User Manual - Oculum
Contents
1. The data on user acquired observing targets are stored in Userdata mdb in addition to Catalog30 mdb After a re installation of the software from the CD the observing targets you ac quired before will be missing from the catalog These can be restored to the catalog from Userdata mdb with the User Data Restore Userdata function You only need the ET ini and User data mdb files to backup your data When you end the program E amp T co pies these two files into a directory which you can specify under Tools Options The installation directory is not suitable for this An occasional backup of the files on an external sto rage medium is recommended eye amp telescope 3 0 21 How can I use E amp T on several computers If for example E amp T is used at home on a desktop computer and on a notebook computer for outdoor use you can transfer user data log entries data for sites optics and eyepieces acquired on one computer to the other one New user data or log entries are always created on only one compu ter Logging or altering data inde pendently on several computers must be avoided When finishing a session where new user data is acquired quit E amp T on all computers and copy the file Userdata mdb from the source computer with the latest modifications to the other tar get computer eye amp telescope 3 0 22 Start E amp T on the target compu ter and execute the Userdata Restore Userdata2. eye telescope User Manual 3 0 Contents Seeing more with Eye amp Telescope Installation and Licensing Three tours to become familiar with E amp T Registering your data Preparing for observations Support during the observation Where and how does E amp T store my data How can I use E amp T on several computers Recommended reading eye amp telescope 3 0 2 U N A A WU W 22 23 Seeing more with Eye amp Telescope Eye amp Telescope E amp T is software for active deep sky observers and provi des a variety of relevant practical data and information about the prepara tion execution and documentation of observations The development of the program is focused on practical use and functionality especially for nightly use at the telescope You can plan your observations with E amp T in advance to make the most ef ficient use of limited time at the tele scope Instead of searching for a sui table star map or required object data under a beautiful clear sky you spend your time at the eyepiece Instead of wasting valuable observing time se arching for an object that s not within the grasp of your optics you ll know beforehand which objects are realis tic targets E amp T is for all active observers who want to see more It offers the fol lowing Estimation of visibility with the optics used telescope eyepiece Estimation of visibility according to viewing conditions limiting magnitude Possi
3. see General functions Planetarium software support You can select various file formats when storing star maps with the File Save As command In addition to the common bitmap formats maps can be saved as vector graphics Windows metafile Many graphics programs can read this format thus allowing proces sing of the star maps Log entries and observing plans can be saved as HTML pages This simplifies placing your documents on web pa ges or passing them along to friends eye amp telescope 3 0 19 If you have a PDA you can load an observing plan saved in HTML into the device for convenient portability For the Astromist PDA application by Cy rille Thieullet a special export function is available XML export of observations opens up far reaching possibilities The data for mat is easy to process for applications as well as being platform and program independent An import function for XML data enables the exchange of ob servations with other users of the soft ware Since the development of this data format is an international effort further applications such as a web da tabase may be realized in the future The ASCOM Initiative is a group of se veral astronomy device manufacturers and software developers Its aim is to eye amp telescope 3 0 20 bring about compatibility between as tronomical software programs and te lescope equipment from different ven dors The ASCOM platform contains a set of
4. by clicking on the button with the Moon symbol After you set the filter criteria the search process is carried out with a click on Search All objects found by E amp T are displayed in a list on the right side of the window By clicking a co lumn heading the list for that column is sorted in ascending or descending order A right click on a list row brings up a context menu with a selection of further information and functions lt F1 gt opens the help file which exp lains each list column and the operati on of the object filter eye amp telescope 3 0 9 Short term observing plan or long term observing project If you want to prepare for an upco ming night E amp T helps you design an observing plan There you insert objects and plan the timing of the observations You also have the op tion of generating a printable HTML document containing all the vital in formation E amp T can also monitor observing projects that require long term planning e g observing every Caldwell object Here you work on a list rather than general observing for the upcoming night The observing project primarily identifies as yet unseen objects attainable under the given conditions time and site sky and optics and chronicles the progress Barlow Reducer not used el Eyepiece e a Magnification 231 6 Field of view 21 76 0 36 Exit pupil 1 6mm gt gt Panoptic 35 mm Conditions of perception Contres
