[astroplanner] how do you arrange/organise your plans?

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Wondering what others do in terms of plans. At the moment I'm
pretty disorganised and everything is just stuffed into one.

In some ways, I was thinking of having a plan for each season, for
example, so that each entry would be visible for that time of year.

Or perhaps have one just filling up with objects as I image them,
and one as a next outing's "hit list" and it'll have to change
depending on the time of year?

So what do you do? Do you have a system?

[Robert9 (Robert)]

Have you tried Astroplanner software? Searches what should be visible from your location. what it will look like in your scope etc. etc. Even has the facility to recognize your local annoyances like tree, houses etc. Shows with little indicators ALTAZ.
Best of all, its a freebee.
http://www.ilangainc.com/astroplanner/

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Yes, that's why I put [astroplanner] in the subject of my post

What I was asking is how you organise or arrange your Astroplanner plans. One big one, or break things up into smaller, more specific ones.

[Robert9 (Robert)]

Gotcha! I decide on a constellation, then what might be there or the near vicinity. eg. Messier object or double stars, and then work to that. Saves time spent re-orienting myself. If I get 6 to 8 objects for a 2 hour session I'm more than happy. Even happier if I get to see them all.

If I can't get enough from the one constellation, then I choose a second to go with the first. I then explore the one that's closest to setting to explore first.

I'm sure there are many ways of organizing an evening's session, but this works for me.

Another way might be to just explore a single quadrant of sky. In Astroplanner this can be done easily by picking everything which you might want to see that night then clicking on the top of the column that will sort them into say, RA, then choose a group in a particular region to explore and forget the rest until tomorrow. (Dangerous if you live in Melbourne where the nights' conditions are so variable)

Astroplanner is very good in that you can sort the hit-list data on whatever is of immediate interest just at the click of a button.

Hope that's of some help.

[troypiggo (Troy)]

I've settled on a summer and winter plan to record imaged objects
for the moment. For the amount of imaging I do, this should be more
than sufficient. Also started adding in "hit list" plans for each
book or magazine I buy with potential targets, and I'll copy targets
over those into the summer and winter plans as I tackle them.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I go for one list - works all year and all night long. Just sort on size, magnitude, visible and all the big bright visible things appear at the top of the list.

[troypiggo (Troy)]

I always knew you were simple.

PS - how'd your imaging go the other night?

[Jen]

Originally Posted by Robert9

Have you tried Astroplanner software? Searches what should be visible from your location. what it will look like in your scope etc. etc. Even has the facility to recognize your local annoyances like tree, houses etc. Shows with little indicators ALTAZ.
Best of all, its a freebee.
http://www.ilangainc.com/astroplanner/

Hey Rob this sounds like a neat little program i might check this out is it easy to use?

[Jen]

It wont run on Vista yet

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Is it possible to do variable stars on Astroplanner? I've had a bit of a look but wasn't able to find anything even though is has variable star catalogs in it's database.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Paul,

Here's the list of available catalogues:

http://www.ilangainc.com/astroplanner/catalogues.shtml

Have you tried asking the guy who's developing it? Paul Rodman is very responsive when it come to questions about Astroplanner.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/astroplanner/


Peter

[CoombellKid]

Can you buy this software locally or do you have to buy it off the net?

I'd like something to use with my Argo Narvis.

Cheers,CS

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

That list demonstrates what I mean Peter. There are at least 4 catalogs that deal with variable stars or photometric situations, but I couldn't find anyway to generate an imaging list.

I'll do as you suggest and drop Paul Rodman a line and see what's in the pipeline.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Click on "show catalogue" at the bottom of the Objects Tab, Select the catalogue you are interested in, this will bring up a dialogue with the objects in that catalogue listed. Select the objects you want to add to the plan and click on the "add selected" button. I tried it and it works for me.

Rob - you need to buy it on the net.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by CoombellKid

Can you buy this software locally or do you have to buy it off the net?

I'd like something to use with my Argo Narvis.

Cheers,CS

I thought this program was free

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Jen,

there is a free version with limited features. The license is about $20 and this activates telescope control and other features.

Peter

[Robert9 (Robert)]

Jen,

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. Yes it is easy to use. Sorry Vista won't allow it. Time to move to Windows 7 ???? I have it running on my Win XP machine and an old Mac with OS 9.3. as well as - not too concerned having it out in the field.
I don't think being unregistered limits connection to a scope. New registration is USD 45. I copied the the following from the Astroplanner site (although you've probably read it by now):


Registration entitles you to:

• No more "nag" messages or unavailable/limited options.
• An alternate manual with higher-quality graphics, suitable for printing.
• The full catalogue collection (including the Tycho database) any future additions or updates. See below for a full list. Hubble GSC only available on CD-ROM. See below.
• The ability to request particular catalogues, where available (the conversion of catalogues to AstroPlanner format is currently only available through the developer)
• Future updates to the version you purchased at no extra cost (if such updates are downloaded. There is an extra charge for updates on CD-ROM).
• Unlimited e-mail technical support.
• Priority when suggesting new or improved features.
• The developer's undying gratitude.
• Bonus: Free upgrade to Version 2 when it is released (early 2009), including a licence number you can use now with pre-release (beta) versions.

Robert

[Jen]

ok cool i how do i go to Windows 7
I think i got a message about it but i ignored it LOL

[RobF (Rob)]

You can import lists of objects without too much trouble into Astroplanner (freeware version). I have 2 lists active - one of the Messier objects (NGC and Messier come with software) and the other one of Glen Cozier's "All Sky Messier Catalogue" that I set up from Glen's original Excel file which nicely picks up all the other bright DSO in Southern hemisphere and things like NOrth american neb etc Messier missed. I have the horizon preconfigured for home, Ron's, 10 Chain Hill, etc. Sort for objects visible and not yet see always give me a host of nice objects to "shoot" whenever getting ready for a dark sky session.

The beauty of this too is you can quickly change targets on site if you do have problems with clouds or whatever. I should really buy the payware version to get Ascom support I guess - not hard to search the next object in planetarium software though.

The other thing you can do is add user columns - I put notes in these - one for objects to target next session, another with notes for best month to hunt something in particularly I'm after.

Awesome software Mr Awesome!

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Aah, some good ideas there. User columns. Haven't played with those yet, but you've given me some ideas. Thanks mate!