Multiple Object Types
Sky DataBase file
Related Links
Background
Let's say you want to have a
single Sky Database
(SDB) file with more than one object type. In this example we will limit
this to two object types using User-Defined Object Types "Type 1" and "Type 2".
This could actually be up to 15 different object types in a single SDB.
Using View | Display Explorer you
can change the name of Object "Type 1" to something like "My Wide Field Objects"
and Object "Type 2" to "My Narrow Field Objects". Although this is not necessary
it makes sense to do so for clarity. Just Double Click on "Type 1" to expand the
entry showing its' Display Properties. Then go from there. See below.
Display Properties
"Type 1" is now "My Wide Field Objects"
and assigned a new symbol
How do I create my own unique symbol??
<- Click here
View Display Explorer
Two new entries for Wide and Narrow Fields
First make sure that " Visible" is
checked in the User-Defined Data dialog. When using existing objects in TheSky
choose Snap to: Nearest Non-Stellar (unless you are manually entering the
objects where you would use "Add Entry" instead of CONTROL+Left Mouse clicking
on them. The object type in this examples should be "Mixed Deep Sky" since there
are different types in the same file. However, this is not actually necessary as
you will see later on.
View | User-Defined Data
Choose Mixed Deep Sky and Browse to assign the SDB
name
At this point you can CONTROL+LEFT
Mouse Click on existing objects and they will be added or you can choose to
manually "Add Entry".
NOTE:
Here is the trick. After you have
"Snapped to" an object and stamped the information (NGC6960 Veil Nebula below)
or manually "Added" the object use the "Label" field as follows. When you have
an object that is of Object Type 1 "Wide Field Object" type Wide Field Object in
the label field. And the same is true for "Narrow Field Objects".
Using the Label Field
Type in Wide Field Object
or Narrow Field Object
By using the Label Field this way
you can have "Wide Field Objects" assigned to Object Type 1 (Wide Field Objects)
and "Narrow Field Objects" assigned to Object Type 2 "Narrow Field Objects" by
using the "ADVANCED" option found on the "Define Fields" dialog. See below.
Obj. Type assigned to columns
68 - 88
Narrow and wide field assigned to Type 1 and Type 2
Advanced button found on the
Define Fields dialog
Now assign Type 1 and Type 2
to Wide Field Object and Narrow Field Object
Wide field objects are assigned
My Wide Field Object Type
Narrow Field Objects are assigned to Narrow Field Object
The "Label Field"
used previously starts
in Column 68. Assign the field named "Obj. Type" to columns 68 through 88. Now
whenever an object in the text has the name Wide Field Object it will be
assigned to Object Type 1 "Wide Field Object". Same for Object Type 2 which is
"Narrow Field Object". Of course you could also make a Medium field object type
too.
Here is an example of data using
the Label Field to distinguish between the two types Narrow Field and Wide Field
Objects.
;Copyright, Software Bisque, Inc.
>LABEL 19,30
>ALIAS 19,30
>RAHOURS 37,47
>DECDEGREES 49,60
>CATALOG CLASS=OBJECTS
>LOADMEMORY
>IDENTIFIER User-Defined Data
>OBJECT TYPE 20 <------- Not used unless you do not have an object type assigned!!
1 M 8 18.06333333 -24.38333333 30.00 Wide Field Object
2 NGC 6514 18.03833333 -23.03333333 30.00 Narrow Field Object
3 NGC 6546 18.12000000 -23.30000000 30.00 Narrow Field Object
4 IC 4685 18.15483333 -23.98722222 30.00 Narrow Field Object
5 NGC 6618 18.34666667 -16.18333333 30.00 Wide Field Object
So the entry "Wide Field Object"
are then assigned to the field Obj. Type
allowing them to have different attributes from the
Narrow field objects without the need for two separate SDB's.
N = Narrow Field Objects
W = Wide Field Objects
Remember you can still DISABLE one
or the other object types by removing the check next to the object type.
If you wish to "SEARCH" an SDB
using Edit | Find you must specify the field to be searched. The following
assigns the Find field to Columns 19-30.
Defining the Find field
Search field
My Objects is the SDB name
Expand to see individual entries
If you wish to have the objects
labeled you can add another field with the common name. See below.
;Copyright, Software Bisque, Inc.
>LABEL 90,120
>ALIAS 19,35
>RAHOURS 37,47
>DECDEGREES 49,60
>CATALOG CLASS=OBJECTS
>LOADMEMORY
>IDENTIFIER User-Defined Data
>OBJECT TYPE 20
1 M 8 18.06333333 -24.38333333 30.00 Wide Field Object Lagoon
2 NGC 6514 18.03833333 -23.03333333 30.00 Narrow Field Object Trifid
3 NGC 6546 18.12000000 -23.30000000 30.00 Narrow Field Object Open Cluster
4 IC 4685 18.15483333 -23.98722222 30.00 Narrow Field Object My Favorite Cluster
5 NGC 6618 18.34666667 -16.18333333 30.00 Wide Field Object M17 Swan
Adding the new
Label Field
Common names (Label) assigned columns
90-120
Alias field assigned to columns
19-30
Cross Reference to known Id's
View | Display Explorer
Expand SDB's and check the Label Field
Screen shot with labels
AND Wide/Narrow symbols
WARNING!
