Observing Session Planning Tool?

[julianh72 (Julian)]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered many times, so apologies if so, my Google searches have probably used the wrong key words to get a useful "hit":

I'm creating a spreadsheet tool which allows me to enter my location, and planned start and end of a viewing session, to return a range of RA / DEC coordinates that will be well-positioned for successful viewing / imaging. I want to be able to "clip" the ALT / AZ range to allow for the limitations of my suburban location and equipment (e.g. maximum Altitude = 70 degrees to avoid my camera hitting the mount, avoid 45 to 135 degrees Azimuth due to light pollution from nearby Brisbane CBD, avoid Altitudes of less than 30 degrees to avoid surrounding trees and hills, and so on). The range of RA / DEC coordinates that are returned will therefore be limited to the clear sky view from my backyard, in the hours that I plan to be outside.

What I'd like to do next is take my list of targets (with RA / DEC coordinates and other key attributes), and produce a filtered list of targets that I should concentrate on.

I know you can use apps like Sky Safari and Stellarium etc to indicate the visibility of a particular target at a particular location and time, but I want to make customised viewing lists for specific sessions - e.g. capturing the spectra of Magnitude 2 to 4 Class B & A stars in my night sky tonight, and so on.

It occurs to me that lots of people must do exactly this - I'd be grateful to find out how they go about creating their viewing lists. (E.g. is there a plug-in for Stellarium that does this?)

Otherwise, I'll carry on with my spreadsheet coding project and see how I go.

Thanks!

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Astroplanner I think it's called ..
The free version has limited catalogs although they are quite adequate when starting and if you get serious and lay down some money then it gets really serious ...

On a tablet get Sky Portal, it lists 'Favourites' for the night with position, Free as well for Android.

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Originally Posted by ZeroID

Astroplanner I think it's called ..
The free version has limited catalogs although they are quite adequate when starting and if you get serious and lay down some money then it gets really serious ...

On a tablet get Sky Portal, it lists 'Favourites' for the night with position, Free as well for Android.

Thanks - AstroPlanner looks to be a good match for what I was looking for - I figured somebody must have done this before I thought of it!

I'll check it out this weekend.

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

+1 for AstroPlanner. Some very well written software. Still yet to dig into it more!

[julianh72 (Julian)]

I downloaded AstroPlanner over the weekend, and it looks to do exactly what I need. I had to pay for the full licence to unlock the catalogues that I was interested in, but it looks to be a good investment for my needs.

[AEAJR (Ed)]

I use Tonight's Sky.

www.tonightssky.com

Put in your location, time and then select what you want to see and how dim.

You could, for example say:

Binocular targets including planets and star clusters.

I will give you a list sorted by magnitude. Or you can select, at print out, to have it sorted by constellation which is what I do.

I use it all the time. Great tool and it is free!

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

+2 (!) for AstroPlanner....
I've worked with Paul since the 1970's and AstroPlanner has just got better over the years.
Highly recommended.