5. by the user may also be recorded You can open the logbook with Log book Entries and record an obser vation with New Recording an obser vation is even easier with the Create Log Entry function available in the context menu of every planning document which transfers parame ters for the current object to the new entry In the logbook the keyboard is required only for entering the text to describe your observations If you don t want to struggle with typing in the dark you can use a dictation device and include your descriptions in E amp T later For explanations of the logbook s various fields click on the field in ques tion and press lt F1 gt The file links with which arbitrary files e g pictures can be referenced provide a noteworthy logbook capability E amp T merely stores the path but not the contents of these files For details click onthe Links to Files dialog box and open the help file with lt F1 gt Filing information in the logbook that applies to all of a night s observations e g comments on the weather can be accomplished with sessions A session refers to a given time period and site eye amp telescope 3 0 18 and automatically references all obser vations applicable to it You can find given observations in the logbook by using the log filter which is invoked with the Filter Set tings function in the observa tions window E amp T incorporates the logbook entries in several plac
6. function This is offered in the menu only when no document windows are open When required you can also use this procedure with more than two compu ters It is important that modifications carried out on one computer are distri buted as described above to all other computers before modifications to the user data or logbook take place Recommended reading Astronomy Hacks Robert H Thompson and Barbara F Thompson O Reilly Media Deep Sky Observing The Astronomical Tourist Steven R Coe Springer Verlag London The Night Sky Observer s Guide Vol 1 amp 2 George R Kepple and Glen W Sanner Vol 3 lan Cooper Jenni Kay and G R Kepple Willmann Bell Atlas of the Messier Objects Ronald Stoyan Cambridge University Press eye amp telescope 3 0 23 eye telescope www eyeandtelescope com
7. incorporates a secure li cense mechanism Every license is deli vered with an individual serial number and must be personalized for unlimi ted use Oculum Publishing generates a license code from the serial number and your name This license code ties the serial number to your name and prevents the proliferation of unautho rized copies because you log in under the licensing specified name Initially E amp T asks for the serial number and the license data The automati cally opened help file explains all the details Having licensed E amp T you should back up the license data To do this click on the in the toolbar and under About E amp T click on the Save data button in the info dialog E amp T writes the license data into a text file license which you should print and keep safe eye amp telescope 3 0 5 Three tours to become familiar with E amp T In the help file there are three tours showing typical use scenarios of the software Tour 1 describes the estimation of an object s perceptibility with an example and introduces possibi lities for an observing plan Tour 2 shows how the interplay between object filtering and observing project shows which Messier objects can be observed Registering your data Once you ve installed and licensed E amp T you should enter data on your optics telescopes or binoculars eyepieces and observing site This only needs to be done once Of course you can add
8. new items vacation site new eyepiece or delete outdated items any time eye amp telescope 3 0 6 during the upcoming night Tour 3 shows how star maps ob ject information and logbook work together to support you du ring a spontaneous unplanned observing session If you take these tours you ll get a good overview of the program s func tions and operation and you ll find the answers to most questions of practical relevance The corresponding input dialogs can be found in the User Data menu If you need an explanation about a field to be filled out or selected click on the field to select it and then press lt F1 gt The help system opens and displays a suitable explanation Preparing for observations Which objects can you see with your optics All observing plans begin with the question of which objects you d like to see and whether you can see them with your optics Whether a deep sky object is discernible in a telescope de pends on the light grasp of the optics the darkness of the sky the acuity of the observer and the size and bright ness of the object E amp T takes all these factors into account to determine de tectability The perceptibilty of objects with very small angular size appearing practi cally point like is determined by the limiting magnitude of the optics In this case high magnification results in an improvement in the limiting ma gnitude The perceptibility of extended o
9. or at las chart number can then be marked and deleted see Selection of objects in lists Shortcuts for selecting ob jects Once the subsets of the search result are prepared as single projects you can combine them with the aid of the clip board or drag amp drop and save the com piled project under your desired name Project files used for the subsets as a par king lot can be closed without saving eye amp telescope 3 0 13 How can add a new observing target to E amp T If you d like to observe an object that isn t stored in E amp T s catalog database you can add it yourself For this task use the function User Data Ob How can E amp T help me with unpre pared observing sessions If you re observing without preparation you ll mostly be interested in suggesti ons for potentially observable objects The object filter can help With only the current settings for site and date the se lection of optics used and an estimate of the current limiting magnitude you ll usually find a multitude of objects To achieve a smaller set you can sort by the contrast above threshold to pick out objects that aren t too difficult or you can sort by optimal time to select good targets for the observing interval which won t usually span the entire night Ano ther approach is to use the Edit Find Best Objects function to limit the star map to the optimum targets To get an impression of how an object will look call up
