Moon Illumination Info in object Information

[theskyhound]

Hi Greg
I know that the illumination is not necesserary for the ST4 calculations, but it is usefull to know the illumination concerning the different iTel discounts; it's only a question of "money"   
Of course I can consult another program for this information, but I think it is also a variable which counts.
Thanks
Ed

Hi Ed,

I didn't realize that you were speaking about planning with regard to usage charges rather than planning in general. Sorry.

I did consider this sort of feature, but there are two issues that kept from going ahead:

1) The illumination percentages as calculated by iTelescope are not very accurate and they seem to be idealized to some extent. Without knowing their exact algorithm, SkyTools could easily get you into a conflict with iTelescope over the "real" illumination percentage during your observations. 

2) iTelescope can change their algorithm at any time, possibly resulting in more problems.

Until the illumination angle algorithm is understood by me, and I have assurances that they aren't going to change it, I am going to play it safe.

What I suggest in the mean time is to enable the "Show Almanac Columns" feature on the iTelescope reservation tool to determine the specific time periods for the moon discount.