What is the procedure to get info on a star at the center of an open cluster? I tried the zoom but still get the info on the open cluster unless zoomed in very deep where only the star is visible on the IA. Is that the norm?

We missed another fast mover on the evening of 24 Oct 2021 @2300 EDT. 2021 UA1 was calculated to be moving at 2.95°/sec through Cepheus. Here's a chart in the IA: [attachment=2083]

It's moving so fast that ST4 had to include the time to the second on the tick marks & the whole text string didn't fit on the label . What's shown as 2h should be 22h. Minimum Re was 11.1k km.

The osculating elements were downloaded from the MPC's NEAs at Today's Epoch using ST4v on Oct 26.

Talk about a close shave.

Phil S.

This is a list of close approaches that Gideon van Buitenen does over the next 90 days. I just ran into it although I've been using Gideon's elements page for a few years. Nice to have such info at fingertips.

http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/neos

Small rock, very close pass!

Although cloudy here last night, this whizzer, small rock got caught by the Mt. Lemmon Survey team @ 2021 10 26.092556 UT at mag 21. Between 21:00 & 22:00CDT last night, it would have become near visible moving ~7.5'/m in my SE sky (most light polluted) up ~40° in a moonless sky. Tiny rock!! Close approach to my yard came ~2am this morning low in the south with heavy (64%) moon interference 81° away in the NE. Moving 17.2'/min! Distance = ~70,000Km. Did not know of it until after pass. I don't feel badly as it was cloudy here in SE Texas.

Hello to all -

Is there anyone out there that uses SkyTools 4 Imaging for EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy)?

I'm interested in finding out how to use SkyTools 4 Imaging for Live Imaging without creating a formal observing project.
What I would like to do is is create a list of objects, filtered for my observing system, site and weather that I can use at my 
scope to have SkyTools slew my scope to the objects on my list.

This is kind of the way I used SkyTools 3 visually but with the filters for astro-imaging available.

Does anybody out there do this? Are there any resources you can point me  to?

My System:
AP 130mm Starfire Gran Turismo
AP Mach 1 GTO mount
ZWO ASI294mc OSC CMOS camera

I use Sharpcap for image capture and PHD2 for guiding

Thanks,

Bill

I have a "block" regarding how to set up an Obstructed Horizon. I want 45 degrees between 0 and 179 and 15 degrees between 180 and 359. I tried the following but nope - I tried Help but ...


0 45
179 45
180 15
359 15

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks

I noticed tonight that when imputing the start time = 2021-10-16 UT-5, the output will be +5. The issue just began today as I noticed bad ephemerides for 2019 XS all of a sudden. Below is the output for 2021 TG14 as an example. It appears okay when simply generating an ephemeris for UT and not local time. I contacted Horizons concerning this weirdness.

Kenneth Drake

*******************************************************************************
Ephemeris / API_USER Sun Oct 17 19:24:04 2021 Pasadena, USA      / Horizons   
*******************************************************************************
Target body name: (2021 TG14)                    {source: JPL#3}
Center body name: Earth (399)                    {source: DE441}
Center-site name: (user defined site below)
*******************************************************************************
Start time      : A.D. 2021-Oct-16 00:00:00.0000 UT+05:00
Stop  time      : A.D. 2021-Oct-18 00:00:00.0000 UT+05:00
Step-size      : 60 minutes

Hi,

I have a problem when I want to create a new target with any designation.
On my chart I open object requestor and choose "enter coordonates" and put the RA and DEC coordonates on hours, for example RA 21 18 60 and DEC +40 36 35.
I "accept" it and clic on "more object information" and clic on create imaging project and I can see this :
-coordonates of my new object is : -03h49m10.99s -57°17'45" !
It is impossible to modify !

What is wrong on my action ?

Nicolas Outters

Attached Files

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The MP 2021 TX14 is predicted to reach ~16.6 magnitude on 2021 Oct 19 @0600 UT in Fornax. It may be observable in the southern hemisphere. The attached file contains the osculating elements from JPL's HORIZONS website from Oct 16 to Oct 26 at 6 hour intervals. Closest approach according to the CNEOS website is Oct 19 @1507 at Re 0.00343 AU. The elements appear to be based on a 9 day observation arc, so should be good. Here's the link to the JPL page for this MP:

Small-Body Database Lookup (nasa.gov)

Happy hunting,

Phil S.

I recently purchased SkyTools Visual 4 - great app. I have not used SkyTools in 5+ years - migrated to MAC. I used ST3 for 4+ years. As I recall there was an airmass filter I think. If yes, is there something like that in ST4? I guess I could simulate with an obstructed Horizon. Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks.