Been out for a while, now there is a change I need to turn off, that is - marking previous object as observed when selecting another object on the list. Using telescope control, if I can't identify the object, I want to go to the next object, leaving the prior object for another night.
In the same vein, if I am viewing an object and the clock runs out, it disappears from the list before I can finish and or log it

All help appreciated
Joe Castor
version 4.0.11.07
Starmaster 14.5 GoTo w/telescope control using ASCOM w/Bluetooth serial adapter

CNEOS predicts that the newly discovered NEO, 2024 JT3, will make a close approach on 2024-May-09 09:34±00:14 UT at a distance of 0.00017 AU moving with V Relative=10.89 km/second, H=29.2 magnitude, diameter 3.9 m - 8.7 m and 'Rarity'=1. There is only a 0.37 day observation arc, the Condition Code=8 and the Earth MOID=0.000188866 AU. The solution date was 2024-May-08 09:12:03 PDT. The initial reported observation was by Mt. Lemmon Survey on 2024-05-08.

This discovery is so new that the MP wasn't included in the MPC's file of NEAs at Today's Epoch that I downloaded on 2024 May 8. MPC has elements available for the epoch 2024 Mar 31 0000 UT that SkyTools can download for 2024 JT3. Using MPC's elements for 2024 Mar 31 0000 UT, ST4v predicts that this NEO will reach a peak brightness of 13.5 magnitude on 2024 May 9 0600 EDT when the NEO will be traveling through Canes Venatici at 53.4 "/second in twilight as seen from Columbus, Ohio. This is one of the highest apparent motions that I've seen for a close approach, a real screamer, if you can find it. Unfortunately the orbit isn't well defined yet and there's not much time before the close approach.

Here's the Object Info dialog for this NEO:     

This is an object for which the orbital elements should be downloaded from the HORIZONS website near the time of observation and added to your MP database. Elements from the MPC are unlikely to provide positions accurate enough to find this fast-moving object.

Edit: This object will be easier to observe from western North America especially the US southwest.

Good Hunting,

Phil S.

Enables the version 4.1 upgrade of SkyTools Visual Pro, Standard, and Standard plus Real Time versions. This upgrade is early access, which means that those who have upgraded will enjoy the new features, such as support for EAA, as the are released. See the Upgrade Your Product menu item on the Setup menu for more information. Today's update also adds the first new Version 4.1 feature: support for images in the PNG file format.

The Upgrade Your Product feature shows all of the updates available to you. It does not show updates that you already own.

If you are wondering about version 4.1, here is the breakdown:

SkyTools Imaging and SkyTools Visual are two separate products. Each is being upgraded from version 4.0 to version 4.1

Version 4.1 of SkyTools Imaging was released last fall. Those who upgraded and own the bundle (with SkyTools Visual) also received the upgrade to SkyTools Visual 4.1 at no additional change.

Version 4.1 of SkyTools Visual is expected to be finished by the fall of 2024. The upgrade can be ordered now as early access, which means that you will receive the new version 4.1 features as they come out, rather than have to wait until the fall.

New purchases of SkyTools Imaging and SkyTools Visual have included the upgrade to version 4.1 for several months now, so you may already have version 4.1 of SkyTools Imaging, and/or early access to SkyTools Visual 4.1 

How can you tell if you already have SkyTools 4.1? Select About SkyTools from the Help menu and inspect your license. If it begins with 4.1 then you need not do anything further.

CNEOS predicts that the large NEO, (86667) 2000 FO10, will make a close approach on 2024-May-15 21:29±<00:01 UT at a distance of 0.19744 AU moving with V Relative=14.76 km/sec, H=17.5 magnitude, diameter 0.745±0.023 km and 'Rarity'=1. There is a 13140 day observation arc, the Condition Code=0 and the Earth MOID=0.133268 AU. The solution date was 2024-May-03 06:22:42 PDT. This NEO is on the MPC's list of Critical numbered minor planets that you can download from the MPC using SkyTools. It's not on the MPC's list of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.

