The
Data Wizard - Cool!
The
Data Wizard is a very powerful tool
that is simple to use and it can be used in
many different ways. If you are interested in a subset of an existing data
as found in TheSky, the
Data Wizard allows you to query the dataset any way
you see fit. Let's say you wanted to create a list of NGC/IC
objects that are of type nebulae, with a size greater than or equal to
10 arcminutes in size and are currently above 30 degrees altitude. Ok fine. Now that you have the list created what's next. How
about making that list into an Orchestrate script that is the carried
out by TheSky and CCDSoft to image all these target objects. Or how
about compiling the text into an SDB file.
Examples. Create a list of all
NGC/IC objects that are of type nebulae, greater than 20 arc minutes in size, or
show me all PGC galaxies that are greater than magnitude 15th and less
than magnitude 18. Or show me all minor planets that are within 15
degrees of the meridian.
To start with let's use a very basic example. Let's say you want to create a list (query) of
all Messier objects that are of type Spiral galaxies only. Easy
enough, let's do it.
Step 1
Start a "NEW" Database
Query using Data | Data Wizard | File New.
Create a "NEW" Query
Starting from Scratch
Use the menu option Query | Edit
Parameters to access the Editing dialog. On the "Object Types and
Databases" tab check mark the object type "Spiral Galaxy" located under
the Non-Stellar Galactic group as shown.
Select Spiral Galaxy
We only want Spiral Galaxies in the Messier data
IMPORTANT NOTE: You must "EXPAND" the
Non-Stellar group first to see the category "Galactic" then EXPAND the
Galactic category to get to the object type spiral galaxy. See
above. Check mark the object type "Spiral Galaxy" only. Notice on the
right side of the dialog the Object Types selected for the query are
shown under "Selected object types". These are the objects that will be contained in your query.
Step 2
Next you must select which databases
and or catalogs you want to query.
Under the "Select databases/catalogs" expand the Non-Stellar group and
choose the Messier catalog "M" from the list of non-stellar
databases. The catalogs/databases you have chosen to query are
listed on the right of the dialog under "Selected
databases/catalogs". In this case "M" as in Messier shows
up.
Now select the dataset(s) you want to
query
Pick "M" for Messier
Step 3
Again for now we are going to make this
very simple. The query will not be limited any
further (although of course we could) to just Spiral Galaxies in the Messier
catalog.
Skip the "Attribute Filter" tab for now which is used to filter objects
down even further, like only Spiral Galaxies that are of magnitude 11th
through 15th and at an altitude greater than or equal to 20 degrees and
so on.
For now go directly to the "Report Columns"
tab. Here you select the fields you want to show in
your query. EXPAND the Floating point values. Here is a list
of available fields that are of type floating point (decimal numbers). Place a check mark to the fields you want to see.
Choose the fields you want here
Press OK
Choose the fields current epoch
RA and DEC (as corrected for precession, nutation, and aberration for the current date/time and location)
and along with the coordinates we
are wanting to display the Magnitude of the objects and their transit
time for the current date and location. Now you are done! You
are
asking for (querying) all Messier objects of object type Spiral Galaxy showing the
fields with RA and DEC for current epoch and the magnitude, and transit time. Press OK.
Now press "RUN" on the lower right of the
Data Wizard dialog to create the query. You should see a total of
30 objects listed just like below. If not you have not specified
the query parameters correctly.
You can
DOWNLOAD the QUERY here if you are not able to create the query
yourself. You can save as many queries as you like which comes in
very handy. For example, each night you are out the objects that
meet the query criteria can change with date/time or location so you can
just load the query and run it again. Our example will not change
because we have merely asked for all Spiral Galaxies in the Messier
catalog which does not change.
All Messier Spiral Galaxies
30 objects match the query
The list can be sorted however you
like. Click on the column header to sort by that column. Clicking on Magnitude sorts by magnitude, Transit by Transit time and so
on.
Sorted by Magnitude
Note the two options Frame Object and Show Information
Two handy features are Frame
Object and Show Information. By selecting these when you
scroll down your list of targets the objects are centered for you and
the information dialog is also shown. This is very nice when you
want to see what the end result of the query will be since nearly all
objects are shown with an actual digital photograph taken from the Palomar Sky Survey
102 CD-ROM set.
From our "report" created by our
query click on the object M81 with Frame Object and Show information
selected.
You are taken directly to the
objects
Pretty handy stuff!
Another example. TheSky often reports a magnitude of 30.00 for dozens of very bright
objects. Surely this can't be correct! See the following page
CATALOG DATA
with an
explanation. By creating a Query on the NGC/IC catalogs using an
attribute filter of Magnitude = 30 you will see all NGC/IC's objects
with a magnitude of 30.00 assigned to them.
All Magnitude 30 objects
From the NGC/IC data
You see there are 617 of
these objects with a magnitude that does not exist or equal to 30.00.
Warning! There is a default memory limit to only 1,000
matches! Change
if needed <-- Here is how.
Now let's say we want to create an
Orchestrate script to image all of these objects. First you must
change the query because not all these objects are going to be visible!
Look what happens when we change the query to only show the spiral
galaxies that are higher than 20 degrees altitude!
Use the Attribute Filter to limit the
number of objects found (Spiral Galaxies in the Messier data) to only
those that are higher than 20 degrees altitude based on TheSky's current
site information.
Filter set to Greater than
or equal to 20 degrees Altitude
Wow! Only 3 galaxies were found
using the filter chosen all galaxies with an altitude great than or
equal to 20 degrees for the current date and time.
Spiral Galaxies from the
Messier data above 20 degrees altitude
Only these are actually visible right now
Ok. Now we want to have Orchestrate command TheSky/CCDSoft to image these
galaxies for us. Just use the Data Wizard's "DATA EXPORT
Scripting" tab to create the Orchestrate script! First you need to
"ADD" the Orchestrate commands you want included in your script.
Commands like SetFilter, WaitFor, WaitUntil, SetTrackingRate, Automap,
Jog, etc. can be used.
If you want to see the path the
telescope will take to get to your targets use the menu item Options and
enable Show Path and Label Path. The starting target and ending
target are shown along with the path.
Use the menu item Options
Display the route the telescope will take
To the right of the TakeImage
command there is a
drop down list of other available commands. You can add additional commands
to the script
like "WaitFor 5" seconds after each slew for telescope settling or
switch filters, set tracking rates, and so forth.
Exporting an Orchestrate Script
Add commands to the list
Use the Scripting tab
on the Export Data dialog
The commands are added to the list
SlewToObject, M 31, 3.06281
52.12644
TakeImage , 30 ,
WaitFor , 5 ,
SlewToObject, M 33, 3.88254 39.99577
TakeImage , 30 ,
WaitFor , 5 ,
SlewToObject, M 74, 3.74673 25.20579
TakeImage , 30 ,
WaitFor , 5 ,
By copying your Script to the
clipboard you can then Edit | Paste it directly into
Orchestrate.
Script ready to go
Your query can be saved as a text
file or created directly to the clip board using the Export Data option.
Exporting the data
Save to a text file or create to clip board
For those advanced users that want to
write their own custom scripts create the target list as a text file
only. Your script can then open the file and read the object's
coordinates, slew the scope, @Focus the camera, take the image, switch
filters, etc. Although it may be said that
Orchestrate
is a bit limited in what it can do compared to a
custom well written VB script it is extremely
straight forward and easy to use and often times the simplest way to get the job done!
First use TheSky to create the mosaic for you. A
15 to 30% overlap is useful. Programs that can piece together
mosaics automatically (like the Panorama Factory) prefer a large overlap
about ~25% or even more.
In the example we are using a 1
degree field of view to image M31 the Andromeda galaxy. It will
take 4 - 1 degree images to cover the galaxy using a 15% overlap.
Mosaic Created by
TheSky
15% overlap
You can manually click on
each Mosaic entry and take each image as you go. Better yet Export
the data as an
Orchestrate script.
When you are satisfied
with the Mosaic you can use the Data wizard to "Export" the data in the
form of an
Orchestrate script. Use the Data Wizard to create a
"new" Database query.
Select
Mosaic under Other Data Points
Object Types and Databases
Report Columns
Choose the RA and DEC columns
Now just run the query.
Here is the database
query
Note the 4 mosaic coordinates
Next the database query will be
"exported" as an
Orchestrate script. On the scripting tab choose the Slew Command
"SlewToRADec". Then just add the additional operations you want. Here we have added a 5 second settling delay after each slew. Of
course the image delay could also be done directly in CCDSoft as well. Use the drop down list next to Take Image to see the available
operations.
Drop Down List of
operations
Pick the operations you want from the
list
WaitFor and TakeImage operations added
Export dialog
The Mosaic data will
be exported as a script
Check mark Export as a script
The
Orchestrate script can be copied to the Clip Board then Edit |
Pasted directly into Orchestrate OR saved as a text file which can be
used with VB or other scripts as well.
Done!
Script pasted into Orchestrate and
ready to be run
The
Orchestrate script can now be
carried out using using Macro | Run. Following is the text created
by the Export.
SlewToRaDec , 23h 59m
25.1s +00°03'23.2"
WaitFor , 5 ,
TakeImage , 120 ,
SlewToRaDec , 00h 00m 05.1s +00°03'23.2"
WaitFor , 5 ,
TakeImage , 120 ,
SlewToRaDec , 23h 59m 25.1s -00°06'36.9"
WaitFor , 5 ,
TakeImage , 120 ,
SlewToRaDec , 00h 00m 05.1s -00°06'36.9"
WaitFor , 5 ,
TakeImage , 120 ,
Another example
Imaging the moon using a small field
WARNING! If you are performing a database query that returns
more than 1,000 matches you will have to increase the total number of
matches allowed in order to see all of them. The default cut off
is 1,000 maximum objects.
In order to create the Maximum Object entry for queries
over 1,000 objects you will need to edit the Windows Registry and make a
new DWORD value named "Object Maximum" under the Database Query entry
under TheSky6.
WARNING! If you are not
careful performing this action you can cause irreversible damage to the
system! ALWAYS, again, ALWAYS backup the Registry BEFORE making
any changes just in case. I cannot stress this enough.
To backup the Registry use
File | Export and give it a name. Using a date in the filename
each time you make changes will help you track changes.
Now to access the Registry
to make the new key use Start | Run and enter "REGEDIT" without the
quotes in the Open: line and press OK. See below.
Windows Regedit
To access the Registry Editor
In the Registry expand the
folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER then,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Software
Bisque
TheSky6
Database Query
Now under the "Database
Query" entry use Edit | New | and create a new "DWORD" value, that is it
does not exist! The name for the key is "Object Maximum". Once the key Object Maximum is created double click it and assign a
"DECIMAL" value for the maximum number of objects you want.
For example, a decimal
value of 10,000 will easily allow you to query all 7,840 NGC objects
with no filtering. Or make it 15,000 and you can see all NGC/IC
objects with no filtering. Because this requires more memory do
not use the option if you have less than 1 gig or more of RAM installed
in the system.
Here is the new key Object Maximum created and a decimal value entered
for a total of up to 100,000 objects in the query.
Database Query
Maximum objects override
New DWORD value "Object Maximum" set to
100,000!
Now Run your query and you will see up to the maximum number of objects
you have entered in the newly created key.
You can use the Telescope simulator
in TheSky6 (Telescope | Setup | Simulator) and Camera simulator in
CCDSoft (Camera | Setup | Simulator) to watch your script be carried out
in real time. And for those with CCDSoft if you have the RealSky
data you can have CCDSoft take the image using the RealSky data!
By using the camera and telescope simulators you can see exactly what
will happen. Just make sure you have the correct date and time you
will be imaging set in TheSky first! There's nothing closer to the
real thing!
Let's say you want to run a stellar query on the Washington
Double Star catalog (WDS).
Expand Stellar and
Check Double Star
Expand Stellar under Select databases/catalogs
The query will be on
object type Stellar using the catalog Washington Double Stars. Now
define your attribute filters accordingly. Say you are looking for a
list of double stars to evaluate seeing conditions. By knowing the
angular separation of two stars you can determine seeing based on
whether or not you have clearly resolved them. This will actually be
based on your telescope's scale and size of the pixels being used.
Basically the scale in arcseconds/pixel.
Querying the Washington
Double Star catalog
Here the query is designed to find the
appropriate double stars. They will all be less than magnitude 10.00,
place well in TheSky to minimize the negative effects of refraction
(Alt>45 degrees) and have the proper angular separation based in imaging
scale. Or Separation 1 minus separation 2. In this case the angular
separation will be on the order of 1/2 an arc second. The following
shows what this query returns. Note it will change depending on what
time the query is run.
Example double star query shown.
Object name WDS ID Components Separation (first) Separation (last) Position angle 1 Dates WDS ID Magnitude Position angle 2
WDS STF1297 STF1297 4.7 5.1 162 1831 2000 STF1297 8.88 160
WDS POU3080 POU3080 5.2 5.6 101 1893 2001 POU3080 9.19 102
WDS J 1025 J 1025 4.4 5.6 179 1913 2000 J 1025 9.60 178
WDS STF1748 STF1748 AB 4.0 5.7 171 1830 2001 STF1748 8.26 185
WDS STF1831 STF1831 AB 6.0 5.8 143 1830 2000 STF1831 7.16 137
WDS J 1351 J 1351 5.0 5.8 156 1920 2001 J 1351 9.50 103
WDS STF1835 STF1835 A-BC 6.0 6.2 185 1822 2001 STF1835 5.03 194
WDS STF1487 STF1487 6.2 6.4 104 1821 2000 STF1487 4.48 112
WDS STF1434 STF1434 6.1 6.5 270 1830 2001 STF1434 9.49 281
WDS STF1888 STF1888 AB 6.0 6.6 354 1804 2001 STF1888 4.76 317
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