Earth The object s current Phase expressed as a percentage 0 100 A 100 phase indicates a fully illuminated planetary disc Current distance to the Planet from Earth Expressed in Astronomical Units A U or kilometres when the Moon is the selected object This value displays the current amount of Parallax as observed from the Observer s geographical location Expressed in arc seconds The Plan
218. objects that you may enter yourself The point on the celestial sphere that is directly above the observer STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 252 Acknowledgements Following is a list of Citations and Acknowledgements Assistance in documentation and how to documents Ian Buttfield Australia Assistance in telescope testing Philip Murtagh United Kingdom Tom Barrett Australia Andrew Shelley Australia Gary amp Mai Kopff Australia Dermot Hogan United Kingdom Assistance in module testing and Comet testing Scott Alder Australia The Astronomical Data Center ADC NASA Goddard Space Flight Center G Paturel Observatoire de Lyon France and the LEDA Team for permission to use information from the Lyon Meudon Extragalactic Database LEDA PGC1996 Version The database of over 100 000 galaxies has been developed with the help of many people including Becker M Bottinelli L Buta R J Corwin H G Jr Davoust E de Vaucouleurs A de Vaucouleurs G Durand N Fouqu P Garnier R Kogoshvili N Gouguenheim L Hallet N Marthinet M C Miyauchi Isobe N Odewahn S Petit C Prugniel Ph Andernach H Simien F Takase B Mamon G and the following Institutions INSU CNRS DRED Conseil R gional Rh ne Alpes Observatoire de Lyon Observatoire de Paris Meudon Centre de Donn es Stellaires de Strasbourg LEDA maintain a web site at http www obs univ lyon1 fr The Guide Star Catalog Version 1 1 ACT
219. of add an object to the Observation Planner is to find an object on the desktop chart 1 2 Right click with the cursor on the object and go to Identify Object A menu comes up listing the Objects located at the cursor Select the object of interest via the button Select Object at the bottom Click Copy to Obs This will add the object into the Observation Planner METHOD FOUR ADDING FROM A DATABASE MENU The final way to add an object into the Observation Planner is by using the Astronomical Database Manager to locate objects and then add them into the Observation Planner Here is an example 1 Click on Locate this opens the Astronomical Database Manager which gives you access to all of the STAR Atlas PRO Astronomical Catalogue data Click on any of the many database menus say Star Cross Reference From the List command select any object say 10 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 199 4 Now click Copy to Obs and again the selected object is added to the Observation Planner 5 This option is available in any one of the STAR Atlas PRO databases Exercise 10 Observation Planner Tonight s Viewing Using the Observation Planner to find Target Objects for tonight s Observing is a great feature and a little time learning to use it will give great rewards Here is how you can gain maximum value from this section of the program You can use the Observation Planner in your computer
220. of the object you wish to download a DSS image for The centre of the resulting DSS image will be exactly where you have now clicked On the right click menu choose On Line Data and then STScI Digitised Sky Survey The DSS interface window will appear which provides you with several options to choose from before the DSS Image is downloaded across the Internet The most important of these options is the size of the DSS Image to obtain normally this is the only option you need care about Typically an image size of around 10x10 arc minutes is normally adequate Choose the Download amp Display DSS Image button STAR Atlas PRO will now retrieve the image for the part of the sky you have selected during this time a progress indicator window is displayed until the image is downloaded The DSS Image will appear in a window You may choose to Store Image or Discard Image If you choose to keep the image STAR Atlas PRO will display an outline of the region that the image covers on the chart Charting the location of DSS Images from your personal DSS Image Library All DSS images that you choose to keep are accumulated in the Images folder on your computer and linked into STAR Atlas PRO The outline of each DSS image then appears on a chart when the Display DSS Image Outlines option is enabled As you peruse the sky you will come across the boxed outlines of each DSS image you have collected Place the cursor in this
221. ogue Hipparcos Un Solved Variable Stars Catalogue Number of Entries 13 326 101 258 1 551 560 5 250 338 Arp Objects 592 individual objects 109 349 15 049 100 Groups 463 individual objects 147 1 143 231 1 039 8 no limit 160 9 110 118 218 2 712 5 542 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 205 Hipparcos Visual Double Stars Catalogue 41 255 Tycho Catalogue 1 058 332 Tycho 2 Catalogue 2 430 468 Star Names 1 535 SAO HD GC DM Cross Reference of Stars 258 944 Number of objects in STAR Atlas PRO without the 1 634 772 Guide Star Catalogue installed Number of Deep Sky objects in STAR Atlas PRO 139 124 without the Guide Star Catalogue installed Number of objects in STAR Atlas PRO 24 417 712 The GSC catalogue provides multiple entries for some objects The number of unique objects found in the GSC is 15 368 650 Stars and 3 299 391 Non Stellar Objects non stars totalling 18 668 041 unique objects Limiting Magnitudes of Astronomical Catalogues This table lists the faintest celestial objects found in STAR Atlas PRO Stars to Faintest Faintest Magnitude Stars Deep Sky Objects STAR Atlas PRO StarLITE Edition 11 5 15 20 24 20 STAR Atlas PRO Standard Edition 11 5 15 20 24 20 STAR Atlas PRO Advanced Edition 15 5 17 26 24 20 Description of Astronomical Catalogues Abell Galaxy Clusters Locate gt 79 Abell Galaxy Clusters Catalogue A Catalogue of Rich C
222. on of each of the settings that are displayed on the Telescope Setup tab Port Options Description Default Setting Port The COM Port i e COM1 COM2 COM3 or COM1 COM4 defines which of your Computer s Serial RS 232 Communications Ports i e Com Port is used to communicate with your Telescope Baud Rate Baud Rate defines the speed at which your 9600 computer and Telescope exchange information The default may differ Value should be set to that required by on different your Telescope communications port Telescope Drivers Parity Parity is one of Odd Even or None EVEN Value should be set to that required by your Telescope communications port Data Bits The number of data bits 7 or 8 Value 8 should be set to that required by your Telescope communications port Stop Bits The number of Stop Bits Value should be 1 set to that required by your Telescope communications port Step 12 Fine tuning Telescope Drivers A number of Telescope driver options permit you to tune STAR Atlas PRO communications with your Telescope STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 26 The Interval between Position Updates setting This Interval between Position Updates option determines how fast STAR Atlas PRO communicates with your Telescope and updates the Telescope pointing position on the desktop chart This affects how fast a chart is updated when slewing a robotic telescope or re positioning your DSC equipped Telescope with the
223. on to display Non Stellar Objects with a cross symbol on the displayed chart rather than as a Star default STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 102 Chart with Non Stellar Objects Chart with Non Stellar Objects disabled default enabled default The size of the cross symbols are proportional to the objects Magnitude e g a brighter object will display a larger cross than a fainter one Display Multiple GSC Entries The Guide Star Catalogue GSC contains multiple entries for the same object from different GSC plates STAR Atlas PRO does not display the same GSC object from different GSC plates except when you enable this option Multiple entries for the same GSC object nominally occur at the edges of GSC photographic plates in the area where adjoining GSC plates overlap Enable this option if you wish to display multiple entries for the same object from adjacent GSC Plates Enable Auto Star Size When Enabled default STAR Atlas PRO determines the optimum size of Stars based on the current desktop chart Enable Pin Point Stars When enabled this option disables star sizes and reduces all Stars to the smallest possible point on the computer display Size of Brightest Stars The Star Size value allows you to set the maximum size in pixels that the brightest stars will appear on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 103 Star sizes are based on the magnitude of the star The lar
224. onomy Inc Time Zones and Geographical Locations of World Cities Region Locality Latitude Longitude Time Zone o Hemi 5 Degrees arc min sphere Degrees arc min hrs Africa Abidjan 5 19 North 4 2 West 0 Accra 5 33 North 0 13 West 0 Addis Ababa 9 2 North 38 42 East 2 Algiers 36 47 North 3 3 East 0 Asmera 15 20 North 38 53 East 2 Bamako 12 39 North 8 0 West 0 Bangui 4 22 North 18 35 East 1 Banjul 13 28 North 16 39 West 1 Bissau 11 51 North 15 35 West 1 Blantyre 15 47 South 35 0 East 2 Brazzaville 4 16 South 15 17 East 1 Bujumbura 3 23 South 29 22 East 1 Cairo 30 3 North 31 15 East 2 Casablanca 33 39 North 7 35 West 0 Ceuta 35 53 North 5 19 West 0 Conakry 9 31 North 13 43 West 0 Dakar 14 40 North 17 26 West 1 Dar es Salaam 6 48 South 39 17 East 2 Djibouti 11 36 North 43 9 East 2 Douala 4 3 North 9 42 East 0 El Aaiun 27 9 North 13 12 West 0 Freetown 8 30 North 13 15 West 0 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 254 Region America Gaborone Harare Johannesburg Kampala Khartoum Kigali Kinshasa Lagos Libreville Lome Luanda Lubumbashi Lusaka Malabo Maputo Maseru Mbabane Mogadishu Monrovia Nairobi Ndjamena Niamey Nouakchott Ouagadougou Porto Novo Sao Tome Timbuktu Tripoli Tunis Windhoek Locality Adak Anchorage Anguilla Antigua Araguaina Aruba Asuncion Barbados Belem Belize Boa Vista Bogota Boise Buenos Aires Cambridge Bay Cancun Caracas Catamarca Cayenne Cayman Chicago
225. ons all which may become a little overwhelming during initial uses While STAR Atlas PRO is designed so that basic operation may be achieved quickly you should plan on spending several evenings or more learning all the features of STAR Atlas PRO that suit your Astronomy The section of the manual describes the initial steps involved in learning how to use STAR Atlas PRO Understanding the desktop layout the menus and the basic ways in which you can control how star charts are displayed are all described in the following section of this manual The STAR Atlas PRO desktop The STAR Atlas PRO desktop consists of the displayed chart the menu system that floats on the desktop chart a status display along top of the STAR Atlas PRO application window and popup menus that appear when you right mouse click on the desktop chart Many commands may also be selected from with keyboard however a mouse is required to selected celestial objects and indicate positions on charts Along the top edge of the STAR Atlas PRO application window pictured is the Status Display Panel that displays information about the current chart STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 31 In the title bar of the STAR Atlas PRO application window your STAR Atlas PRO software version number is displayed along with the celestial co ordinates of your mouse pointer When ever you right mouse click on the desktop chart area a popup menu
226. ons of Jupiter s Galilean Moons in real time as they orbit Jupiter Comet observers will enjoy STAR Atlas PRO accuracy when it comes to plotting the positions of Comets as they move through the sky If you re under the Stars and don t know where to look next STAR Atlas PRO s integrated Observation Planner collates and plans your observations in advance saving precious time and keeping you organised when it comes to observing under the stars If you don t own a telescope with STAR Atlas PRO you can still experience the night sky Click anywhere on a chart and watch STAR Atlas PRO retrieve and display an image for that part of the sky from Palomar Digitised Sky Survey over the Internet Images you choose to keep are stored as part of the STAR Atlas PRO database and remain on your computer ready to look at whenever you choose Slew your telescope to any celestial object quickly and efficiently STAR Atlas PRO provides an easy to use control system for automated telescopes and telescopes equipped with Digital Setting Circles Simply click on any celestial object choose Slew and your telescope automatically moves and points too that object STAR Atlas PRO supports many popular makes and models of telescopes including Meade Celestron and Argo Navis STAR Atlas PRO is packed with more than 1 500 Megabytes of astronomical data Astronomical data may be browsed listed sorted and searched making it easy to STAR A
227. operties option the OK button may remain disabled ghosted forcing you to set Properties first See the ASCOM Documentation for further information and clarification ASCOM Telescope Drivers ACL based telescopes Comsoft PC TCS Optical Guidance DFM Engineering other research grade instruments Astrometric Instruments SkyGuide AstroOptik research telescopes Astro Physics GTO mounts Celestron NexStar 60GT 80Gt 114GT 130GT 4GT 5 5i 8 8i 8 GPS 9 5 GPS 11 GPS CGE 800 CGE 925 CGE 1100 CGE 1400 Advanced C5 SGT C6 RGT C8 SGT C8 NGT C9 1 4 SGT C10 NGT Ultima 2000 76GT 102GT Advanced C11 SGT C20 and NS8i SE Current firmware required Gemini controller levels 1 3 Generic LX200 type many emulations such as Bartels FS2 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 28 Meade LX200 LX200GPS and Autostar Meade specific features supported Plain Old Telescope Hub POTH with Dome control ServoCAT SkyCommander Takahashi Temma Vixen SkySensor 2000 PC See the ASCOM Standards web site for a full list of supported telescopes focusers and domes Step 13 Enabling Internet Communications If you have access to the Internet then you may choose to enable the STAR Atlas PRO Internet Communications This add on module allows STAR Atlas PRO to automatically retrieve data over the Internet These data include e The latest Comet Orbital Elements e The latest Asteroid Orbital Elements e