10. plan is complete You may find that the best time for viewing several objects oc curs at the beginning or end of twilight Because this is not practical E amp T offers the Extras Optimize for Time function to adjust the plan For help file details press lt F1 gt If required you can generate an obser ving plan as an HTML page for printout from your browser Choose the File Export HTML pages menu item for this A dialog with various options allows you to modify the layout and scope of the represented data A paper printout is handy if you d like to leave your note book computer at home especially in winter An observing project is a planning do cument where you first insert the ob jects of interest and which then helps you with sort and calculation functions to purposefully carry out the intended observations After updating site date eye amp telescope 3 0 11 optics and limiting magnitude click on CAT and Best Time and the project will show you Recalculate which objects are up for observing at what time You can mark objects in the list see Shortcuts for selecting objects and add them to an observing plan with the function File Create Obser ving Plan You can insert objects into an observing project with the help of the clipboard Shortcuts for selecting objects In some E amp T object lists you can se lect an assortment of several objects on which a function will be performed For example you can
11. select some objects in the hit list ofthe object filter to add them to an observing plan with the File Create Observing Plan function Knowing some keystrokes which work the same way in other Windows appli cations simplifies the operation of E amp T considerably If several keys are menti oned in the list below then these keys must be pressed one after the other and kept pushed down You select a contiguous range of rows in a list by selecting the first entry and keeping lt Shi ft gt pu shed down when selecting the other end You can select non contiguous list entries by selecting them while holding down the control key lt Ctrl gt eye amp telescope 3 0 12 and data exchange functions of E amp T File Copy File Paste or drag amp drop between visible windows or you can or directly add objects by name Functions of the context menu which you open with a right click quickly and easily get you to object information from the catalog the simulated eyepiece view or to the log book where you can immediately record your observations e The key combination lt Ctrl gt lt Home gt moves the input focus to the top of the list e The key combination lt Ctrl gt lt End gt moves the input focus to the bottom of the list Usethekeycombination lt Shift gt lt Ctrl gt lt Home gt press one af ter the other and hold down to select all entries from the current ly highlighted row up to the top o
12. steps easier for you an exemplary use scenario is presented in the section Which objects can you see with your telescope As the program s author encourage you to investigate the various possi bilities for navigation and data trans eye amp telescope 3 0 4 fer that E amp T offers The topic is exten ded to other programs in the section How does E amp T cooperate with other software E amp T makes substantial use of the right mouse button The context menus al low for quick navigation and data transfer between different windows Simply check out which functions are available here Installation and Licensing E amp T uses database components MDAC by Microsoft which are al ready packaged in newer Windows in stallations For the operation of E amp T with Windows 95 Windows 98 Win dows ME or Windows NT 4 0 MDAC 2 5 or a later version suitable for your operating system must be separate ly installed if E amp T shows a correspon ding message when starting You ll find more information on this at the E amp T website www eyeandtelescope com E amp T can work with telescope controls that support the ASCOM standard If you want take advantage of this capa bility install the current version of the ASCOM software download at www ascom standards org To install E amp T just put the program DVD into the drive The installation will start automatically To protect the program against boot legging E amp T
13. the Perception func tion in the context menu for any object eye amp telescope 3 0 14 jects lt can be summoned with lt F2 gt anywhere in the program If you need an explanation of a field to be filled out or selected click on the field and press lt F1 gt The help file will open and offer clarification plotted on the map If the object seems interesting and you successfully observe it you can record the observation in the logbook right away by opening the log book from the context menu Used this way the star map serves both as a guide and as a graphic observing plan If you have prepared observing projects you can first update the project settings for site date optics and limiting magni tude then apply Recalculate CAT and Best Time and finally bring un observed objects to the top of the list by clicking the Last observation column An object is a suitable target if the Best time listed for it is acceptable With one or several observing projects preferably prepared using additional information sources such as observer s guide books or magazine articles you ll never run out of ideas when observing sponta neously Support during the observation Night vision mode Now let s look at how E amp T supports you during observing sessions When using a computer at the telescope it is im portant to preserve your dark adaption E amp T offers a night vision mode to which you can change with the View Nigh