Using MPC's elements for the epoch 2024 May 3 0000 UT, ST4v predicts that this NEO will reach a peak brightness of 15.6 magnitude on May 7-8 when the object will be in Bootes at 0.21 AU distance traveling at ~6"/minute. Close approach is predicted to occur (to the nearest hour) on 2024 May 15 1700 EDT when the MP is predicted to be 15.9 magnitude and 0.20 AU distant traveling through Bootes at ~6"/minute in daylight. The light curve is very broad for this close approach with the MP being <= 16 magnitude from May 1 to May 17.

Here's the Object Info dialog for this NEO:     

Good hunting,

Phil S.

CNEOS predicts that the kilometer-sized NEO, (21374) 1997 WS22 will make a close approach on 2024-May-21 12:50±<00:01 UT at a distance of 0.11048 AU moving at V Relative=12.31 km/sec, H=17.4 magnitude, diameter 860 m - 1.9 km and 'Rarity'=1. There is a 18119 day observation arc, the Condition Code=0 and the Earth MOID=0.109022 AU. The solution date was 2024-May-02 05:51:38 PDT. This object is not on MPC's Potentially Hazardous Asteroids list.

Using MPC's elements for 2024 May 2 0000 UT, ST4v predicts that this object is currently moving slowly through Hercules at 15.5 magnitude, brightening to a peak brightness of 13.4 magnitude on the evening of May 19-20 when it will be traveling through Libra at ~9"/minute and 0.11 AU distant. This NEO will be best visible from the southern hemisphere.

Here's the Object Info dialog for this object:     

Good hunting,

Phil S.

CNEOS predicts that the large NEO, (415029) 2011 UL21, will make a close approach on 2024-Jun-27 20:16 ± < 00:01 UT at a distance of 0.04439 AU. This is a 'Rarity'=3 event.

I'll post an update closer to the event. This is a kilometer sized object that's on the MPC's Potentially Hazardous Asteroids List.

Phil S.

Hello,

I have imported and still importing mostly by copy and paste from word processor documents logs from my visual observations (25+ years). That means that the search by night bar on the log browser is very full and I have to scroll all the way to the left every time I have to check or edit a recent observation. Will be nice to have a way to browse by year having the most recent one as default. Or have to type of subfolder structure (not in the actual database) I mean when we browse it.

Hope to see it soon.

Use the opportunity to thanks Greg for the quick implementation of import observation from other computer thought the log browser (recover option). And also the new features and improvements in the imaging version of SkyTools.

Regards,

Carles

I have a personal spectroscopy project I want to conduct using objects (stars) from GAIA DR3. I can create a CSV file with my selected stars that includes the GAIA source_id, ra, dec, and magnitude. Is there a simple way to create an observing list from a csv file. I know that I can import object designations and that ST4 will attempt to match them with the included catalogs, but that seems to be a one-at-a-time process and I don't think it is posible to match GAIA source_id's. And I don't need to match these stars with other catalogs. I can work with the GAIA source_id as the ST4 Primary ID in the list. Is my objective clear? Am I phrasing this question correctly?

Antone

Is there a way auto-create observations by scanning a directory-tree of .FITS files?  I would like to track projects that I have started years ago but are not complete.  It will be quite tedious to manually enter each night's observations to determine the total data I have collected over the years.  I use ACP and Scheduler gives me a good feel for my progress but sometimes I'll modify plans in Scheduler which would skew its description of progress.  And in some cases some data were collected without ACP.  I use PixInsight's batch-preprocessing script to quickly read a directory-tree of my light frames taken on a given target over the years and it will conveniently compute total exposure for each filter for the entire tree of files.  It would be great to have something similar in SkyTools so I can save this and track progress over time.  Going a bit further... getting PixInsight to compute quality statistics on the observations and store that in the project would be fantastic as well.

CNEOS predicts that the NEO 2022 TN1 will make a close approach on 2024-Apr-30 23:57 ± < 00:01 UT at a distance of 0.04766 AU. It's already 15.2 magnitude in Virgo.

I'll try to provide more information later today.

Good hunting,

Phil S.