Measuring Horizon Angles

[mtfreestyler (Matt)]

Hi Guys,

I came to this group because I thought you'd probably have the answer to this or an even better way.

I was thinking recently when setting up my horizons in Astroplanner that there must be a way to use the mount to measure the actual limits of the horizon instead of just getting an angle app on my phone and pointing it at the top of the trees and noting it down

Does anyone know of a program that helps you map the horizon angles with the scope?

My thoughts are that I could point the scope just above the trees and then mark that position and then go around the 360 degree view marking all the other angles as I go. The program could either just list them all and I can do it manually or even better it puts it into the .txt file for it to read

Thanks in advance

Matt

[Mckechg (Grant)]

Hey Matt,

I found in TSX the ability to map your horizon with driving the scope.

The other option is to use your scope to align the bottom of the horizon and record the altitude a few times with azimuth and it would be better then you have now

just a thought...

g./

[SteveInNZ]

I took a series of photographs to make a 360 degree panorama. Then measure the altitude angle of one item to get a scale and draw a few lines on the image.
Doing it at night is quite useful too as it allows you to factor in light pollution.

Steve.

[troypiggo (Troy)]

You wouldn't even need to measure the alt, would you? If you can make out the stars/constellations, you could get the altitude from any planetarium by approximation? I like this solution.

[mtfreestyler (Matt)]

Sorry guys I forgot to do a subscription to this thread. No wonder I wasn't getting the emails when you all replied. Thought I was just unpopular.

Grant, What doesn't TSX have? Still I won't be buying it just yet since my set up is different.

Steve, That is what I have done so far but I used a 14mm fisheye and when putting the file into Cartes Du Ciel it doesn't seem to match up very well. Also due to the nature of my back yard the south facing side has a tree that blocks the view to about 80 degrees so it's hard to keep it all accurate.

Troy, I didn't think about that and using the stars as an angle measure. I might give it a go but being in Eltham there is quite a bit of LP