14. ales and limiting magnitudes Each panning of the view in one of the map windows then causes immediate update of the other windows You can use work spaces details in the help file to perma nently store the layout of the windows There is a special function for printing finder charts see the help file E Eyc8Teiescope 3 0 lizenziert f r Thomas Pfleger m Datei Bearbeten Louch fenutzwcaien ASCOM Anscht Extas Fenster Ca Omar a R 2e aT Heje FEES EE o a mt vi Katengle Dronienuns fl Steril Com H D ioo araen anemie 14 Skye 2003 7 Mauspasiion Janae 242 eye amp telescope 3 0 16 Fig 6 Synchronized star maps Telescope control Observing with E amp T is particularly trou ble free if you have a computer cont rollable telescope for which an ASCOM compatible driver is available E amp T then offers the menu title ASCOM where you select a suitable driver first and can establish a connection to the scope af terwards When connected E amp T shows the current position of the telescope on the star maps and allows for positioning with the GOTO command that can be called up from the context menu of pl anning documents eye amp telescope 3 0 17 Logbook E amp T features a logbook with which you can readily document your obser vations Observations of solar system bodies as well as other objects or phe nomena acquired
15. bjects is determined by the contrast between the surface brightness of the object and the sky background Depending on the apparent angular size of the object determined by the eyepiece in use and the brightness of the sky background the human vision system requires a certain minimum contrast the contrast threshold for success ful detection The difference between the contrast threshold and the object background contrast is called contrast above threshold CAT which serves as a practical measure of perceptibility For further explanation please see the help file under the keywords contrast above threshold The contrast above threshold is then used by E amp T as a minimum value to select observable objects from a data base and represent them in list form or on star maps The tool for this purpose is the object filter of E amp T To investigate which objects are gene rally attainable with your telescope you open a new object filter with the File New command The object filter offers selection criteria for objects in three di alog boxes The first box Objects offers static selection criteria that only depend on the properties of the objects themselves with the exception of the limiting magnitude determined by the optics The dialog boxes for the dyna mic filter criteria of perceptibility Sky and optics and current visibility Time and site can be turned off To pass the filter an object must ful fil
16. ble observing times conside ring darkness and moonlight Favorable observing times when objects reach a predefined azi muth if possible Ability to display objects on star maps only if they are perceptible with your optics under the given observing conditions This avoi ds cluttering the star maps with unattainable objects Additionally you can look up specific objects or insert objects already displayed in other lists with drag amp drop or the clipboard Potentially visible neighborhood objects near an observing target If you ve ever been annoyed by having overlooked an interesting object near an observed target then this function is for you Objects already observed are specified in star maps observing projects and the logbook to do cument the progress of your ob serving projects Catalog data such as name type position brightness and others for more than 130 000 deep sky objects This manual primarily shows the vari ous options in E amp T and highlights of its practical use If you d like to find out more about the program s operation or the meaning of individual parame ters the help file installed with E amp T is at your disposal and can be opened with lt F1 gt whenever the program is run ning eye amp telescope 3 0 3 E amp T doesn t require that you adhere to a predefined planning process The cen terfold figure illustrates how the indivi dual modules collaborate To make the first
17. common interfaces engines and tools to interface software with the ASCOM compatible drivers now found in most astronomy devices that con nect to computers It can be used by E amp T and numerous other astronomy programs See www ascom standards org for details E amp T can establish a connection to com patible mounts via the ASCOM inter face which can indicate the current telescope position on maps or with the necessary hardware slew the te lescope to an object s position For de tails please see the help file General functions Telescope control Where and how does E amp T store my data E amp T saves the license data and pro gram settings in the text file ET ini and uses three databases in the format of MS Access 2000 Userdata mdb contains the user data observations in the log book and the data on observing targets acquired by the user Catalog30 mdb contains data which can be browsed with the object filter on observing project lists and those entries acquired by the user e ET_Sys30 mdb holds informati on necessary for the operation of the software but not of interest to the user The names and their abbreviations of object catalogs selectable in the object filter are read from the file Ca talogues xml If you d like to add a catalog name you can edit the file with a text editor The structure of the entries must be exactly adhered to since otherwise the complete file isn t processed