228. opes equipped with Digital Setting Circles DSC STAR Atlas PRO will track the pointing position of your Telescope with a cross hair reticle on the desktop chart The cross hairs reticle floats across the desktop chart indicating the position that your Telescope is pointing too In no time at all you ll be locating dozens of celestial objects just by watching the computer monitor and moving your telescope to centre on celestial objects that appear on STAR Atlas PRO charts This feature is usually the only feature that is required to find celestial objects easily and quickly as moving your Telescope also moves the STAR Atlas PRO reticle on the desktop chart Finding celestial objects is now as easy as watching the computer screen and moving your Telescope until the reticle is positioned over the celestial object of interest Now your Telescope is pointing at the celestial object Each of the two Telescope control commands for Telescopes equipped with Digital Setting Circles are explained in the following text STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 171 The Center on Scope command The Center on Scope command centres the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart at the current pointing position of your Telescope The Track Scope command The Track Scope command tracks the pointing position of your Telescope with a reticle on the desktop chart The reticle moves across the desktop chart indicating the position that your Telescope is
229. ort Moresby Rarotonga Saipan Tahiti Tarawa Tongatapu Truk Wake Wallis Yap 21 15 17 21 19 13 58 30 14 12 32 25 10 25 17 18 31 North South South North South North South North North South North 158 147 159 145 149 173 175 151 166 176 138 13 10 46 45 34 10 47 37 10 East East West East West East East East East West East 10 9 10 9 9 11 11 10 11 11 9 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 261
230. os Catalogue Hipparcos Visual Double amp Multiple Stars Hipparcos Periodic Variable Stars Hipparcos Un Solved Variable Stars Tycho Stellar Catalogue Guide Star Catalogue V1 1 GSC ACT Description Over than 9 100 entries with notes for each Star Catalogue with extensive high precision data of the brightest 118 218 Stars 18 644 Double and Multiple Star Systems Over 2 700 Periodic Variable Stars Over 5 500 Un solved Variable Stars Precision data for more 1 058 332 1 million Stars including spectral colour information for each star Revised edition of the original GSC with increased position accuracy The number of unique objects in the GSC is 15 368 650 Stars and 3 299 391 Non Stellar Objects non stars STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 204 totalling 18 668 041 unique objects Population of Astronomical Catalogues This table lists the number of celestial objects found in each astronomical catalogue Catalogues NGC2000 0 LEDA Galaxy Database Hyper LEDA Galaxy Database Rich Clusters of Galaxies ARP Peculiar Galaxies Caldwell Catalogue Barnard s Catalogue Quasars AGN and BL Lac Objects Hickson s Compact Groups of Galaxies Globular Star Clusters in the Milky Way Strasbourg ESO Planetary Nebulae Supernova Remnants Star Clusters and Associations Planetary Database Comet Database Yale Bright Star Catalogue Hipparcos Catalogue Hipparcos Periodic Variable Stars Catal
231. ost Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Arecibo General Catalog Andromeda Galaxies I IV Arakelian Galaxies Arakelian Arp Peculiar Galaxies Arp Dwarf and Dwarf Candidate Galaxies Binggeli Tarenghi Sandage Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies Zwicky Catalog of Galaxies behind the Milky Way Saito Dwarf Galaxies David Dunlap Observatory Dressler Cluster of Galaxies Dressler Durham UKST Survey DUKST Galaxies behind the Milky Way Verheijen ESO optical sources ESO ESO Uppsala Galaxies Leuberts Valentijn Let s suppose we are looking for a particular galaxy from the David Dunlop Observatory Catalogue of Dwarf Galaxies and we only know that its catalogue number is 50 Then how do you find this object in the Hyper LEDA Follow this procedure to demonstrate 1 Open the STAR Atlas PRO Astronomical Database Manager using the Locate command 2 Choose command 41 Hyper LEDA Catalogues 3 The Catalogue Name Search window is now displayed double click the entry DDO Dwarf Galaxies David Dunlop Observatory from the scrollable list 4 You are now returned to the Astronomical Database Manager window with the cursor positioned in the Find Object input field The beginning part of the Find Object input field is already completed for you w
232. outhern supplementary clusters Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description A Original Northern Abell Catalogue S Supplementary Southern Clusters Abell Catalogue Number Abell s Cluster classification I Irregular R Regular IR and RI intermediate mean type with differences between two types or uncertain mean type with differences between three types or uncertain Bautz Morgan Cluster classification STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 207 Count of Cluster Members Cluster Redshift Observer Galactic Longitude Galactic Latitude Richness Distance Class Magnitude for 1 Member For 3 Member For 10 Member Notes Common Positional Data ARP Peculiar Galaxies mean type with differences between two types or uncertain mean type with differences between three types or uncertain Number of cluster members between Magnitude for 3 Member and Magnitude for 3 Member 2 Cluster Redshift Observer s Initial A Abell C Corwin O Olowin Galactic Longitude Galactic Latitude Abell s Cluster Richness classification Abell s Cluster Distance Class Total Visual magnitude for the first ranked cluster member Total Visual magnitude for the third ranked cluster member Total Visual magnitude for the tenth ranked cluster member Provided courtesy of H G Corwin to H Andernach The notes were labelled A145 i
233. pe of Galaxy Uranometria Chart Number Right Ascension co ordinates of the object s location Declination co ordinates of the object s location VII 220A Barnard s Catalogue of 349 Dark Objects in the Sky Barnard 1927 This catalogue was created based on the original published catalogue by Barnard E E 1927 Carnegie Institution of Washington A photographic Atlas of selected regions of the Milky Way The catalogue contains positions of 349 Barnard Objects The objects with numbers from 1 to 175 are classified in the first Barnard catalogue 1919ApJ 49 1B three of the objects in that list have been omitted here Nos 52 131a and 172 because these objects had been listed twice The objects from Barnard s second list are numbered from 201 to 370 there are therefore no objects having the numbers from 176 to 200 Their positions were determined by Miss Calvert 349 Description Displays a scrollable list of entries from the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 210 Catalogue which may be sorted into Catalogue Identity Order or Common Name Order You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Common commands Common Command
234. play labels for these catalogues of deep sky objects The catalogue of Milky Way Globular Star Clusters the catalogue of ESO Planetary Nebula and the catalogue of Supernova Remnants Displays Labels for User Objects Catalogue Selection Method options The Catalogue Selection Method determines how STAR Atlas PRO decides which celestial objects to display from which astronomical catalogues when displaying charts The Catalogue Selection Method may be altered to suit an observer s specific application Certain Catalogues may be enabled when a star chart s Field of View reaches a certain value that you may set or catalogues of celestial objects may be charted regardless of the chart s field of view Menu Command Auto FOV Manual Description This the default setting which allows STAR Atlas PRO to decide which celestial objects to display based on your current chart settings This is the STAR Atlas PRO default setting This commands allows you to manually configure the Field of View for which celestial objects from astronomical catalogues are displayed on charts Enabling this option displays the Field of View selectors for each astronomical catalogue Proceed to set the Field of View for each catalogue to suit your requirements This option allows you to manually choose which astronomical catalogues to use when STAR Atlas PRO draws star charts regardless of the star chart s field of view
235. play the CCD Camera Reticle window Single click the Telescope entry from the Telescopes scrollable list Also single click the CCD entry from the CCD scrollable list The Field of View of the Telescope and CCD Camera combination you have selected is displayed at the bottom of the window Choose the Draw Reticle command to return to the Comms and Reticle Options window Now choose the Close command to close the window Now you have setup the reticle that you wish to use all subsequent Telescope commands will default to use the CCD Reticle choose Center on Scope from the Telescope Menu to display the reticle Support for Meade LX200 Telescopes STAR Atlas PRO s Meade LX200 driver supports Meade s High and Low Precision Telescope pointing modes Meade s Low Precision Mode provides Telescope Pointing accuracy to 1 10th of an arc minute in Right Ascension R A and to the nearest 1 arc minute in Declination Meade s High Precision Mode provides Telescope Pointing accuracy to 1 arc second in both Right Ascension R A and Declination Dec High amp Low Precision Telescope Pointing Modes 1 Choose Scope from the main floating menu 2 Choose Options from the Scope Control menu that is displayed after a successful connection is made to the Telescope STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 164 3 Click the High Low Precision Mode button to toggle STAR Atlas PRO and the Telescope between High and Low Pr
236. pointing too This procedure assumes you have already performed the necessary alignment and or setup of your DSC 1 Begin by opening the connection to the telescope if you have not already done so Choose the Scope command on STAR Atlas PRO main menu OR 1 Right click on the desktop chart then choose the telescope menu from the popup menu and then choose the Connect option 2 Choose Track Scope from the Scope Control menu 3 Now move your Telescope and notice that the cross hairs reticle follows your Telescope movement on the desktop chart 4 STAR Atlas PRO will continue tracking the position of your Telescope until you press the ESC key on your keyboard or until you right click on the desktop and choose Stop Autotracking from the popup menu Also see the section Fine Tuning Telescope drivers Support for the Argo Navis NGC superMAX The Argo Navis is a Digital Telescope Computer which allows users to accurately and rapidly locate interesting objects in the sky when used in conjunction with STAR Atlas PRO Used on its own the Argo Navis is a great adjunct to astronomical viewing however used in conjunction with STAR Atlas PRO it significantly enhances your range of options while searching the sky STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 172 Setting up the Argo Navis to work with STAR Atlas PRO is quite simple and this tutorial describes one approach to obtaining optimal settings
237. popup menu To display the popup menu 1 Right mouse click on the desktop chart Changing the Chart s Field of View Zooming You may change a chart s Field of View at any time Decreasing the chart s Field of View effectively Zooms In to the chart while increasing the chart s Field of View effectively Zooms Out and displays a wider area of the chart There are several ways that you may access the Chart Field of View feature From the Main Menu 1 Choose the Field of View command From the Popup Menu 1 Right click and choose Chart Field of View from the popup menu From the keyboard 1 Press the F key on your keyboard STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 42 Panning and Center Chart There are several methods you may use to move around on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart Panning the Chart Use any one of your Arrowed Cursor keys on your keyboard to pan a chart in either direction Cursor Up t Pans the chart to the North Cursor Down 4 Pans the chart to the South Cursor Left lt Pans the chart to the West Cursor Right gt Pans the chart to the East Center Chart To re centre the chart to any celestial location you point at with your mouse pointer 1 Choose a location on the chart and right mouse click 2 Choose Center Chart from the popup menu and the chart is re centred at the location you pointed too Center Chart with a new Chart Field of View You may re centre the chart to any celes
238. r brightness range This screen lists each Star that form a Double or Multiple Star System The catalogue lists all known double and multiple stars from the Hipparcos catalogue totalling 41 255 entries there are 18 644 different Multiple Star Systems Stars are listed by their CCDM Catalogue of the Components of the Double and Multiple Stars catalogue number The CCDM number is constructed from the celestial R A and Dec co ordinates of the star system in the form HHMMm DDMM Querying the database The following procedure demonstrates how you may query STAR Atlas PRO to list Double amp Multiple Stars that fall within a certain Magnitude range 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 55 Hipparcos Double Stars and the Hipparcos collection of Double and Multiple Stars window is displayed 3 Choose List from the menu 4 Enable the V Apply Magnitude Filter option 5 Set the Maximum Magnitude option to 4 0 6 Set the Minimum Magnitude option to 4 5 7 Now choose the Apply Filter Rules Now button and a list of Stars that meet the Magnitude range 4 0 4 5 you specified is displayed STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 86 8 Choose a Star from the list a single mouse click will select it 9 Now choose the Select command The Hipparcos collection of Double and Multiple Stars window is now displayed and contains detailed information about
