I am considering purchasing SkyTools4 to control my telescope equipped with a Nexus II and encoders, I have a Windows 10 laptop computer I plan on using with it.

Does SkyTools4 connect directly to the Nexus II's USB port or does it connect wirelessly?

Do you have detailed connection instructions for the Nexus II and SkyTools 4?

Can I run SkyTools 4 on my laptop for computer control in the field and a copy of SkyTools 4 on my main computer in the house for planning etc etc?

Thank you!

Trent

2021 NB6 looked promising. Not only its magnitude was just beyond reach. Then the ephemeris proved bad geometry with Full Moon close when it was high enough. Just cannot get a break.

This morning around 8:45CDT, I had two rocks only 10' apart in my sky unseen as due to daylight and magnitude as well as clouds. They both are close approach rocks, racing by at over 1'/minute. One being 2021 NY3 closest on 12 July 10:53CDT and the other being 2021 NM3 closest on 14 July 16:55CDT. Strange things happen.

It's sometimes interesting how we miss these small rocks until after closest approach. This appears to happen rather often. Take 2021 NU3 as an example, discovered just couple days ago, 1+ days after its close approach which occurred on July 8, 7:17UT (my location). The small (25') rock came in from the sun-ward side and directly over the north pole unseen at magnitude 15.7. It then continued outside our orbit and finally crossed the ecliptic a day later (9 July 3UT) at magnitude 17.6ish. At this point I think observations may have begun. It was actually a magnitude fainter when closest due to phase angle. At this point the orbit is still uncertain. Crazy stuff as sun-ward approaching rocks will surprise us.

Looking a bit ahead so playing with 2016 AJ193. Not a lot of windows of opportunity except possibly Aug 20 11UT. It sits directly on top of IC1913 ~26° up in the south at ~12.5mag. In nautical twilight for me but farther west maybe okay. Moon set.

Also on 21 Aug 11UT ~30° up  azi 135°. Bit fainter ~13.5, Moon set. Moving 1.5'/min. Again, Nautical Twilight for me but other farther west may be good.

I have a Finder Chart on screen (which I opened from the Mount Alignment Tool / Display Celestial Pole chart). How can I display stars for that chart during daylight? All star settings that I can see are turned on. When I move to twilight times then the stars appear, which leads me to think that this chart is taking into account the time of day. Fair enough. However, I do have an open cluster displayed in said daylight chart which contradicts my original thinking.

Have I missed a setting somewhere?

Thanks
Bob

I'm looking for a way to lower the confusion index by having all times show as UTC. Is there a way to do that? This is mostly in reference to changing locations and plotting moving objects viewed from locations around the world.

I use https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/ and https://spaceweather.com/ to watch for close passes.

2019 NB7 looks good but the time error window is huge. Most likely due to being lost after not many observations. I'm choosing 2021 NE because the error is small. Never mind that it's faint and going to be below our horizon as this is just an example of how to set one up.

Click the name and it will get it into Horizons where you can adjust location, Time Span, etc. From the previous table saw close approach at July 10 15:37UT. I'll let Horizons run a 48 hr ephem from July 9-11 00:00UT to see where it is in dark skies. See 4-9UT good window for two mornings. Use your IA to find when those positions are up - 9th transits 01:00CDT, 10th transits 02:35CDT.

Now go back and change ephemeris to elements and create an hourly elements set. I'll pick 07:00UT on 10th. Copy (Ctrl+C) one full hour of elements.

Now in SkyTools, choose "Data", Minor Planets, "Enter New Minor Planet", Paste. Add in the name & H from Horizons. Click OK.

Wait. Do not interfere with the process. My hourglass takes ~200 seconds to completely finish and clear. Wait!!

Now go back into ST Ephemeris (position) and do object search. Set up the Date to coincide with the time of observation, Period for 1 hour, Interval for 2 minutes. Be watchful of time (UT vs Local). Run. Times agree well with Horizons!

Now pick time and choose Interactive Atlas. Run some tracks there. Use your finder chart. If anyone can add ways to shorten this process, I will thank you now.

Kenneth Drake

Hi Greg,

It looks like the filters on T16 in Spain have been changed from what's shown in ST4 Imaging. Only a Luminance, Blue, Green & Red filter are available now. Is this something that I can change in the IS setup or do you need to do the update?

If you like, I can go through all the iTelescope filter loads to see if there are other changes.

TIA,

Phil S.

Is there a way to print a mosaic from the IA that shows all the tiles? I have only been able to get one tile in print preview, whereas the IA itself shows all of them.

Thanks
Bob