18. d the object to the observing plan To add further objects you enter their names and repeat the process The list of the objects contained in the plan can then be seen on the left side To display information about an object in the plan simply click on the list entry of the desired object Be sure to check out a right click as well Typing their names is not the only way to add objects to an observing plan E amp T supports clipboard Copy and Paste functions in the Edit menu and drag amp drop drag objects from one window to another while holding the left mouse button down capabilities This makes it asnap to move objects from an object fil ter to an observing plan The context me nus in the various E amp T lists also support clipboard or drag amp drop operations that move the current object to any E amp T win dow with one exception No objects can be inserted in the object filter because its choice of objects is solely determined by the filter settings The filter is there fore the source of objects which then can quite comfortably be transferred to observing plans observing projects star maps and the logbook These possibili ties for data transfer and program navi gation are represented in this manual s centerfold illustration See also the hints in the section Shortcuts for selecting objects When all desired objects are added to the observing plan and a suitable obser ving time for each object is set up the
19. e medium C weak C intense country region hd CAT subjective rating l ignore 020 4 aificut 7 Fig 2 Settings in Sky and optics We now select the observing site in the dialog box Time and site and choose an observing night E amp T displays the rising and setting times of Sun and Moon as well as the period of darkness no twilight no Moon in the sky in the Events group To take visibility crite ria into account check the Time and box Note that the Moon occasionally shines all night long site active and then no night length is given In such a case the filter does not find any objects FN Fiter Time and site active Observing site Nutscheid Night of observation IV 30 08 2008 gt D Events Sunset Begin of End of Sunsrise darkness darkness 20 20 22 23 04 40 06 43 Moonrise 06 03 07 25 nextday Moonset 20 01 20 15 next day Night length 06 17 Prefered azimuth 180 S Minimum altitude g Fig 3 Settings in Time and site Darkness times given for time zone of observing site E xj File Events Nusched Sunset Begnof Endof 30 08 2005 Datkness Darkness Desa 20 20 22 24 02 29 06 43 Sunrise Night length Moonrise 01 22 0229 next day Moonset 1908 1935 next day 04 05 Phase 24 00 013 waning Fig 4 Darkness and moonlight A detailed darkness situation overview can be opened with an optional gra phic representation
20. es You can search specifically for ob jects already observed or not yet observed in the object filter e The date of the latest observation of an object is shown in observing projects In star maps objects that have al ready been observed can be plot ted and are visibly highlighted Existing logbook entries for ob jects may be opened with the Open Logbook function availa ble in the context menu of plan ning documents If you want to make your logbook ac cessible to other observers you can store it wholly or as an excerpt after applying the log filter as an HTML file by using the File Export function The layout of the generated page is controlled by an XSL stylesheet that al lows for customization by users with a sound knowledge of XML and XSLT Direct export as an XML file can be used to share observations with other users who can import such files How does E amp T cooperate with other software E amp T uses the database format of MS Ac cess 2000 which enables trained users to create reports from or make special queries of the logbook data This also gives you the ability to use your data independently of E amp T A central feature of E amp T is its clip board support If the names objects are put on the clipboard the program can then insert these objects in obser ving projects or plans and in star maps providing the object names are in the catalog E amp T s object database Possible application
21. f the list Usethekeycombination lt Shift gt lt Ctrl gt lt End gt press one after the other and hold down to select all entries from the currently high lighted row down to the bottom of the list To mark all rows of the list se lect the first entry and then push lt Shift gt lt Ctrl gt lt End gt The filter criteria available in the object filter can t formulate my choice What can do You might try to find a set of obser ving targets with the object filter but discover that the there are no suitable filter criteria For instance this hap pens when the sought after set of ob jects consists of subsets that can t be described with the same filter settings e g all dark nebulae in the northern sky all quasars brighter than magni tude 14 and the globular clusters in Ophiuchus with a minimum contrast above threshold of 0 3 It also occurs if you want to filter according to traits for which there is no filter criterion e g large diameter no more than 10 arc minutes When this happens you can use one or more observing projects to park the filter results for each subset Use the File Create Project function to add all or only Observing the selected rows of the filter results to a new project The objects in the individual observing projects can be sorted according to their properties by clicking the relevant column hea dings Objects not fulfilling a given criterion such as large diameter
22. l all given and activated filter criteria If the filter criteria are adjusted such that no objects would pass or certain object types would be left out unintentionally E amp T prompts you with a corresponding message eye amp telescope 3 0 7 In the Objects box choose object types that appear extended and thus contrast above threshold is applicable open clusters globular clusters pla netary nebulae galactic nebulae and galaxies For the constellations select A11 You may also specify a minimum diameter for the objects in arc mi nutes The other settings can be left unchanged Object types Open clusters Globular c a M known surface brightn F to optic s limiting mag 15 3 mag F largerthan so 9 r Observations F already logged Dark nebulae Double stars r Catalog names F all gt Messier F NGC FIG other catalog names Fig 1 Settings in Objects Select the optics and the estimated naked eye limiting magnitude at the observing site in the dialog box Sky and optics The setting close to limit in the Perceptibility op tions equivalent to a contrast above threshold of 0 completes the filter cri teria To enable the criteria for perceiva bility check the Sky and optics active box eye amp telescope 3 0 8 I Filter Sky and optics active Optics ICS 14 5 f 5 5 x 14 6 mag r Observing conditions Faintest star Extinction 58 mag non
23. s of this function include Data transfer from Excel Mark a cell range in Excel that contains object names Copy the selection into the clipboard or drag amp drop the selection directly onto an E amp T planning document Data transfer to Excel If you copy selected objects from an object filter or observing project to the clipboard E amp T not only puts the names but all of the object data there The data can then be inser ted in an Excel worksheet Display of object information on object names shown in a Web browser or another Windows ap plication Copy the object name in the browser or the software to the clipboard Switch to an E amp T ob serving plan and paste the object stored on the clipboard Provided that E amp T recognizes the name you can either check the perceptibili ty of the object with your optics or add the object to a planning document at once Thus you can use E amp T in conjunction with many common astronomy programs and seamlessly augment their uti lity with E amp T s special features E amp T can control most common star mapping software You can have the software display a map centered on an object selected in E amp T with a sim ple command This ability takes into account the fact that most amateur astronomers already have powerful star mapping software to which E amp T makes a perfect supplement Some ex ternal programs support special func tions Refer to the help file for details
24. se rotation lt Page Down gt for clockwise ro tation lt Home gt for position angle 0 north up Number button lt 0 gt for overview Number buttons lt 1 gt to lt 9 gt for corresponding map levels lt Return gt or lt Enter gt key discard objects on the map and call up the Find Best Ob jects function 5 Hit lt Return gt or lt Enter gt twice to repopulate the map eye amp telescope 3 0 15 Functions of the mouse in star maps Left click Center on the mouse position Right click open the context menu Mouse wheel upward zoom in to the next higher level Mouse wheel downward zoom out to the next lower level To provide the star maps with as much screen space as possible you can ma ximize the map window and get rid of the main menu and window frame with View Full Screen Mode or lt F12 gt The full screen mode is disa bled with another lt F12 gt or lt Esc gt The controls shown in the upper pane of the map window can be hidden and brought back again when required by pulling the splitter bar between the con trol pane and map pane up or down E amp T can display several star maps at the same time With the synchronization of maps described in the help file each map is centered on the same position Typically a setup of three maps is used showing a naked eye overview the fin derscope perspective and the main optic s field of view with appropriate sc
25. t 0 04 CAT 0 72 1 ppparent sel 4285 0 Sur brightness mag arcmin 2 Obj Sky 14 6 4 Sky 15 5 Easily visible 2 sa a Enlarge eyepiece view F Show star magnitudes eye amp telescope 3 0 10 JV Object of your observations recorded in the logbook The hit list of the object filter may so metimes be quite long Contrast above threshold and optimal time can help you pick the best candidates for a particular observing session You ll get an impres sion of how an object should look in the eyepiece of your telescope by right clicking its row in the hit list of the object filter Then select the function Percep tion in the context menu E amp T opens a window with object information You can change limiting magnitude and op tics settings in the upper area and see how this directly affects perception Try ing various limiting magnitudes is parti cularly interesting The dialog box Catalog Data M Stars IV Neighbors Fig 5 Simulated eyepiece view shows database information In Visi bility you can see and plan around the position of the object in the sky and in Notes you can enter remarks on the object Press lt F1 gt for further explanations Let s create an observing plan and insert some objects The window with the ob ject information represents an observing plan containing only one object not yet added to a list With a click on the In sert button next to the entry field for the name you ad
26. t Vision Mode command However you Star maps E amp T offers star maps to help you with ori entation at the telescope The maps use the equatorial coordinate system just as printed star atlases do Since they are not needed for star hopping horizon coordinates are not supported by E amp T E amp T s star maps are focused on the per ceptibility of objects A star map created with File New or from the context menu of alist does not show any objects at first The objects relevant for you can be trans ferred to a map using standard clipboard or drag amp drop capabilities Or you can leave the task of finding perceptible tar gets to E amp T with a fairly compact object filter the Find Best Objects function which can be called up from the context menu of the star map display This avoi ds cluttering the maps with unnecessary information For convenient nightly operation at the telescope a scroll wheel mouse is highly recommended should also use an additional screen filter made of deep red Plexiglas or transpa rent film Film filters often called gels may be in stock at a theater supply shop stage lighting store or music store that sells lighting equipment They can also be ordered via the Internet try searching on the phrase lighting gels Shortcuts in star maps Use arrow buttons to pan the dis play lt Ctr1 gt arrow buttons for pan ning in smaller steps lt Page Up gt for counter clockwi
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