239. ral options you may choose from to install the Celestial Image Library Options include installing the Celestial Image Library to your hard disk drive which is recommended for best performance or to read the images from your DVD ROM drive to save space on your computer Decide on which of the following Celestial Image Library Install options is best suited to you and then proceed to follow the directions for installation STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 18 e Install Option 1 Install the entire Celestial Image Library onto your computer s Hard Drive recommended for convenience and best performance e Install Option 2 Setup STAR Atlas PRO to read the Celestial Image Library from your computer s DVD ROM drive each time data is required from it this method saves the most space on your computer s hard drive Install Option 1 Installing the Celestial Image Library to your Hard Drive Fast access method recommended You may install the entire Celestial Image Library onto your computer s hard drive by copying the entire contents of the ImageLibrary folder from the install disc to a location on your computers hard disk drive Follow this procedure as a guide 1 Open Windows Explorer by going to your Windows Start Button then choose Programs and then Windows Explorer 2 Next drag the ImageLibrary folder from the install disc and drop it in the C STARPRO folder 3 After installing the ImageLibrary you will
240. rc minute and DEC Deg Minutes Eg 10475 3323 equates too 10h 47 30 33 Deg 23 41 255 Stars Description List is a sophisticated program that can be used to list only certain Double Stars Upon opening this program lists all of the Double and Multiple Star systems from the Hipparcos Catalogue There are then up to 3 filters you can apply to the list of stars so that only the stars that meet the Filter you have defined will be displayed in the grid on the window STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 225 Find CCDM Find HIP Find Star in Hipparcos Catalogue Common commands Displayed Screen Data CCDM Identifier Button Commands List all Entries Removes any filter rules you have applied and displays the entire list of Stars CCDM Order Sorts any variable stars listed in the grid into CCDM Order HIP Order Sorts any variable stars listed in the grid into Hipparcos Order Select Returns you to the main window with the variable star you have selected by left mouse clicking the relevant grid line Filter Commands V Apply Magnitude Filter Enables the magnitude range you specify on the Maximum and Minimum Magnitude settings will apply to the list of variable stars and only those variable stars that fall within this range will be displayed V Apply Variability Period Filter Rules If you select this tick box the Period range you specify on the Maximum and Minimum Period
241. re displayed when the chart Field of View is large As you Zoom In too the sky or reduce the chart s Field of View fainter and fainter celestial objects are subsequently displayed The automatic Magnitude Limit that applies to charts by default may also be overwritten and set to a Limiting Magnitude of your choice In addition you may also set STAR Atlas PRO to ignore Magnitudes altogether and display all celestial objects regardless of how faint they may be The default setting of the Magnitude Limit setting is Auto To set the chart Magnitude Limit proceed as follows 1 Choose Mag Filter from the main menu STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 47 2 Choose Set Limit Manually which then displays the Set Magnitude Limit settings 3 Click on one of the Preset Magnitudes or enter a Magnitude value into the Magnitude input value and then choose Close amp Redraw The Magnitude Limit is now displayed in the STAR Atlas PRO Status Display Panel and highlighted to remind you that you have manually set the chart s Magnitude Limit Finding the Time of Astronomical Twilight Astronomical Twilight occurs when the Sun has set 18 below the horizon This is the Time when the Sky is said to be dark enough for Astronomical Observations To find when Dark Skies begin 1 Choose Clocks from the main menu 2 The time of Astronomical Twilight is displayed in the Clocks window choose Close to return to the desktop cha
242. reting Postscript charts created by STAR Atlas PRO STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 12 e USB port with USB to RS 232 Serial Port converter optional for telescope control Check 2 Operating System Requirements STAR Atlas PRO works on these versions of Windows e Windows Vista e Windows XP e Windows 2000 with Service Pack 1 or later e Windows Millennium Edition ME e Windows 95 no longer supported Installing STAR Atlas PRO Step 1 Agree to the End User License Agreement Before installing STAR Atlas PRO software be sure you have read and understood the End User License Agreement that accompanies your copy of STAR Atlas PRO Installing STAR Atlas PRO confirms your acceptance of the terms and conditions stated in the End User License Agreement STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 13 Step 2 Check your current Graphics Adapter setting oof Display Settings Ea Monitor Drag the icons to match your monitors Identify Monitors 1 Generic PnP Monitor on Mobile Intel R 965 Express Chipset Family v Resolution Colors Low J High Highest G2bit 1440 by 900 pixels How do I get the best display Advanced Settings C Gea Prior to installing STAR Atlas PRO check that your computer s display adapter is set to a resolution of 800 x 600 or higher STAR Atlas PRO requires a minimum resolution of 800x600 however higher resolutions such as 1440x9
243. rmation is sorted into various categories determined by the Category column Following is an explanation of the Star Information Categories Category Description C Colour information D Double and multiple star information DYN Dynamical parallaxes information G Group membership information M Miscellaneous information N Star name information P Polarisation data R Stellar radii or diameters RV Radial and or rotational velocities S Spectral data SB Spectroscopic binary data VAR Variability information Displaying more detailed information for bright stars In this procedure we continue from the steps described in the preceding text to find further information for the star named Antares 6 Continuing from the previous section choose the Find Star in Hipparcos Catalogue command The Hipparcos catalogue window is now displayed with some of the most accurate stellar data ever made available The window displays the precise stellar measurements of Alpha Scorpius taken by the Hipparcos Satellite Precise Measurements displayed include Magnitude Parallax Mean BT and VT Magnitudes B V Colour Spectral Type Proper Motion and other information Displaying Double Star information for bright stars In this procedure we continue from the steps described in the preceding text to find if there is any Double Star information for the star named Antares 7 Continuing from the previous section choose the Double Star command STAR
244. rom time to time The following information will assist you in understanding the ways in which star charts can be displayed STAR Atlas PRO provides you with two main methods of drawing star charts PLANETARIUM CHART MODE and STAR ATLAS CHART MODE These two options provide a wide range of choices in examining the sky it is hoped that the information provided in this document will assist and help you to have great viewing STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 182 Planetarium Chart Mode draws star charts like a planetarium that displays your entire Sky from horizon to horizon relevant for the current time and date It is the optimal view for those exploring the sky as it appears from your location Star Atlas Chart Mode covers the whole sky and ignores the local horizon In this mode charts appear like those in a printed star atlas Thus if you are doing a search of the sky you may need this mode if the object you are after is not in your visible sky Users may choose the charting mode that best suits their needs and switch between modes at any time when using STAR Atlas PRO There are 3 separate issues reviewed in this section of the tutorials e Chart Modes e Filtering the size of objects and Magnitude e Use of the right mouse button Star Atlas Chart Mode Star Charting Mode The Star Atlas Mode allows you to examine the sky at any time and in any part of the globe It is not necessary to have the object you are
245. rt STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 48 Identifying Objects and displaying their Astro physical Data The identity and information for each celestial object displayed on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart is easily revealed ip 1528 1545 Center Chart Center amp Zoom Identify Field OF View Locate Object Argo Navis gt Draw CCD FOY Draw Eyepiece FOW Add Text On Line Data b Close If you point to a celestial object right mouse click the top left corner of the popup menu appears at the precise location that your mouse cursor is positioned when you right click The celestial co ordinates of the mouse cursor position are displayed in the STAR Atlas PRO application window title bar Choosing the Identify command from the popup menu displays information about that celestial object The information includes the object s name astronomical catalogue designation and plenty of other information like how large and how bright the object is As you can see from the accompanying screen shot there is plenty of information to be displayed for the Star we right clicked on STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 49 a The Bright Star Catalogue Right Ascension R A 05h16m441s_ Rise Time 49h 09m 20s Declination DEC 45 59 53 Transit Time 22h 24m 02s Altitude ALT 40 42 20 Set Time 04h 38m 44s Harvard Revised Number HR 1708 Azimuth AZ 9 44 28 Angular Separation 00 00
246. rth 52 43 West 3 St Kitts 17 18 North 62 43 West 4 St Lucia 14 1 North 61 0 West 4 St Thomas 18 21 North 64 56 West 4 St Vincent 13 9 North 61 14 West 4 Swift Current 50 17 North 107 50 West 7 Tegucigalpa 14 6 North 87 13 West 5 Thule 76 34 North 68 47 West 4 Thunder Bay 48 23 North 89 15 West 5 Tijuana 32 32 North 117 1 West 7 Tortola 18 27 North 64 37 West 4 Vancouver 49 16 North 123 7 West 8 Whitehorse 60 43 North 135 3 West 9 Winnipeg 49 53 North 97 9 West 6 Yakutat 59 32 North 139 43 West 9 Yellowknife 62 27 North 114 21 West 7 Region Locality Latitude Longitude Time Zone o X Hemi g L Degrees arc min sphere Degrees arc min hrs Antarctica Casey 66 17 South 110 31 East 7 Davis 68 35 South 77 58 East 5 DumontDUrville 66 40 South 140 1 East 9 Mawson 67 36 South 62 53 East 4 McMurdo 77 50 South 166 36 East 11 Palmer 64 48 South 64 6 West 4 South Pole 90 0 South 0 0 East 0 Syowa 69 0 South 39 35 East 2 Vostok 78 24 South 106 54 East 7 Region Locality Latitude Longitude Time Zone i Hemi s i Degrees arc min sphere Degrees arc min hrs Arctic Longyearbyen 78 0 North 16 0 East 1 Region Locality Latitude Longitude Time Zone i Hemi 3 Degrees arc min sphere Degrees arc min hrs Asia Aden 12 45 North 45 12 East 3 Almaty 43 15 North 76 57 East 5 Amman 31 57 North 35 56 East 2 Anadyr 64 45 North 177 29 East 11 Aqtau 44 31 North 50 16 East 3 Aqtobe 50 17 North 57 10 East 3 Ashgabat 37 57
247. ry Plate Number Filter and Emulsion Quality PDS Microdensitometer No at STScI Description If you know the designation of a GSC object use this button to locate it and draw a chart of its position GSC Designations must be entered in the format RRRR OOOOO where RRRR is the GSC Region Number and OOOOO is the Object Number within the region A hyphen must separate the Region and Object Numbers You do not need to enter leading zeros Examples of acceptable GSC Designations 0100 1 0100 0001 1000 1 1000 0001 Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description GSC designation Class of object See GSC Object Classes Photographic magnitude Coded pass band for magnitude See GSC Filter Notes Error in Magnitude Error in Position Plate designation True if multiple object Exposure Start Date UT Exposure Time in Minutes SRC Palomar Supplemental Field Number GSC Internal Plate Number Observatory Plate Number Filter and Emulsion Quality Number of PDS Microdensitometer at STScI STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 218 Common Positional Data Common information to all Catalogues Includes RA DEC ALT AZ RISE SET TRANSIT GSC Filter Notes Magnitude Emulsion Filter Band 0 IIlaJ GG395 1 IIaD W12 3 B 4 V 5 IIlaF RG630 6 IIaD GG495 7 103a0 8 103aE red plex 10 IIaD GG495 11 103a0 GG400 16 IIl
248. s Desktop and is named ObservationList html 10 The Horizon Cut off Angle setting lower right of screen permits you to exclude objects from qualifying in the list when they are to close to the Horizon 11 To use this feature work out an appropriate angle above the horizon say 10 degrees and enter it into the Horizon Cut off Angle bottom centre STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 200 Exercise 11 Observation List Generator How do I Use the Observation List Generator and What Can I Obtain from It This feature of STAR Atlas PRO is of significant benefit to users as it allows viewers to simply select from a wide range of options that provide you with a powerful tool for querying the entire STAR Atlas PRO astronomical database for particular types of celestial objects that fall within a brightness range and constellation of your own choice It is simple to use and provides great data 1 Open STAR Atlas PRO 2 Click on Locate on the main menu 3 Click on Observation List generator top left hand corner 4 The next menu then allows the viewer to set a The constellation of desired viewing b A magnitude filter the default is 9 but setting it at 6 may be helpful to start with c An Object filter which lets the user select the objects she or he is interested in 5 From this list the user can select and chart objects of interest individually by single clicking on an item in the list as desired t
