Keyboard shortcut for labels on/off in the Eyepiece Viewer?

[razvan]

Hi Greg,

(writing live from the observatory). Is there a way to quickly turn off and on the labels in the EV screen? I know it's possible to do it by going to the view controls, then the Labels tab, then click on the Activate Labels checkbox, then click on Apply then closing the window. I'm asking if there's a faster (ideally one keyboard shortcut) way.

The rationale is when the labels (useful as they are) stand in the way of seeing the star pattern (useful with more obscure open clusters, for instance). Perhaps a more generalized way would be not only labels on/off, but anything else (FOV circles, target crosshair) except the atlas itself to be on/off. 

Just asking if it's possible. 

Thanks.

[theskyhound]

Hello,

Press the "l" key to toggle the labels on/off. The Chart window must have the keyboard focus for it to work, which it usually has by default on a single screen. If not, click on the title bar of the window.

Target crosshairs are toggled via the "t" key.

I hadn't thought of turning off the FOV circles. I think those are helpful though, so I would suggest instead going into the Chart Preferences (Prefs button at the top), find the "Field of View Outlines" under the Lines and Outlines tab, and make them thinner and/or change the color so it blends into the background while still being visible.

[razvan]

Thanks Greg. I found that pressing I turns the labels off but … not back on. SkyTools gets busy for a few moments (the cursor turns into the spinning blue circle and the status bar below reads "Imaging...", but nothing the labels don't reappear. In case it matters, I checked the state of the View/Labels/Activate labels checkbox and it stays on even when the labels are not displayed.

I've tried multiple times, each time making sure that the focus was in the Eyepiece Viewer (even though it should have stayed there) by clicking on the window's title bar.

If I close EV and reopen it, than the labels are back on.

If you cannot reproduce it, let me know if you want me to try other things. This was with ST4.0j R22, Pro.

As for the suggestion about the FOV color, that's the perfect compromise.

[theskyhound]

Hello,

I have not been able to reproduce this problem. I'm assuming you are talking about the Eyepiece View of a finder chart? Maybe it has something to do with your settings? How many views are displayed, that sort of thing.

[razvan]

It's the Eyepiece Viewer screen that opens from the Interactive Atlas by clicking Eyepiece View. Not the one of a finder chart. 

But the problem is solved. Turns out I was pressing I (upper case i), not l (lower case L) as the difference between the letters in your message was too fine to see on my laptop with a red film and I didn't immediately realize the problem because ... pressing I actually turns off star labels as well (and only star labels, but the object I was looking at only had labeled stars around). So what does "i" do in the Eyepiece Viewer (I couldn't find the info in the Help, I checked the "Using the Eyepiece Viewer" and "Chart Keyboard Shortcuts" help topics) ? It clearly keeps the CPU busy for a few moments, but there's no change in the displayed window. 

Thanks again.