In this scenario when you disable
Object Type 1 or Object Type 2 (Wide/Narrow) the symbols will not show but the
LABELS will remain! See below!
Symbols turn off labels do not!
Heads up! No Symbols but labels remain!
If you don't like this behavior
you can always make a copy of the existing SDB and then compile it has Data
Class = Label and Data Class = Objects/Points. This gives you the maximum
flexibility.
Taking a customers example of
objects the following data allows all of the above to be achieved.
NOTE! By using the Snap to: feature for Stars and
Non-Stellar objects you are guaranteed to get the proper coordinates stamped in
the file. Secondly this allows the proper use of the ALIAS field.
Example below Polaris is cross referenced to the star Polaris and NGC 253 is
properly cross referenced and so on.
;Copyright, Software Bisque, Inc.
>ALIAS 19,35
>SEARCH 72,91
>RAHOURS 37,47
>MAGNITUDE 61,66
>DECDEGREES 49,60
>CATALOG CLASS=OBJECTS
>LOADMEMORY
>IDENTIFIER Brew2
>PARSE "My Label" 72,91
>OBJECT TYPE 20
; Entry # |ALIAS | Right | Declination |Mag |Obj.|Common
; | | Ascension | | |Type| Name
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Polaris 0.00000000 +89.00000000 1.97 Ref North Pole
1.5 None 0.00000000 -89.00000000 30.0 Ref South Pole
2 NGC 253 0.79252778 -25.28750000 7.30 Tak NGC 253
3 NGC 5055 13.26361111 42.03305556 9.3 Cel Sunflower
4 NGC 4594 12.66647222 -11.62250000 8.3 Cel Sombrero
5 NGC 7023 21.02652778 68.16944444 30.0 Cel Iris Nebula
NOTE: The above header does
not reflect the use of the field OBJ. TYPE with the Advanced option to break
down the object types!!!!
The following are done BEFORE compiling the text.
Define Fields Obj. Type Columns
68 - 70
Press Advanced
Define Fields | Advanced
Ref, Tak, and Cel assigned accordingly!
Ref = Reference Point object type,
Tak = Wide Field and Cel = Narrow Field.
To change the Font attributes for
the labels used in this case the object type is Mixed Deep Sky. Therefore the
labels take on these attributes not the Type 1 and Type 2 My Wide Field Objects
or My Narrow Field Objects!
Another option for adding your own
object labels is to add them to the existing Common Non-Stellar SDB file.
First backup the existing version
just in case so you can go back if necessary. Then Edit the file Common Non-Stellar.txt
and add your object labels. Make sure you align the text to match the other
objects in the file!
;Copyright Software Bisque 1992-2006
>LABEL 28,56
>ALIAS 57,78
>RAHOURS 3,13
>DECDEGREES 15,26
>CATALOG CLASS=LABELS
>LOADMEMORY
>IDENTIFIER Common Non-Stellar
>PARSE "Common Name" 28,56
>MAGNITUDE 1,1
>OBJECT TYPE 20
;
0 20.19944444 26.48333333 20 Vulpeculae Cluster NGC6885
0 5.64647888 -69.08522222 30 Doradus NGC2070
0 0.40114877 -72.09118786 47 Tucanae NGC104
................ and so on.
You can append yours to the end of the list or manually insert them in alphabetical order.
0 0.00000000 +89.00000000 North Pole None
0 0.00000000 -89.00000000 Ref South Pole None
0 21.02652778 68.16944444 Iris Nebula NGC 7023
NOTE! The use of a "1" or
"0" in the first column dictates when the label will plot. If a
"1" one
is used the label will plot at all fields. If a "0" zero is used the
label will not plot until you are zoomed in to a field less than 50 degrees!
This helps keep the display from being to cluttered. Use zero for
smaller or fainter objects!
Because the data uses the ALIAS field in the case of the Iris Nebula
the data for NGC7023 is returned. This data comes from the NGC
catalog!
After adding your objects to the default file just recompile the text again for the changes to take affect.
Once added to the existing Common
Non-Stellar labels you can search an object directly. As in Edit |
Find Iris Nebula.
NOTE: Magnitude 30.0 is used by
TheSky for objects that have a non-existent magnitude. Normally
these objects are very bright so the default faint magnitude of
30.00 is a bit miss leading. This is the way that it is.
Object name: NGC 7023
Magnitude: 30.0
Equatorial: RA: 21h 01m 43s Dec: +68°11'53"(current)
Equatorial 2000: RA: 21h 01m 36s Dec: +68°10'10"
Horizon: Azim: 331°44'32" Alt: +38°48'46"
Size: 10.0 x 10.0
Transit time: 04:46 Always above horizon.
Object type: Open Cluster
Source catalog: Revised NGC
Blue mag: 7.1
Constellation: CEP
Dreyer description : 7th magnitude star in extremely faint, extremely large, nebulosity.
Position angle: 00°00'
Hour angle: 05h 33m 24s
Air mass: 1.60
Screen x,y: 634.00, 415.00
Sidereal time: 02:35
Click distance: 1.0000
Catalog number: 7023
Celestial type: 11
NGC/IC: 0
Catalog: 1
Press Compile
after adding labels
Then answer "NO" to "Add to Auto Load!!
If you answer "Yes"
the SDB will be added TWICE and you will have two labels for all
objects in the file not one!
View | Labels Common Names
Check Common Non-Stellar
|