249. s This feature permits you to look at countless deep sky objects prior to observing with the telescope which helps you decide which objects you want to observe at the telescope There are two images for each of the brightest deep sky objects found in the Northern and Southern skies Each image is accompanied by a negative image which is useful for displaying faint details The Celestial Image Library covers the entire NGC and IC catalogues of deep sky objects in total more than 13 500 individual images for the most popular celestial objects Images are displayed when you right click on NGC or IC deep sky objects in STAR Atlas PRO charts and choose Identify from the popup menu You may also use the NGC IC and Messier Catalogues window in STAR Atlas PRO to lookup celestial objects and a new search feature in the NGC IC and Messier Catalogues window permits you to browse images by Constellation w NGC IC and Messier Catalogues Right Ascension R A 00h 47m 32s Rise Time 10h 41m 17s 4 0 View Image Idi 4b Dl Image o Declination DEC 25 47 17 Transit Time 17h 54m 54s E Altitude ALT 42 32 10 Set Time 01h 08m 30s 3 Azimuth AZ 264 27 04 Angular Sep 00 00 0 000 Object NGC 0253 Popular Name Sculptor galaxy Object Type GALAXY Size 25 10 Magnitude 7 1 P if Blue Magnitude Constellation Sculptor Dreyer WwB wL vmE 54deg gbM Dreyer codes A Image Size
250. s open Windows Explorer and select the folder where you selected to save the Comet ephemeredes file Double click on the file which will have the name of the Comet with an extension html eg Haley html Your Web Browser program i e Explorer Mozilla now opens and displays the Comet ephemerides on the screen You may now print the ephemerides On the Web Browser menu choose the File menu and then select the Print command STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 67 Finding the Brightest Asteroids STAR Atlas PRO includes the MPC Orbit database MPCORB of Asteroids and Minor Planets which may be sorted in order of Asteroid Magnitude the Asteroid s brightness making it very easy to locate the brightest Asteroids in the night sky Follow this procedure to find the brightest Asteroids 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window OR right mouse click on a chart and select Locate Object from the popup menu 2 Choose 5 Minor Planets Asteroids 3 Choose List to display the Minor Planets Asteroid List window 4 Click the column heading named Visual Mag to sort the list of Asteroids based on the calculated Visual Magnitude 5 The brightest Asteroid has now come to the top of the list double click to select it You are now returned to the Asteroids and Minor Planet database window where you may Map the Asteroid s position or plot the Asteroid path across th
251. s including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Cluster Name Displays OC for Open Clusters Not used in this Catalogue Object s visual Magnitude Largest Diameter of the object arc minutes Smallest Diameter of the object arc minutes Displays the Common Name or Other Name of this object STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 243 Star Names Catalogue Locate gt 57 Star Names This catalogue lists the most common Star Names To find a star of a known name click the Find Name button and enter the Star Name click ok you can then chart a position of the star s location Tip When searching for a star name you only need enter the first few letters of the star s name STAR Atlas PRO will search for nearest matching Star Name For example if you press Find and type in SIR then STAR Atlas PRO will find the star named SIRIUS Star Cross Reference Locate gt 58 Star Cross Reference Catalogue SAO HD GC DM Cross Index IV 12 SAO HD GC DM Cross Index ADC 1983 Roman 1983 Description This catalogue consists of 258 944 entries that cross reference stars from the following astronomical stellar catalogues e SAO Catalogue e Durchmusterung DM Catalogue e Henry Draper Catalogue HD e Boss General Catalogue GC Number of Entries 258 944 Stars Menu Commands Description List Displays a scrollable list of stars by their catalogue number Click on the grid h
252. s to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Displayed Screen Data Description Barnard Number The Barnard Catalogue number Diameter of the Nebula The diameter in arc minutes of the selected object Barnard s Notes Barnard s notes for the selected object Bright Star Catalogue Locate gt 51 Yale Bright Star Catalogue Catalogue V 50 Bright Star Catalogue The Bright Star Catalogue 5th Revised Ed Hoffleit 1991 Description The Yale Bright Star Catalogue contains 9 110 entries for stars brighter than magnitude 6 5 essentially all of the stars visible to the naked eye Magnitude Limit 6 5 Number of Entries 9 110 Stars and 9 190 Notes entries Menu Commands Description List Displays a scrollable list of stars from the Yale Bright Star Catalogue You can use any combination of page up page down mouse scroll cursor up cursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Find by HR Find Star using it s Harvard Revised Catalogue STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 211 Find by SAO Find Star in Hipparcos Catalogue Common commands Displayed Screen Value Name Visual Mag Spectral Type Parallax Aitken s Double Star Number Variable Star ID I for
253. se Manager Find Object Moon Find Now Globular Clusters Galaxies N Z 7 41 Menu Number DEEP SKY OBJECTS Popular Deep Sky Objects Constellations NGC IC and MESSIER Objects STARS SOLAR SYSTEM Yale Bright Star Catalogue 1 Planets Hipparcos Catalogue 2 Comets Hipparcos Periodic Variables pag Galaxy Dalabhase 3 Jupiter s Great Red Spot amp Moons Hipparcos Unsolved Variables Sey UR 4 Planetary Ephemerides Hipparcos Double Stars PR as rac Sheri 5 Minor Planets Asteroids Tycho Catalogue Re A R SEARCH amp LIST Star Naniee ickson Compact Galaxy Groups Star Ref Strasbourg ESO Planetary Nebulae 6 Observation List Generator ROPER Galactic Supernova Remnants i Bright Variable Stars pe 5 i PLANNING Guide Star Catalogue GSC Globular Clusters in the Milky Way 7 Observation Planner USNO A2 0 Star Catalogue Sane Claes amp O A Barnard s Dark Objects The Caldwell Catalogue Lynds Bright Nebulae Guide Star Catalogue GSC 2 2 Tycho il Catalogue USER OBJECTS 8 Astro Images 9 User Objects Hyper LEDA Galaxy Database Lynds Dark Nebulae 10 Exposures 40 Hyper LEDA and PGC2003 RCW Ha Regions Close 11 Digitized Sky Survey Images 41 Hyper LEDA Galaxy Catalogues Sharpless H II Regions STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 52 Populating the lower half of the Astronomical Database Manager window is a large collection of numbered buttons that provide access to each of STAR Atlas PRO s inbuilt a
254. section describes the positional information Positional Information Description Right Ascension R A The Right Ascension co ordinate position as observed from the Observer s Location Declination DEC The Declination co ordinate position as observed from the Observer s Location Altitude ALT The Altitude position as observed from the Observer s Location Azimuth AZ The Azimuth position as observed from the Observer s Location Rise Time The Local Time that the object will Rise as observed from the Observer s Location Transit Time The Local Time that the object will Transit as observed from the Observer s Location Set Time The Local Time that the object will Set as observed from the Observer s Location Angular Separation The angular separation of this object from the last object you selected with Identify STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 147 The Catalogue Name Search feature The Catalogue Name Search feature is a valuable feature that assists you in locating galaxies using Catalogue Designations Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey 2dFGRS Team 2MASS All Sky Catalog of Point Sources Cutri Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky 3rd Cambridge Catalogue Edge Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Fourth Cambridge Survey Pilkington Compact Galaxies and Post Eruptive Galaxies Zwicky Compact Galaxies and P
255. seeking within your celestial view that is you can examine the sky in any part of the globe at any time There are no limits on the area of interest for this mode moving the position on the chart is continuous over the entire globe Thus this view is optimally used when the user wishes to view the whole sky for objects of interest STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 183 n 5 3 my 7 z ai Sip 8 Chan Pogts i Charts displayed using Star Atlas chart mode are oriented with the North or South Celestial Pole at top or bottom Thus if you are located in the Southern Hemisphere the North Pole is oriented toward the top of the chart The opposite applies for the Northern Hemisphere To use Star Atlas CHART Mode open STAR Atlas PRO 1 Click on Chart Prefs button on the main menu This opens the menu which allows you to set the program as you wish Click on Restore Defaults near the bottom right of the page Click on Star Atlas at the top right hand corner of the page Click on Redraw bottom right This will give you a view which depends on where you are and the Field of View of the chart To orient yourself click on Zenith on the Main menu This will give you a view of the sky directly above you The four arrow keys on your keyboard will move the chart as desired To orient yourself if you are lost it is helpful to go the Zenith Main Menu gt Zenith which is the point d
256. selected STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 36 CCD FOV Eyepiece FOV Add Text On Line Data Menu Erase Comet Trail Quit The Status Display Panel Opens the CCD Camera Reticle window where you may superimpose a CCD Camera s Field of View as a reticle on the chart at the celestial location indicated by your mouse pointer Opens the Eyepiece Reticle window where you may superimpose an Eyepiece s Field of View as a reticle on the chart at the celestial location indicated by your mouse pointer Opens the Add Text to Chart window where the text is placed at the position of your mouse pointer Opens the On Line Data menu from where you can download Comet Orbital Elements Minor Planet and Asteroid orbital elements and Digitized Sky Survey DSS Images Erases the plotted path of a Comet from the desktop chart on the next chart re display Cancels any selection from the Navigator Popup Menu The Status Display Panel is situated in the title part of the STAR Atlas PRO application window The Status Display Panel displays a variety on information that describes the current celestial position and settings of the desktop chart Bf STAR Atias PRO 17 01 2009 21 30 00 PLANETARIUM 16h 24m 22s 87 05 09 FOV 150 00 MAG AUTO 6 5 CSM AUTO 08h42m08s 81 11 41 The following table describes each of the values displayed on the Status Display Panel Status Display Values Display Valu
257. ser window and then select OK STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 100 4 Choose the Redraw command to re display the chart using the new chart background colour To restore the chart background colour choose one of the chart preset colour schemes e g Colour on Black background Constellation Options These groups of settings control options for displaying Constellation attributes V Names Displays the names of Constellations V Boundary Displays Constellation Boundaries lines V Pattern Displays Constellation stick figures Star Options These groups of settings control options for how Stars are displayed Display Star Colours STAR Atlas PRO includes a special feature for displaying the colours of stars with high accuracy The colours of stars are difficult to display precisely as our Earth s atmosphere disturbs the light and alters its original colour Different levels of pollution in the atmosphere also potentially alter the colour of a star by time its light reaches the human eye STAR Atlas PRO star colours are precise if we were in orbit and the atmosphere did not affect their colours however the star colours very closely match what we observe Star Colours are based on the actual B V Colour Index of the star Stars with unknown Colour Index data are displayed in the star chart s default fore colour i e black stars when a white background is selected or white stars when a black or custom colour ba
258. sesdzecsesarssevseveceossevsesevendss cosvenspuevensie eave atase raeas inuis isv 31 THE STAR ATLAS PROM DESKTOP iiss sis E E cosas tevsantees ERE E E RE tes 31 Phe Mai Menu iopen oieee a EEA ded dase Metin Rete aol Nate teas 33 The Popup Menu seiiccisctadeccdscescs cade a E R ities caste ees Rad eee hoes ee 35 The Status Display Panel ericeira E E E E EE E hee ded eed te eee hates 37 CHART MODES beset tees Mieieiac Sect cdculet ove sets tooRivis oben E tousene seasons EEE E 38 Plan tarium chart modes rosen oA EA RE E E E AEIR E EA E 38 Star Atlas chart modeennen nirani e neces EAEN ERNE E R REA a 40 USING STAR ATLAS PROM is cecctscatecisoessessesesarsaesessscvenessbetacacessevessonssesneesscssecsoacdsoustenesesopevavaeseseestsod 42 COMMON TASKS sits vavsseves savings toss a a se qvebagbuneaeessuseenabbateunes ty gceb y a a e a a untae sues 42 Displaying the main popup MENU ccceecesecesecsceeseeeseesseeseceecesecesecsecaecaecsaecseecaeecaeeeseenseseseeetenes 42 Changing the Chart s Field of View ZOOMING cccccessessseeseeeseeeecesecesecesecsaecaeecaeecaeeeaeeneeenseeereeas 42 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 3 Panning and Center Charto r l aye a aae aa e eet atvel siuslasiLaiue noma pagmnentated sears 43 Switehme Chart Modes ere aa a a e EEE EE EE E a a lie 44 Horizon VIEWS ne a en te tis suo Deck A EA E a E E EEE E SNT 44 Printing CH arts E E E E E E EE 44 Measuring the Angular Separation of Celes
