Hello everyone,

I have updated the data for this comet as of July 11 in the Current Comets list.

Please remember that the tail drawn on the charts is not meant to depict the length of the actual tail (I am still working on that--its a complicated calculation). It is designed to show the direction of the ion tail and to indicate the geometric foreshortening of that tail. If the tail is presented at right angles to the coma, the line is drawn with a length of 10 times the radius of the coma circle. If pointing directly toward or away from the comet, it is drawn with zero length. At this point the dust tail is dominating, and it will be offset from the ion tail as the comet moves, leaving behind slower moving dust.

Also, a few people have had an issue where the ST4 Visual Nightly Planner picks the evening for the best time, when it should pick the morning. To fix this problem, set the After time filter to midnight. That will force it to choose the morning.

For reflecting telescope setup, is the secondary mirror percent obstruction defined based on linear units, (e.g. diameter2/diameter1) or area units (e.g. area2/area1).  I think most often the obstruction is reported based on linear units, but not necessarily always, so I wanted to confirm what SkyTools expects.  Thanks!

Hi,

I have tried generating the ephermeris in ST4V adn ST3P and they both say that comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is undetectable or not visible.

Odd.

I'd see it on the camera, in the binoculars, and with my Mark I eyeballs.

Hello Everyone,

I have released the long-awaited version 4.0h update for both SkyTools 4 Visual and SkyTools 4 Imaging.

The full list of fixes are here:
https://skyhound.com/stupdate4.html

This update is primarily about fixes and small improvements, but there are some things that I would like to bring to your attention.

SkyTools Visual Real Time, Best Now Mode
A new feature has been added to automatically hide objects from the list after you observe them. It uses the Observation Status filter to do this. To use the feature, enable  Automatically Mark Objects as Observed on the Telescope menu. Ensure that the Observation Status column is displayed. Right-click on the Observation Status column heading and remove the check next to Observed. Doing so will hide all objects that have been marked as observed. When this feature is enabled, as you move to a new target, the previous target will be marked as observed, which will hide it from the list. The status applies to the selected list only, and can be reset via the right-click menu on the Observation Status column header.

SkyTools 3 Sync (for SkyTools 4 Visual)
Ratings were not properly imported from SkyTools 3 in the previous version. If you are missing your ratings from SkyTools 3, perform the Sync again, on Attachments only. It may require deleting the SkyTools 4 attachment folder with the notes that have missing ratings prior to the new Sync for your ratings to appear.

SkyTools 4 Imaging
I am in the process of improving SkyTools 4 for use with DSLR cameras. There are additional factors that need to be considered to accurately model a DSLR in SkyTools. Until the DSLR update, I recommend the following to improve the the modelling of a DSLR camera:

1. Open Imaging Systems, and select an Imaging System that uses a DSLR.
2. Under Mirror Efficiency click on Advanced.
3. Select the Color filter (Clr) in the top position
4. Enter 0.45 to the right of the Clr filter
5. Click Ok

Printed Charts
For some printers, the transparency setting causes ugly hatch patterns on the printed chart. The fix for this is to reset all filled components to 100% (all of the way to the right side). The update replaces the Black And White printer chart preferences scheme with the fix applied, so if you see this problem, select the black on shite chart scheme to apply it to your chart.


P.S. I accidentally deleted the first version of this thread! Also, questions, comments or other discussion are quite welcome here. But if you have any problems after the update, please post in the appropriate support forum.

Hi.

Do you calculate or use the Moon's colongitude value? If so, could that be revealed or exposed in the Object Information box with the Current Data?

You show the phase which gives an overall perception of shape.

But I understand colongitude is favoured by lunatic (er, lunar) observers because it is tied to visibility of specific surface features.

This could prove helpful when trying to predict and observe things like Lunar X or The Straight Wall.

I have two related questions.

Last night, during twilight, I was wondering how far the Sun was below the horizon. I can find out it in ST3, but in ST4 Visual, Real Time Observing, the Sun was not shown, regardless of the filter settings. How do I find out?

This led me to wonder how I can observe objects during the day, for example during the upcoming conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Real Time Observing shows nothing during the day!

So, 24 hours from now a rock from space will pass just outside the orbit of the Moon. I downloaded the MPC NEA Today rocks and searched and excepted the 2020 MP1 data. I set the starting date for 24 hours in the future 2020 June 24 21h00m to run the position ephemeris over a period of 6 hours in one hour steps. I got the output in the image. There is a small green filled circle at the bottom left corner that blinks red???  I was going to print a finder chart but the positions are well off from those produced by Horizons -- 2020-Jun-25 04:00UT  RA 19 43 52.54 DEC -06 22 39.1  Mag. 14.507 Horizons will not print finder charts. See my attached field chart where I hand plotted the positions given by SkyTools 4g (S), Horizons (H) and plotted by another popular program with the local CDT of all the positions. Taking Horizons as the gold standard, I find the SkyTools position 52 arc minutes WNW and the other software well over a degree too far NW. What can I do to improve the plotting on the Interactive Atlas if the position ephemeris is not correct? Should I create an IA with a Skymark at the several Horizons positions?

Hi Greg,

I just received a notice from iTelescopes that they've got a new scope, T02 set up. It's a Takahashi 130mm with a single shot color camera. I haven't looked further into the specs, but I thought I'd let you know.

Phil S.

Downloaded MPC NEA Today but cannot find elements for 2020 LF. Nor do I know how to get them in if I force Horizons to make them for me. Bit of help please.

Hello,
I'm curious about the text displayed at the lower right hand of the star-hopping chart which gives target visibility indicator.

Firstly, I noticed that I can look up an object - and the object info dialog box for that object has a "visual difficulty" tab.

So for example, - for a 10" dob scope - and the target object a star with a magnitude of 9 - in the object info dialog box - the system will display "visual difficulty" as "obvious".

But when I look at that object with the star-hopping chart - the text displayed at the lower right hand concerning target visibility indicates "Fully dark ML 5.5 target not visible".

I'm trying to understand the difference between these two visibility indications.

The reason for my asking is because I've spent a few nights trying to see the cats eye nebula without success.
And I'm wondering if Skytools darkness and visibility indicators can help me ascertain why I'm not seeing it.
Perhaps the skys at my location are not dark enough.

Thanks in advance.