|
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.
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) than just Spiral Galaxy Messier's. 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
choose. 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 and 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 show with an actual photo taken from the Palomar Sky Survey.
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.
Clearly 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!
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!
Using the Attribute Filters
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.
Spiral Galaxies from the
Messier data above 20 degrees altitude
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, 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 route
To the right of TakeImage there is a
drop down list of other commands. You can add additional commands
like WaitFor 5 seconds after each slew for telescope settling.
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
Creating an ASCII
text file from your query
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
Orchestrate is a bit limited in what it can do it is extremely
straight forward and often times the simplest way to get the job done!
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!
|