259. settings will apply to the list of variable stars and only those variable stars that fall within this range will be displayed V List only New Variable Stars list only those variable stars that have been identified as New by the Hipparcos Catalogue Find Star using its Catalogue of Components of Double and Multiple Stars CCDM Catalogue number Find Star using its Hipparcos Catalogue Number Lookup information for this Star in the Hipparcos Catalogue Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Catalogue of Components of Double and Multiple Stars CCDM Identifier see explanatory text at beginning of this section STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 226 Hipparcos Collection of Periodic Variable Stars Locate gt 53 Hipparcos Periodic Variables Catalogue The Hipparcos Catalogue European Space Agency 1 239 The Hipparcos Catalogue ESA 1997 Description This catalogue lists Periodic Variable Stars extracted from the Hipparcos Catalogue and enables you to filter the catalogue so that Variable Stars only exhibiting the criteria you choose are displayed Menu Commands Description List List is a sophisticated program that can be used to list only certain Variable Stars Upon opening this program lists all of the Periodic Variable Stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue There are then up to 3 filters you can apply to the list of stars s
260. ssier Catalogues navigation buttons bottom right of window to step back and forth through each of the celestial objects in the constellation you selected STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 81 Browsing Searching and listing Astronomical Catalogues The contents of each of STAR Atlas PRO s popular and historical astronomical catalogues may be browsed listed and searched This powerful feature is further extended with special features found in certain astronomical catalogues The Comet database for example permits you to sort Comets in order of brightness which makes it easy to locate the brightest Comets The Planets database displays the current phase rise and set times for each of the planets and the real time positions of the Jupiter s moons You may perform powerful searches for Variable amp Multiple Stars that exhibit only certain variability and brightness ranges Locating Objects by Name or Designation If you know the Name or Designation of the celestial object that you wish to locate simply enter its designation into the Object Designation input field and STAR Atlas PRO will locate the object for you and display its astronomical catalogue window Then you may review the object s Astro physical information and chart the object s location Some examples of the types of Names and Designations you might enter to search for are Moon Jupiter Ceres M42 Messier 42 ESO350 40B NGC1976 N1976 Pallas ESO2
261. st To select a Horizon View 1 Choose Horizon from the main menu this option is disabled when STAR Atlas PRO is not set to Planetarium charting mode 2 Choose either the North South East or West command or press the N S E or W key on your keyboard for fast selection Printing Charts The desktop chart may be printed to your printer a Windows Bitmap image file or a Postscript file ready for importing into other applications To open the Print Chart window 1 Choose the Print command on the STAR Atlas PRO main menu Each of the print options are described following STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 44 Printer output Send the desktop chart to a Windows compatible printer 1 On the Print Chart window choose the Print to Printer command 2 On the Windows Print dialog window choose Printer Properties and make sure the Print Orientation is set too Landscape Bitmap Image File Choose the Create Bitmap Image File command to send the chart to the Windows Bitmap Image file selected in the Bitmap file name input field Send the desktop chart to a Windows Bitmap Image file 1 On the Print Chart window the output bitmap file name will be created in the same folder where you installed STAR Atlas PRO and the file will be named STARPRO BMP Alternatively you may choose the adjacent command to select another bitmap file name and location 2 Choose the Create Bitmap Ima
262. st be set too D ASTRO STARPRO IMAGES Step 7 Setting the HTML Web Browser Program Uses your Web Browser Program to present reports The HTML Web Browser Program setting should be set to point to the Internet Web Browser program file located on your computer 1 Click on the three dotted button that appears at the end of the HTML Web Browser Program setting 2 Navigate your way to the location of your Web Browser program and select the web browser program file If you are using Microsoft s Internet Explorer web browser then the program file is most commonly located in C Program Files Internet Explorer folder and is named iexplore exe 3 Locate the file iexplore exe click on it and then Select and you will be returned to the program where the HTML Web Browser Program setting will be set to C Program Files Internet Explorer iexplore exe or the name and location of the web browser you are using Step 8 Setting the External Image Viewer Program STAR Atlas PRO can utilise an external graphics application to display edit and print astronomical images The Image Viewer Program setting should be set to point to the program file for your graphics application STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 23 Proceed as follows 1 Click on the three dotted button that appears at the end of the Image Viewer Program setting 2 Navigate your way to the location of your graphics application and Select the
263. stronomical catalogues You may open any astronomical catalogue and then list search browse and find celestial objects within the catalogue of celestial objects Using the Menu Number feature The Menu Number input field is intended for keyboard users who quickly wish to access one of the Astronomical Catalogue Menus without using a mouse Repeatedly press the TAB key on your keyboard moves your keyboard cursor to the Menu Number input field and the input field becomes highlighted Type in the number of the Astronomical Catalogue Menu that you wish to access and then press the TAB key again on your keyboard to open the window for that Astronomical catalogue Locating Stars by name Searching for Stars by name is simple Suppose we wish to locate the Star named Sirius proceed as follows 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window Choose 57 Star Names from the menu of buttons Choose Find Star and the Star Names List window is displayed The Star Names are ordered by their name Sirius begins with the letter S so choose the S button on the Index to Star Names option and all then all stars beginning with S are listed Scroll down the list until you see Sirius and double click it The Star Names window now displays information for the star named Sirius Choose the Display Info button to display an astronomical catalogue window of information for Siri
264. t On the menu system of each astronomical catalogue window is the GOTO command which you may choose to slew your Telescope to the selected object Use this method for positioning your Telescope to point precisely to a celestial object after you locate it with the Astronomical Database Manager CSIs This procedure assumes you have already opened the connection to your Telescope 1 Choose Locate from the main menu 2 Choose any one of the astronomical catalogue menu buttons to open an astronomical catalogue window e g choose 1 Planets 3 Use the menu features on the astronomical catalogue window to list browse and search the catalogue data until you locate the celestial object you re looking for 4 On the astronomical catalogue window choose the GOTO button near bottom right and your telescope will slew to the object you have selected e g choose Saturn Slewing to named Objects Use this method for positioning your Telescope to point precisely to a celestial object when you know the object s name or astronomical catalogue designation This procedure assumes you have already opened the connection to your Telescope 1 Choose Locate from the main menu 2 Enter the Name or Catalogue Designation of the object into the Object Designation input field e g type in M42 to find Messier 42 the Great Nebula in Orion 3 Press the ENTER key on your keyboard or click the Find button 4 STAR
265. t Stop Sts 1 z Communications Options Communications Timeout Seting 4 seconds interval between Pos on updates 1 seconde Precess Telescope co ordinates too Epoch af Cran C Log Telescope Comms to Clipboard C Restore Detaults Back Finish 3 Choose the Enable command This will then display the Telescope Driver COM Port Settings and Communication options 4 Choose the Telescope Driver button a list of telescope drivers is then displayed you may choose from the list of STAR Atlas PRO Telescope Drivers or choose ASCOM If you choose ASCOM the ASCOM dialog box is displayed and you may choose an ASCOM telescope driver 5 Choose the Telescope Driver command and then select Argo Navis from the list of telescope drivers 6 On the lower half of this screen are the Communication Settings Set these values to the following COM Port Settings but choose the COM port number suitable for your computer i e COM2 or COM4 Port COM2 Baud Rate 38400 Parity None Data Bits 8 Stop Bits 1 7 Set the Interval between position updates setting down to 1 second you may need to set this value higher for slower computers 8 Set the Communications Timeout Setting to around 3 seconds the Argo Navis normally responds in less than 1 second therefore a setting of 3 seconds gives the Argo Navis adequate time to respond STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 174 Using STAR Atlas PRO with the Argo Nav
266. t continue to keep the GRS Longitude value current For the latest GRS Longitude visit the STAR Atlas PRO web site or consult popular astronomy magazines and astronomy web sites for the latest reported GRS Longitude An inaccurate GRS Longitude value will produce a proportional inaccuracy in the predicted Transit Times of Jupiter s Great Red Spot A GRS Longitude that is slightly STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 56 outdated will produce Transit Times still reasonably accurate preparation for observation several minutes or more before the predicted Transit Times is recommended The following table describes the displayed values Displayed Value Description Longitude of Central Meridians System I Displays the Longitude of the central meridian of Jupiter s System I Cloud Belts System II Displays the Longitude of the central meridian of Jupiter s System II Cloud Belts Great Red Spot Transit Times Displays the predicted GRS Transit Times for the current date GRS Longitude This is the current Longitude of Jupiter s Great Red Spot Set Sets the current Longitude of the GRS To find the next Great Red Spot Transit Time To find out when the Great Red Spot is best observed through a Telescope proceed as follows 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 3 Jupiter s Great Red Spot and Moons command 3 The Great Red Spot Transit times are displ
267. t the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Retrieves information for the NGC object number that you are prompted to enter Retrieves information for the IC object number that you are prompted to enter Displays a list of common names of NGC IC objects from which you can select one and be returned to the NGC2000 0 Database window Retrieves information for the Messier object number that you are prompted to enter Lookup this object in the LEDA Galaxy Database Note that the selected object on the NGC2000 0 database screen must be a galaxy as the LEDA Database only contain galaxies Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 238 Displayed Screen Data Object Type Size Magnitude Popular Name Common Positional Data Planets Locate gt 1 Planets Menu Commands Chooser etc Description Object s catalogue number This is a list of the different types of deep sky objects contained in the NGC200 0 database e GALAXY e OPEN CLUSTER e GLOBULAR CLUSTER e PLANETARY NEBULA e BRIGHT OR DIFFUSE NEBULA e UNKNOWN UNVERIFIED e ASTERISM e SINGLE STAR e DOUBLE STAR e TRIPLE STAR e CLUSTER ASSOC WITH NEBULA e KNOT OR NEB REGION IN GAL e PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATE DEFECT e OBJECT NON EXISTANT IN RNGC Where known the object s Major Axis is shown in arc minutes Where known the
268. t their positions in the sky Once an object is located on the chart you may right mouse click on the object and choose Identify Object from the popup menu this will display information about the celestial object STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 54 Locating Planets STAR Atlas PRO provides a great deal of planetary data that describes each of our solar system s major Planets Jupiter s Moons the Sun and our own Moon You may also display and print a tabular list of the Planets positions rise and set times and chart the position of any Planet you select x m Planets Apparent Position Planetary Object Moon Right Ascension RA 13h 01m 56s Declination DEC 10 58 27 Apparent Magnitude 14 51 Distance 389638 93400 Kms Altitude ALT 247 48 21 Equatorial Diameter 30 are 16 5 arc Azimuth AZ 123 17 50 Elongation 98 64 Parallax 00 56 16 57 Rise Time 00h 31m 02s Phase Angle 81 36 P A of Moon s 113 44 Transit Time PHRIS Phase 57 51 Bright Limb SetTime 13h 16m 26s Geocentric Position Right Ascension R A 13h 00m 09s Declination DEC 11 35 45 Planetary Data Angular Separation 11 03 13 60 Mass 10 24 kg 0 07349 gt Choose Planet Equatorial radius km 1738 1 Sun Polar radius km 1736 0 Escape Velocity km s 2 38 Mercury Semimaijor Axis 10 6 km 0 3844 Venus Perigee 10 6 km 0 3633 Apogee 106 km 0 4055 Mars Mean Orbital Velocity km s 1 023 Jup
