Usage questions ..

[choward94002]

Hi,

How on earth are you scheduling from the target list? Only projects can be scheduled. The Target Selection Tool is used to select targets, which become projects. It is projects that you are scheduling, so I don't see how the target list helps you schedule. I'm confused.

Ok, I see what you mean by detail, but that's not really what it is. This represents the signal that you are exposing for. It is what the SNR is computed for. Detail is about resolution.

Hey Greg, here's a recipe I made up for how to accomplish this ...

Create locations:
[Menu] Setup:Locations
New: Add Location: Other: Park: Banff
Edit: Change Name to "Site A West SQM 21.0", OK (close dialog)
Select "Sky Brightness" button, goto advanced, change "Sky Brightness" text to 21.0, OK (close dialog)

Repeat as needed for "Site A West SQM 21.5", etc.
Repeat as needed for "Site A East SQM xx", duplicating each SQM value

Create meridian limits
From main dialog, select location to modify in middle drop combo (it doesn't matter what's in the Target List, as long as there is some object(s) in the main dialog listbox), here "Site A West SQM 21.0"
In the main dialog listbox, RClick on any object in the listbox, select "View Overhead Sky Chart"
In the "Visual Sky Simulation" dialog, verify that the "Site A West SQM 21.0" is selected and using the grabbers obstruct 175deg from 180deg (there's a way to do this with a text file that's easier, but I was unable to accomplish that so I use this method)
Close the dialog, the limits will be saved

Repeat this for each East and West location

Create target lists:
From main dialog, press "Target List" combo, opens tree dialog of object lists
New: Default folder, Title of "Site A Fine", description of "Seeing < .8"

Repeat as needed for Target list of "Site A Coarse" "Seeing .8 to 1.5", "Site A Binned" "Seeing 1.5 to 2.0" and "Site A HyperStar" "Seeing 2.0+"

Associate DSO's with target lists:
[Menu] Toolsesignation search
Enter object name in "Quick Search", such as M42, Search
Search results will return list of object names, select the one you want, go to the drop combo "Target List" and select the Target List we want from the tree dialog, here "Site A Coarse", press "Add to List"
Enter another name in Quick Search, such as "Sombrero", Search
Search result will return object name, select it, select the Target List of "Site A Fine" from the tree dialog, press "Add to List"

Generate new target imaging projects:
Select the target list to work with from the "Target List" drop combo on the main dialog, here "Site A Coarse" (you should see a single object, M42)
RClick on object ID, select "Create New Imaging Project"
In the new imaging project dialog, "Basic Properties" tab
Change basic project name to "C Orion Nebula", this ensures that we know this project is for coarse level exposures
Select Imaging system appropriate to "Coarse" projects, Purpose of "Astrometry", Expose multiple nights
"Exposure Goals and Filters" tab
Define by SNR, expose for "Faint regions", "Arms", etc. (fine level of detail)
Total SNR per filter at 60, SubExposures Auto, Binning x1 (x2 if this was a "Binned" target group)
Minimum quality at A, "Clear" filter selected

Repeat for each object in the "Site A Coarse" target list

Repeat for each additional target list, such as "Site A Fine"

If there is a need to have an object appear in more than one seeing category, say M42 in both "Fine" and "HyperStar" then RClick on the "F M42" project, select "Edit Imaging Project", press "Duplicate" and change the basic name to "H M42", change the imaging system as needed and press OK

At this point we have ... "Locations" defined by geography, SQM value and pier side [Site A West SQM 20] [Site A East SQM 20],
"Targets" defined by site seeing [Site A Fine] [Site A Coarse]
Imaging projects for each object in each target list [M42 in Site A Coarse] [Sombrero in Site A Fine]

Generate schedule for evening:
Determine the SQM to be imaged at (SQM 20) and estimate the seeing expected (Coarse)
From the main dialog, select "Scheduler" to display the Scheduler
From the top combo group, select the appropriate date and select the Location appropriate to the SQM value and the pier side
Select the imaging system; this will display all imaging projects which utilize that imaging system (C M42, F Sombrero) without regard to target list placement
In the "Imaging Projects" group box, select the seeing conditions (1.25 for Coarse), the expected temp and RH values

Next, we select the projects you do want NOT want be scheduled, paying attention to the designator letter in front of the project name by going to the project wanted (here "F Sombrero" or "H M42"), selecting it and RClicking in the "S" column, selecting "Exclude".  Repeat as needed, for "Coarse" seeing we only want "C M42" unexcluded

Now we generate the schedule by pressing the "Auto Schedule" button ... it will generate an optimized list for the objects which have not been excluded, which completes the exercise of generating an optimize imaging schedule for a given target list at a given SQM on a given pier side with a given seeing ...