What software do folk use for image planning and target selection?

[g__day (Matthew)]

Folks,


Thanks for all the patience and great answers to my many questions. I am now up to the point where I may wish to start planning imaging runs; specifically target selection for my location and tastes.


So I live is Sydney and say I wish to image galaxies, nebulae and certain targets of interest - what can best assist me? If I say come up with a list of 20 - 50 Messier or NGC or IC targets I would like to image between say 8pm and 2am - what software would folk recommend to optimise target selection?


Many thanks,


Matthew

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Astroplanner

[Premordial (Max)]

Stellarium, and a spreadsheet.

[Dennis]

Have a look at SkyTools 4 Imaging - it does a lot of useful stuff.

Cheers

Dennis

[RugbyRene (Rene)]

+1 for StarTools 4 Imaging.

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by RugbyRene

+1 for StarTools 4 Imaging.

StarTools or SkyTools - is that a typo or is there a StarTools as well as SkyTools 4 Imaging?

Cheers

Dennis

[g__day (Matthew)]

CCDPlanner, Skytools - seems there are many options,


Yes the Youtube videos of StarTools 4 Imaging make it look quite handy! Be rather nice if in the future it integrates with N.I.N.A., SGP and TheSkyX!

[lazjen (Chris)]

Stellarium or a site like this: https://telescopius.com/

[g__day (Matthew)]

That online website is really handy too - think I will start there!

[RugbyRene (Rene)]

Originally Posted by Dennis

StarTools or SkyTools - is that a typo or is there a StarTools as well as SkyTools 4 Imaging?

Cheers

Dennis

Yes, I meant SkyTools 4. Although StarTools is a good post-processing software.

[OICURMT]

kstars observation planner

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

+1 for Paul's AstroPlanner.
Try the trial download to see the capabilities....
https://www.astroplanner.net/index.html

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by RugbyRene

Yes, I meant SkyTools 4. Although StarTools is a good post-processing software.

Thanks, I might have a look at StarTools to see what it can do, one can never have too many apps.

Cheers

Dennis

[garymck (Gary)]

I have both Skytools 4 and Astroplanner. Keep going back to Astroplanner most times. Rarely use Skytools, and Astroplanner is way cheaper...
Cheers
Gary

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

I swear by CCDNavigator for picking targets. It interfaces with CCDAutopilot and can set up sessions to drive all my equipment (via TheSkyX in my case).

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I use SkySafari+ on the iPad
It's quick, simple and easy to set parameters.
The fact that you can hold the device up to the sky and get a fairly accurate location, means you can see if an object is going to be obstructed by terrestrial features nearby gives it a huge edge over other programs.

[StuTodd]

I take it you're not on Linux? Otherwise, Kstars observation planner is nice