269. tached to the selected celestial object pl Select the next image attached to the selected celestial object gt Select the last image attached to the selected celestial object Image details Each displayed image includes details about the image along the bottom edge of the displayed image The image information includes a credit to STScI Digitized Sky Survey for providing the images along with the size of the image specified in arc minutes STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 79 4 een __viewimage gt mi Cei a e Image Size 30 x 30 arc minutes Image Credit STScl Digitized Sky Survey Displaying objects in selected constellations A powerful feature presented in STAR Atlas PRO permits you to select a Constellation and then browse objects and images that appear only in that Constellation The following procedure demonstrates how this feature is used 1 Choose Locate from the STAR Atlas PRO floating menu Choose command 77 NGC IC and MESSIER objects Choose the Constellation Filter command Select the Constellation of interest from the Constellations window The NGC IC and Messier Catalogues screen is now displayed with the first celestial object in the Constellation now displayed Note that the STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 80 Constellation name that you selected is displayed next to the Constellation Filter command 6 You can now use the NGC IC and Me
270. tary Centre The huge MPCORB database is freely available via the internet and should be updated regularly if you require accurate positions of minor planets and asteroids STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 131 Updating the MPC Orbital Database Follow this procedure to download and install the most recent MPCORB database 1 right mouse click on a chart 2 Choose On Line data menu from the popup menu 3 Now choose the Download Recent 4 The most recent Orbital Elements are now automatically retrieved and loaded into STAR Atlas PRO 5 Upon completion a Message will then appear asking if you to wish to Proceed to re calculate positions answer Yes The latest asteroid and minor planet data is now loaded into STAR Atlas PRO and their positions have been updated You may now Close any windows and return to the STAR Atlas PRO desktop Adding Astronomical Pictures STAR Atlas PRO includes a feature to attach your own astronomical images to celestial objects and keep notes on each image There is no limit to the number of astronomical images you may attach One or many images may be attached to every celestial object in STAR Atlas PRO STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 132 Images Object PLANETARY Mars Planet MARS Notes Hubble Picture of Marg Nextimage Previous Image External Image Viewer Add Image Remove Image Zoom Out Zoom In Close Adding Images Follow this procedure to a
271. te and time Allows you to sets the current chart Date and Time Sets the chart Date and Time to keep synchronized with the computer s clock this is the default setting STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 104 Setting a Chart Date and Time 1 Choose Chart Prefs from the main menu 2 Under Chart Date amp Time section choose Set Manually 3 The Chart Date amp Time are set to the current date and time of your computer and your cursor is positioned at the beginning of the Chart Date amp Time input field 4 You may now over type the Date amp Time or use your keyboards left and right cursor arrow keys to edit single numbers in the Date and Time Typing the letter A over the P in PM results in an automatic change to AM Conversely if the displayed time is AM and you position the cursor over the A and type the letter P then PM is selected 5 When you have edited the Chart Date amp Time to your preference choose the Redraw button STAR Atlas PRO now re calculates the positions of celestial objects and re displays the chart When you manually set a chart Date or Time the Chart Date and Chart Time are highlighted in the STAR Atlas PRO Status Bar display signalling that the Chart Date and or Chart Time are manually set Synchronize Chart Date and Chart Time to Computer s Clock The STAR Atlas PRO default Chart Date and Chart Time setting synchronizes STAR Atlas PRO with your computer computer
272. ted by the value specified in the Interval Between Plots input field V Display Date amp Time of If this option is enabled tick mark is each Plot displayed then the Date of each Comet v position plotted is displayed Draw Comet to If this option is enabled tick mark is Magnitude Scale amp Display displayed then the Comet is drawn to Mag the same scale as the Magnitude of Stars and the Comet s Visual Magnitude is displayed Additional Information Before proceeding with the Plot Comet Path command you may configure over what time interval and what time span you wish to use for producing the Comet plot across the sky As an example suppose we wish the Comet plot to display the position of the Comet at 9 00PM Local Time every second night over a period of a 20 days Follow this procedure 1 Enter the Local Time Under Comet Plotting Options place your cursor in the Local Time input field Using your left and right arrow keys on your keyboard position your cursor so that it s in front of the Time Then type in 090000 for O9hrs OOmin and OO sec and then press your Tab key twice to position your cursor to the Interval between Plots field Since we wish to plot the Comet s position once every two days enter 2 and then press your Tab key again which brings you to the Number of plots input field As we wish to plot the Comet s position over a period of 20 days enter 10 this gives us 10 plots
273. tesseetesertesteseeetssesees 205 LIMITING MAGNITUDES OF ASTRONOMICAL CATALOGUES secesscsesseeeeseeeseceseeesecssecuecnaecnaeeaaeeneeeaes 206 DESCRIPTION OF ASTRONOMICAL CATALOGUES 0 ccsccesscssecssecssecseeeseseneeseeeseceeensecseceuecuaecnaesaaesseeenes 206 Abell Galaxy Clustets cicco ccc t3e cee oho stapes Rehan ws oa Hi Ped Re ete ENS 206 ARP Peculiar Galaxies is csscc cic bic a tad e e n a E R tapes Ton saben bees doses nace 208 Barnard s Dark O Dj C IS a easing a E ba ag Mees Raa geeeee 210 Bright Star Catalogue e cee eects isa daw tenns e bebeateg Ra does ta etapa Uoees heb ates et 211 Bright Varnable Stat S minip nn a e a a a a e a n a 213 Caldwell Cataloc Uen a a E a e a a a a A aa 214 Soana DEEN oK I EE EE EE E A AEE AEA 215 Guide Star Catalogue GSC cceeccessssecsseessecseeeseeseeeseceeensecesecaecsaecsaecsaecaeeeseseeeseeeereeeenaeenaeeaees 217 Galactic Supernova Remnants 0 cccccesccssessseesseeseeeeeeseeeecesecsecaeceaecaaecseecaeeeaeeeaeseeeeeeeeeeeeaeeeeeaees 219 Globular Star Clusters in the Milky Way cccccccessesssesseeesceeseeseceseceaecaecseecaeeeseeeeeseeeerenesneeeeeaees 220 Hickson s Compact Groups of Galaxies Catalogue ccecccecccescsseceseessecsseeeeeseeeneeeeeeeeeeeenseeneenaees 221 Hipparcos Catalob an onna aen aa db weeet ats a e a Bh pach nal Weare n 223 Hipparcos Visual Double Stars Catalogue ceceesssecsseeeceeseecceeecaecseesecaeeeecnaeeceaeeeeeaecaeeeeenereees 22
274. the celestial object and an entry for the DSS Image 15 Select the DSS image and it will be displayed Three ways to view the images 1 Locate the image you are interested in by a Click on Locate on the main menu b Then click User Objects Number 10 Digitised Sky Survey images on the right middle region c You will see the DSS image of an object which may not be the one you want so click List left bottom which will display a series of DSS images which you have down loaded d Choose one of interest and double click that e This will enlarge that image but will allow you to choose Map for that image and this will in turn bring you to the desktop for that image centred 2 You can also find an object of interest on the desktop which you know to have a picture attached a Click on Locate on the main menu b Type N104 in the Find Object input field top left c Click Find Now then Map on the next menu which will bring you to the desktop for that object NGC 104 If you have the Display DSS Image Outlines box ticked in the Chart Prefs menu then a dotted square box will display which shows the position and size of the stored image Note that attached to this box is a label DSS xxx where xxx is simply the number of the DSS Image stored in STAR Atlas PRO to which is there is no limit d Right click in the centre of this box and then click Identify Object A new menu appears w
275. the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 82 Hickson Compact Groups of Galaxies Hickson Group Number 1 is the first Hickson Compact Group to be displayed The bottom half of window displays the Member Galaxies the individual Galaxies that make up each Hickson Compact Group 3 To locate the information for another Hickson Compact Group choose the Find button 4 Enter a catalogue number to search for try 52 Upon further study you will see there is much astrophysical data displayed about each of the Member Galaxies The grid in which this information is listed may be scrolled left to right before all the data can be viewed STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 89 Displaying Astrophysical information for Stars STAR Atlas PRO contains a vast amount of astrophysical information for Stars that may be easily displayed _ The Bright Star Catalogue Right Ascension R A 46h 29m 24s Rise Time Declination DEC 26 25 55 Transit Time Altitude ALT Set Time Harvard Revised Number HR 6134 Azimuth AZ 184 18 34 Angular Separation Name 21Alp Sco Visual Mag 0 96 B V Colour Index 1 83 Spectral Type lif InfraRed Parallax 0 020 Durchmusterung ID CD 2611359 Aitken s Double Star Number 10074 Henry Draper Number 148478 ADS Number of Components SAO Number 184415 Variable Star ID Alp Sco FK5 Number 616 Notes categoy Remark sid aD _ Var M11b 5 5 B2 5
276. tial Objects snesssssesseesesssesersessreressesesesersessrenesseseeses 46 Rotating and Flipping Charts ccccccescessecesecsseeeecseeeseeeeceseceseesseensecaecnseceaecsaecaeecaeeeaeeeseeeeeenseerenes 46 Setting the chart Magnitude Limit cccecccsscesceesceesceeeceseceseeesecaeceaecsaecaeeeseeeseceaeseeeeeeneeeeseenaeenaees 47 Finding the Time of Astronomical Twilight ssseeessesesseesesesssesessseserseesersessreessesreseesersessrenesseseesss 48 IDENTIFYING OBJECTS AND DISPLAYING THEIR ASTRO PHYSICAL DATA cee cescesecsecseecseeeeeeeneeseeeseeees 49 Identifying objects on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart c cecccescceseceseeseeeseeeseeeseeseeeseeeereees 50 The Objects located at cursor window ccescceseesseesseeseeeneeeeeeecesecesecaecsecuaecsaecaeecaeeeaeeeseeneeeneeeerenes 51 LOCATING CELESTIAL OBJECT S nreno svechesvessvonesed E kengetcensedpbsetode onde aced chavdesestcuredd chaeives 52 Using the Astronomical Database Manager to locate popular Objects cescceseeeteesseeteeeeeeeeeeereees 52 locating Stars by Nainie 4 262205 8 cls os ewes Hehe oh ed we ees Ate ek RG ee ek RS 53 Locating popular Deep Sky objects assiccati nnii eieiei eent i EEN ese abis o aons 54 ko ating Planets cites ae erian E oa ees E e A E oe E Sie 55 Observing Jupiter s Great Red Spot irinen ee i eie a oE EE e E e eE 56 Observing Jupiter s MoOns sanee o a R E e Sod DULG wh eee eed Sle 58 Locating Messier
277. tial location you point at with your mouse pointer and select a new chart Field of View As an example suppose you are looking at a STAR Atlas PRO chart with a large Field of View and you sight an object of interest you may centre on that object and zoom in at the same time Follow this procedure as guide for centring and zooming 1 Choose a location on the chart and right mouse click 2 Choose Center and Zoom from the popup menu and the Set Chart Field of View window is displayed 3 Select a new Field of View for the Chart and the chart is re displayed centred on the location you pointed too and with the Field of View that you selected STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 43 Switching Chart Modes You may switch between the Planetarium and Star Atlas charting modes at any time To switch to Planetarium mode 1 Choose Chart Prefs 2 Choose Planetarium the chart mode is now changed to the new mode and re displayed To switch to Star Atlas mode 1 Choose Chart Prefs 2 Choose Star Atlas the chart mode is now changed to the new mode and re displayed Note that the chart is centred on the last location used in Planetarium chart mode Horizon Views The Horizon Chart window allows you to select too display a chart of the horizon facing either North South East or West from your location only available in Planetarium charting mode When you are facing each compass direction e g North South East and We
278. tion Planner STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 116 You may also add celestial objects of interest directly into the Observation Planner however this is not the recommended method as easier techniques are available The different ways of adding celestial objects into your Observation Planner target list are described in the following part of this manual Adding objects with the Identify function When you position your cursor over a celestial object displayed on the chart if you right mouse click and choose Identify then the astronomical catalogue window is displayed for that object You can then add the object straight into the Observation Planner from the astronomical catalogue window Follow this procedure 1 Right click with the cursor positioned on the celestial object 2 Choose Identify Object from the popup menu 3 The astronomical catalogue window for the object is now displayed except when there are multiple objects close to your cursor then the Objects located at the cursor window will appear prompting you to select the celestial object of choice 4 Choose the Copy to Obs command from the menu on the astronomical catalogue window 5 Answer Yes when you are asked if you wish to add the object to the Observation Planner 6 You are then asked if wish to add a note for this entry if you answer Yes you are given the opportunity to enter your own text to accompany the entry made in the Observation Planner
279. tion may not be compatible with some older graphics adapter cards Here is how to enable this feature and check that it is compatible with your computers graphics adapter 1 Click on the Other Options tab 2 Click on V Enable Pixel Graphics Mode so that there is a tick mark present inside the box STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 24 3 Note that a line of small dots then appear along the bottom of this tab when this feature is operating correctly if you do not see the line of dots do not leave this option enabled Step 11 Configuring Telescope Control The STAR Atlas PRO embedded Telescope Control System is disabled when you first install the STAR Atlas PRO software onto your computer This reduces the number of menu options throughout STAR Atlas PRO when a telescope interface is not required STAR Atlas PRO includes a collection of in built drivers for Telescopes and Digital Setting Circles DSC In addition STAR Atlas PRO provides support for the freely available ASCOM Telescope Driver suite that provides access to dozens of additional telescope drivers Before establishing a connection with your Telescope you must first enable the STAR Atlas PRO Telescope Control System and then select the appropriate Telescope Driver suitable for your Telescope If you choose a STAR Atlas PRO Telescope Driver you should also pay particular attention to the STAR Atlas PRO communications settings COM
280. tlas PRO User Manual Pg 8 find what you re looking for In addition the Astronomical Database Manager provides you with access to a wide range of Astronomical catalogues that include the Abell Galaxy Clusters Arp Peculiar Galaxies Barnard s Dark Objects Caldwell Catalogue Milky Way Globular Star Clusters Hickson Compact Galaxy Groups Lyon Meudon Extragalactic Galaxy Database Messier objects NGC catalogue IC Catalogues Quasars Active Galaxies Star Clusters amp Associations Strasbourg ESO Planetary Nebulae Supernovae Remnants along with dozens more When you re looking beyond the brightest astronomical objects STAR Atlas PRO has power to boast with capabilities that present you with some of the faintest astronomical charts ever made so easily available Featuring a database of more than 15 million stars and 3 million non stars you can instantly chart the entire sky to fainter than 15 Magnitude exceeding the limits of most amateur telescopes STAR Atlas PRO includes dozens more features to suit astronomers of all levels and includes enough deep sky objects to keep you looking for an entire lifetime WARNING Never use a Telescope to look at the Sun Looking at the Sun may cause severe damage to your eye and may result in permanent blindness STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 9 About this Manual This manual describes everything you need to know to take full advantage of STAR Atlas PRO Astronomy Softwar
281. tness Magnitude 3 0 Minimum Magnitude fades to Magnitude 5 0 Period of Star Variability between 1 day and 4 days Proceed as follows 1 Choose Locate from the main menu to display the Astronomical Database Manager window 2 Choose 53 Hipparcos Periodic Variables STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 88 3 Choose List from the menu 4 Enable the V Apply Magnitude Filter option 5 Set the Maximum Magnitude option to 3 0 6 Set the Minimum Magnitude option to 5 0 7 Enable the V Apply Variability Period Filter option 8 Set the Minimum Period option to 1 0 9 Set the Maximum Period option to 4 0 10 Enable the v List only NEW Variable Stars option 11 Now choose Apply Filter Rules Now which performs the query The Hipparcos collection of Periodic Variables window now lists only the Variable Stars that meet the criteria you specified 12 Choose a Star from the list a single mouse click will select it 13 Now choose the Select command The Hipparcos collection of Periodic Variables window is now displayed and contains detailed information about the Star you selected You may now Map the Star s location or perform a variety of other functions from the menu bar Listing individual galaxies in Hickson Galaxy Groups The procedure highlights how to list and view data on each individual galaxy that are in any Hickson Compact Galaxy Group Proceed as follows 1 Choose Locate from
282. tor ee 84 Galactic Supernova Remnants 59 Bright Variable Stars pemo PLANNING 60 Guide Star Catalogue GSC 85 Globular Clusters in the Milky Way 7 Observation Planner 61 Tycho Ii Catalogue oi cee a Associations f fi i 87 Barnard s Dark Objects USER OBJECTS Hyper LEDA Galaxy Database 88 The Caldwell Catalogue 8 Astro Images 40 Hyper LEDA and PGC2003 89 Lynds Bright Nebulae 9 User Objects 41 Hyper LEDA Galaxy Catalogues 90 Lynds Dark Nebulae 10 Exposures 91 RCW Ha Regions Close 11 Digitized Sky Survey Images 92 Sharpless H II Regions 3 Notice the Hyper LEDA menu options that appear at the bottom centre of the Astronomical Database Manager window 40 Hyper G Atlas 41 Hyper LEDA Catalogues 4 The menu option 40 Hyper LEDA opens the Hyper LEDA window and displays vital data for galaxies It includes find features and you may also list many galaxies with popular names It includes the normal navigation database features and the telescope control commands Goto and Sync 5 The menu option 41 Hyper G Galaxy Catalogues opens the Catalogue Name Search window This window lists the names of galaxy catalogues included in the Hyper LEDA and you use it to assist you in locating galaxies by their catalogue designations more on this later STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 138 The Hyper G Atlas also seamlessly integrates into STAR Atlas PRO features The Object List Generator Observation Pla
283. tseva Karachentsev Richter Isolated pairs of galaxies in the Northern Hemisphere STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 152 KUG LCRSB LGG LGS LSBF MAFFEI MCG MRC MRK NPM1G PER PGC POX RFGC RKK SBS SDG SDSS SHK TOL UGC UGCA UM VCC VV WEIN WKK ZOAG BF95 CS82 DCL86 RB67 RC2 v89 Karachentsev Survey for UV Bright Galaxies Kiso Las Campanas Redshift Survey Shectman Lyon Groups of Galaxies Garcia Local Group suspected Kowal Lo Sargent Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Galaxies Maffei Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies Molonglo Reference Catalogue of Radio Sources Large Markarian Galaxies Markarian Lick Northern Proper Motion 1st part Galaxies Klemola Perseus Cluster of Galaxies Principal Galaxies Catalogue Paturel Emission line objects Prism Objective X Revised Flat Galaxy Catalogue RFGC Karachentsev Galaxies behind Southern Milky Way Kraan Korteweg Galaxies QSOs blue stars second Byurakan Survey Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy Sloan Digital Sky Survey Compact groups of galaxies Shakhbazian Emission line galaxies or QSOs Tololo Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies Nilson Catalogue of Selected Non UGC Galaxies UGC Addendum Emission Line Objects University of Michigan Virgo Cluster Catalogue Binggeli Interacting galaxies Vorontsov Vel yaminov Galaxies near the northern galactic plane Weinberger Galaxies behind Southern Milky Way Woudt Ga
284. ttach your own astronomical images to a selected celestial object 1 2 Choose the Locate command on the main menu and locate the celestial object that you wish to add your image too As an example type in Mars and then choose the Find Now button The astronomical catalogue window for the object you have selected is now displayed In our example the Planets window is displayed with the planet Mars selected Along the bottom edge of the astronomical catalogue window is the menu that contains the command No Pic which you will find on all of STAR Atlas PRO s astronomical catalogue windows After you add an image to an object the astronomical catalogue window for that object will re label the No Pic menu command too Picture thereby signalling that there is an astronomical image attached to this celestial object Click on the No Pic menu command and the Images window is displayed Choose the Add Image command and proceed to select the graphics image with the Windows open picture dialogue window This allows you to locate images anywhere on your computer STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 133 The astronomical image is now displayed in the Images window Notice that there is a above the image Clicking on this allows you to enter your own notes in the scrollable space provided many pages of notes may be entered When finished click and the notes are then protected 5 You may now proceed to attach
285. ttention to enter letters in upper or lowercase to match your CD Key Number exactly IMPORTANT Be sure to store the STAR Atlas PRO CD ROM Key Number in a safe location as you may require it to qualify for future software promotions and program updates On first use of STAR Atlas PRO the Program Setup and Configuration screen is displayed The Program Setup and Configuration screen permits you to make a number of basic settings that are important for STAR Atlas PRO to display star charts in their correct orientation which depends on your geographical location Subsequent changes to STAR Atlas PRO configuration can be made at any time by returning to the Program Setup and Configuration screen Step 3 Begin Configuration Following this procedure to access the Program Setup and Configuration screen 1 Choose the Chart Prefs command from STAR Atlas PRO main menu The STAR Atlas PRO main menu floats near the top left of the STAR Atlas PRO application window unless it has been moved to another screen location or was docked at the edge of the window 2 Choose the Settings and Configuration command from the Chart Preferences and Program Settings window STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 21 3 Proceed to follow the procedures explained in the following text to alter the STAR Atlas PRO settings and configurations Step 4 Setting the Observer s Location and Time Zone This option should b
286. ttings STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 229 Find HIP Find Star in Hipparcos Catalogue Common commands Displayed Screen Data Hipparcos Identifier Hipparcos Variability Type Variable Type in GCVS NSV Spectral Type Magnitude at Max Limit Flag Magnitude at Min Magnitude at HP Intrinsic Amplitude New Variable Flag Variable Star Name Period from Literature will apply to the list and only those variable stars that fall within the Magnitude range are listed V List only New Variable Stars list only those variable stars that have been identified as New by the Hipparcos Catalogue Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Hipparcos Catalogue Number you are prompted to enter Finds an entry in the catalogue using the Henry Draper Catalogue number you are prompted to enter Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description Hipparcos Catalogue Number Hipparcos Defined type of Variable C no variability detected D duplicity induced variable M possible micro variable P periodic variable R V I colour index was revised to variability analysis U unsolved variable which does not fall into the other categories Known Variable Star from the GCVS NSV Catalogues Spectral Type Magnitude at maximum brightness from curve fitting The flag gt indicates that the true magnitude at minimum brightness is likely to be
287. tude Size Position Angle Surface Brightness B V Colour Constellation Names The galaxy exhibits a bar The galaxy exhibits a ring The galaxy belongs to a multiple galaxy system C or D if a galaxy was reported as compact or diffuse respectively The object s total apparent corrected B Magnitude Blue Magnitude corrected for galactic extinction internal extinction and k correction The size of object s major and minor size measured in arc minutes The position angle of the object s major axis from North Eastwards measure in Degrees The object s mean effective surface brightness measured in Magnitude per square arc second mag arc secL The object s total apparent corrected B V colour The Constellation in which the object appears Other catalogue designations and names for this object Positional Information 16 52 8 32 x 3 98 89 20 35 0 86 Virgo MESSIER104 MCG 02 32 020 PGC042407 SOMBRERO NGC4594 UGCA293 IRAS12373 1120 2MASXJ12395949 1137230 The Hyper LEDA window displays positional information for the selected Hyper LEDA object STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 146 OBJECT POSITION OTHER DATA Right Ascension R A 12h 39m 59s Rise Time 06h 36m 18s Declination DEC 44 37 21 Transit Time 13h09m11s__ Altitude ALT 15 57 39 Set Time 19h 42m 03s Azimuth AZ 244 14 24 Angular Separation The following
288. u have more than one hard drive in your computer you may choose to install into the STARPRO folder on that hard drive Step 4 Begin the STAR Atlas PRO Install Wizard Follow this procedure to install STAR Atlas PRO 1 Insert the STAR Atlas PRO Installation CD ROM into your CD ROM drive The Setup program will begin automatically and then the installation wizard will guide you through installation on to your computer If the Setup program does not begin automatically Run the setup exe program located on the STAR Atlas PRO Installation CD ROM To do this select the Windows Start button and then choose the Run command When the Run dialog window appears enter D SETUP EXE where D is substituted for your CD ROM drive letter Click the OK button to continue and the STAR Atlas PRO install wizard begins 2 When the install wizard completes remove the STAR Atlas PRO Installation CD ROM from your CD ROM drive and store it in a safe location STAR Atlas PRO additional features The following editions of STAR Atlas PRO include optional features that may be installed after completing the basic installation of STAR Atlas PRO STAR Atlas PRO also includes a Telescope Control system STAR Atlas PRO includes its own collection of in built Telescope Drivers to suit most robotic telescopes and telescopes equipped with Digital Setting Circles In addition to the in built STAR Atlas PRO
289. u to display the Astronomical Database Manager window Type in M81 and press the ENTER key on your keyboard this auto selects the Find command The NGC IC and Messier Catalogues window is now displayed with the information for Messier 81 M81 also known as NGC3031 Choose Map and the desktop chart will be centred on the object M81 Now choose Field of View from the STAR Atlas PRO main menu Select the _ 10 Degrees preset so that the Chart s field of view is changed to 10 Degrees Now that we have located the celestial object of choice and then changed the chart s field of view so that we are relatively zoomed in to the sky we may now proceed to follow the instructions in the next section to download the DSS Image for M81 STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 122 Downloading DSS Images with STAR Atlas PRO Prior to retrieving DSS Images it is recommended you enable the V Display DSS Image Outlines in Chart Preferences to do this choose Chart Prefs from the main menu and then make sure there the V Display DSS Image Outlines option is enabled The Chart Field of View should be set to a small value such as 5 or 10 to do this choose Field of View from the main menu and choose a new Chart Field of View When the chart is positioned to your position of choice follow this procedure 1 Right mouse click at the exact location on the chart that will be the centre of the DSS Image
290. ursor down to scroll the list and position yourself to the object STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 236 Find LEDA Find PGC Find Other Catalogue Common commands Displayed Screen Data PGC LEDA Number Identification Type PA Surface Brightness Total B Magnitude Size Other Catalogues Bar Ring Multiple Compact Common Positional Data you wish to locate Once an object is located on the list click on the entry in the list an arrow will appear at the left of the list indicating the item s selection Click the Select Button Find a galaxy using its LEDA Lyon Meudon Extragalactic Database catalogue number Find a galaxy using its PGC Principal Galaxy Catalogue catalogue number Find a galaxy using a selected catalogue and catalogue number For example NGC 253 ESO 350 40 Valid Catalogues are ANON ARAK ARP DCL DDO DRCG ESO FAIR FCC FGC FGCA FGCE HICK IC IRAS KARA KAZA KCPG KUG LEDA MARK MCG MESS NGC nS ZW nZ PGC POX RB SAIT SBS TOLO UGC UGCA UM VCC VIIZW VV WEIN Common Commands to all Catalogues including Map Copy to Obs Picture No Pic Goto Sync etc Description PGC Principal Galaxy Catalogue Number or LEDA Catalogue Number Alternate Name Morphological type Position Angle of Galaxy 99999 99 is displayed when unknown Mean effective surface brightness in Magnitude per arc second squared Mag arcsec 2 Total B Magnitude Size Major Axis x Minor Axis Th
291. us After viewing the information choose Close and you are returned to the Star Names window Now choose Map and the desktop chart is re displayed and centred on the location of Sirius If STAR Atlas PRO is set to Planetarium chart mode and the Star is below your local horizon then STAR Atlas PRO will display a message informing you the object is below the horizon Set STAR Atlas PRO into Star Atlas charting mode when you wish to chart objects that are currently below your local horizon STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 53 Locating popular Deep Sky objects STAR Atlas PRO includes a large list of Deep Sky Objects with popular names These include familiar objects such as the Andromeda Galaxy the Helix Nebula the Pleiades the Great Nebula in Orion and many others At the bottom of the Popular Deep Sky Objects window is the current Altitude and Azimuth of the selected Deep Sky Object Delle Caustiche M24 the Sagittarius Star Cloud Milky Way Patch 6603 a Delta Lyrae Cluster Stephenson 1 open cluster SIMBAD Archinal Hynes Diablo Nebula M27 the Dumbbell Nebula 6853 Double Cluster h Chi Persei 884 Double Headed Shot M27 the Dumbbell Nebula 6853 Draco Dwarf DDO 208 UGC 10822 in Local Group 10822 Dragon Nebula Part of the Lagoon Nebula M8 6523 mi Dragonfly Cluster Phi Cassiopeiae Cluster Owl Cluster ET Cluster 457 Duck Nebula 2359 Dumbbell Nebula M27 Diablo Nebula Double Head Shot Apple Core Nebul
292. value is Enabled Turned On _ The absence of a Tick Mark indicates that the value is Disabled Turned Off STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 11 Installing STAR Atlas PRO This chapter explains how to install STAR Atlas PRO on your Personal Computer Installation Pre checks Before getting started make sure your Computer and Windows Operating System meet the minimum requirements to install and run STAR Atlas PRO Check 1 Minimum System Requirements Make sure your computer system meets the minimum requirements before proceeding The minimum requirements are Pentium 4 or higher CPU recommended Graphics adapter resolution of 1024 x 768 and 256 colours resolution of 1440 x 900 and 16 000 colours or higher are recommended STAR Atlas PRO Advanced Edition requires up to 2 5 Gigabytes of free disk space depending on installation choices 48MB RAM 128 MB RAM or higher recommended CD ROM Drive Mouse or other pointing device A note about mice The majority of STAR Atlas PRO commands can be controlled using a keyboard only however a mouse or pointing device is required to select celestial objects on a displayed chart or to selected positions on a chart Optional System Requirements The following requirements are optional Windows compatible colour or black amp white printer optional Internet connection optional Postscript interpreter optional for interp
293. view Chart Field OF view Locate Object Locate Object Meade Lx200 Connect Celestron NexStar 8 11 GPS Connect Draw CCD FOY Draw CCD FOY Draw Eyepiece FOY Draw Eyepiece FOY Add Text Add Text On Line Data b On Line Data Close Close Menu with Meade driver selected Menu with Celestron driver selected The Telescope Control Menu is your main access point for controlling or monitoring your Telescope The name of the telescope control menu will be the same name as the Telescope Driver you configured for STAR Atlas PRO Notice on the menus pictured here that the Telescope menu name is changed to the name of the STAR Atlas PRO telescope driver that you selected The screen shot at left displays the menu with the Meade LX200 driver selected and the screen shot at right displays how the menu appears when the Celestron NexStar 8 11 GPS driver is selected Select the ASCOM drivers the FS2 driver or the Argo Navis driver will change the menu name to the driver you select Connecting and Disconnecting the Telescope Before performing Telescope control operations you must establish a connection to your telescope with STAR Atlas PRO STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 158 After the connection is established the STAR Atlas PRO Telescope menu becomes enabled and you may perform Telescope operations At any time you may also Disconnect the telescope to release the connection otherwise this is done automatically when you e
294. wer program that supports Windows DDE like Paintshop Photoshop FitsView STAR Atlas PRO will use your Web Browser Program to present reports from the Observation Planner and can utilise your External Image Viewer program to display print and edit images stored in the STAR Atlas PRO database Here is how to set up these external programs so that they can be used from within STAR Atlas PRO 1 Click on the File Locations tab 2 There are 3 important options STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 22 Step 6 Setting the Location to store Images Images downloaded from the Internet or from your own collection of astronomical images The default value for this setting is C STARPRO IMAGES If you installed STAR Atlas PRO into the default folder of C STARPRO then you will not need to alter this setting and may proceed to the next section If however you installed STAR Atlas PRO into another folder then you do need to set this value correctly proceed as follows 1 Choose the three dotted button that appears at the end of the Location to Store Images setting 2 Navigate your way to the folder where you installed STAR Atlas PRO and select the folder called IMAGES This will set the Location to Store Images setting to the folder location you choose For example suppose you installed STAR Atlas PRO into a folder on your computer named D ASTRO STARPRO Then the Location to Store Images setting mu
295. witch to Planetarium mode 1 Choose Planetarium The chart mode is now changed to the new mode To switch to Star Atlas mode 1 Choose Star Atlas The chart mode is now changed to the new mode STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 108 Filter Options The Filter Options screen permits you to apply a filter that decides which types of celestial objects to display on the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart As an example you could choose to display only Galaxies and Planetary Nebulae or any other combination of one or more types of celestial objects The following table describes each of the filter options and commands Filter Option SOLAR SYSTEM V Sun Moon and Planets V Comets DEEP SKY OBJECTS V Star Clusters V Nebulae V Planetary Nebulae V Globular Star Clusters V Galaxies V Galaxy Clusters V Supernova Remnants V Quasars AGN amp BL Lac Objects V Display Unclassified Misc Objects V User Objects Filter Commands All ON All OFF Filter Status Apply Filter Description Display the Sun Moon and Planets Display Comets Display Star Clusters Display Nebulae Display Planetary Nebulae Display Globular Star Clusters Display Galaxies Display Galaxy Clusters Display Supernova Remnants Display Quasars AGN amp BL Lac Objects Display Unclassified Misc Objects Display User Objects Description Enables all Filter Options Disables all Filter Optio
296. xit STAR Atlas PRO Connecting to the Telescope Opening a connection to your Telescope requires a single command Follow one of these procedures 1 Choose the Scope command from the main menu or 1 Press Alt F2 on your keyboard or 1 Right mouse click and select the scope menu and then the Connect option An On Line indicator now appears at the top right of the STAR Atlas PRO desktop status display indicating a successful connection with the Telescope Disconnecting from the Telescope Closing a connection to your Telescope requires a single command Follow this procedure 1 Choose the Disconnect command from the telescope menu this disconnects the STAR Atlas PRO telescope communications port so that the port may be used by another application Controlling Robotic Telescopes This section of the manual explains how to use STAR Atlas PRO to control a robotic telescope a telescope that moves itself to point at a celestial object Slewing to the mouse pointer Use this method to slew your telescope to the celestial location indicated by the position of your mouse pointer STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 159 Center Chart Center amp Zoom Identify Field OF View Locate Object Meade LX200 Center on Telescope Draw CCD FOY Track Telescope Draw Eyepiece FO SRR ER tay Ohne Add Text Stop Slew On Line Data Control Panel Close Options i paa Disconnect STAR Atlas PR
297. you to chart its location Using this method of searching for objects provides you with a powerful tool that you may revisit constantly to assist in locating the objects you wish to observe STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 93 Eyepiece and CCD Camera Reticles Eyepiece and CCD Camera or SLR Camera Reticle features allow you to superimpose circular or rectangular shaped Reticles onto the STAR Atlas PRO desktop chart that match the Field of View as observed with your telescope eyepieces and camera equipment To set up STAR Atlas PRO so that you may begin using the Reticles you need to have the following information about your telescope before you start 1 The diameter of your telescope in Millimetres consult the table following 2 The focal length your telescope in Millimetres 3 The focal length of each of your Eyepieces in Millimetres 4 The Apparent Field Of View of each of your Eyepieces in Degrees 5 If you are using a CCD Camera or Digital SLR Camera you also need to know how many pixels are in the X and Y plane or the camera and what the X and Y size is of each pixel refer to your camera manufacturers documentation to locate this information Typical diameters of Telescope optics Primary optics diameter Primary optics diameter inches millimetres 2 4 60mm 3 0 76mm 4 101mm 4 5 114mm 6 152mm 7 177mm 8 203mm 9 25 235mm 10 254mm 11 279mm 12 304mm 12 5
298. you are going to download with STAR Atlas PRO From the popup menu choose On Line Data and then choose the STScI Digitized Sky Survey option from the sub menu that appears Click the V 15 x 15 option under Image Size Presets this will set the Image Size Height and Width selectors too an Image size of 15 x 15 arc minutes Choose the Download DSS Image with Web Browser Your Internet Web Browser program is now started by STAR Atlas PRO and will automatically retrieve the DSS image Wait until the DSS Image is completely downloaded and displayed in your Web Browser before proceeding STAR Atlas PRO User Manual Pg 123 SkYLab DSS Interface Microsoft Internet Explorer _ Ol x File Edit View Favorites Tools Help amp Dak E x a A P se le Fortes Ol sE a a Lg 3 tml Address 4 D starp skyl i Go aiD pe eae inc 6 At the top of the Web Browser page are the instructions that tell you how to store the DSS Image should you wish to keep the image The instructions are also listed here a Wait until the image has completely downloaded in the Web Browser b Then right mouse click on the image c Select Save Picture As or Save Image As from the popup menu d Save this file as C STARPRO IMAGES 1 gif TIP When you are prompted for the Save Picture file name Press Ctrl V on your keyboard to automatically paste the correct file name e Click the Save Button Wh

Here - STAR Atlas:PRO

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents