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0001 <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
0002 <!-- This document was created with Syntext Serna Free. --><sect1 id="tool-obsplanner">
0003   <sect1info>
0004     <author>
0005       <firstname>Kristian</firstname>
0006       <surname>Ivanov</surname>
0007     </author>
0008   </sect1info>
0009   <title>Observation Planner</title>
0010   <indexterm>
0011     <primary>Planner</primary>
0012   </indexterm>
0013   <para>Since &kde; SC 4.4, Prakash Mohan&apos;s GSoC work has been released in &kstars;. &kstars; now
0014 has an awesome observation planner to plan your observation sessions. The execute session option allows
0015 you to log information about objects as you observe them. Alternately, you may also write a short log
0016 in the session planner itself. We wish you a lot of fun planning your observations with &kstars;!
0017   </para>
0018   <para>You can even add some pictures to the objects. The image list is a Google image search list.
0019 To add image to an object just press <guibutton>Find Image</guibutton> button on the right and then
0020 find an image that you like. If you do not have an Internet connection you can open an image from
0021 your hard drive. Note that images that will be used are going to be cropped to 600x600 pixels.
0022   </para>
0023   <para>The first way of doing this is by pressing <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>2</keycap></keycombo> or <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>L</keycap></keycombo> to open the Observation List, then press the <guibutton>Add Object</guibutton> button.</para>
0024   <mediaobject>
0025     <imageobject>
0026       <imagedata fileref="KStars_Neptune.png" format="PNG"/>
0027     </imageobject>
0028     <caption>
0029       <para>
0030         <phrase/>
0031       </para>
0032     </caption>
0033   </mediaobject>
0034   <para>The <guibutton>Download all Images</guibutton> button does a search for the SDSS images and displays the DSS image if the requested RA/Dec is out of the SDSS footprint.</para>
0035   <mediaobject>
0036     <imageobject>
0037       <imagedata fileref="sds.png" format="PNG"/>
0038     </imageobject>
0039     <caption>
0040       <para>
0041         <phrase> This is an SDSS image of a galaxy</phrase>
0042       </para>
0043     </caption>
0044   </mediaobject>
0045   <mediaobject>
0046     <imageobject>
0047       <imagedata fileref="dss.png" format="PNG"/>
0048     </imageobject>
0049     <caption>
0050       <para>
0051         <phrase> This is an DSS image of the same galaxy</phrase>
0052       </para>
0053     </caption>
0054   </mediaobject>
0055   <para>The <guibutton>Delete all Images</guibutton> button does the opposite. It deletes all downloaded images.</para>
0056   <mediaobject>
0057     <imageobject>
0058       <imagedata fileref="Delete_all_images.png" format="PNG"/>
0059     </imageobject>
0060     <caption>
0061       <para>
0062         <phrase> The image for the galaxy is now deleted </phrase>
0063       </para>
0064     </caption>
0065   </mediaobject>
0066   <para>You can add more objects by pressing the <guibutton>Find Object</guibutton> button. It will open
0067 the <guilabel>Find Object</guilabel> tool which provides two accurate methods for sorting out the items,
0068 depending on what criteria you want to use.
0069 You can filter the list by objects type: Any, Stars, Solar System, Clusters (Globular and Open),
0070 Nebulae (Gaseous and Planetary), Galaxies, Comets, Asteroids, Constellations, Supernovae or Satellites.
0071 You can also filter the objects list by name. Enter the name of desired object
0072 in the <guilabel>Filter by name</guilabel> text box.
0073   </para>
0074 
0075   <para>Inside Observation Planner window you can see the <quote>Altitude vs Time</quote> widget (AltvsTime),
0076 which shows you how the altitude of a selected object varies over time.
0077   </para>
0078   <para>Below the AltvsTime widget, there is a text box in that you can add observing notes for current sky object.
0079   </para>
0080   <para>Note that the Wish List is not the Session Plan. In the Wish List you can add objects
0081 that you wish to observe at some point. From there you can add them to the Session Plan.
0082   </para>
0083   <para>You can see the pop-up window that comes after right-clicking on an object.</para>
0084   <mediaobject>
0085     <imageobject>
0086       <imagedata fileref="Add_Object_to_Session_plan.png" format="PNG"/>
0087     </imageobject>
0088     <caption>
0089       <para>
0090         <phrase>Add objects to Session Plan window</phrase>
0091       </para>
0092     </caption>
0093   </mediaobject>
0094   <para>Here is the second way of adding objects in your Observation Plan, using the Observing List Wizard. You
0095 just need to press the fourth button on the top-left corner of the Observation Planner window.</para>
0096   <para>Despite looking differently this way is basically the same as the first one. Although that
0097 it could be a bit more detailed. Here you can see the same categories of objects.
0098   </para>
0099   <mediaobject>
0100     <imageobject>
0101       <imagedata fileref="Another_way_to_add.png" format="PNG"/>
0102     </imageobject>
0103     <caption>
0104       <para>
0105         <phrase/>
0106       </para>
0107     </caption>
0108   </mediaobject>
0109   <mediaobject>
0110     <imageobject>
0111       <imagedata fileref="Another_way_to_add_part3.png" format="PNG"/>
0112     </imageobject>
0113     <caption>
0114       <para>
0115         <phrase/>
0116       </para>
0117     </caption>
0118   </mediaobject>
0119   <para>You can choose where these objects to be on the sky. There are four options available for you: All over the sky (which is the default option), by constellation and in a region (rectangular or circular).</para>
0120   <mediaobject>
0121     <imageobject>
0122       <imagedata fileref="Another_way4.png" format="PNG"/>
0123     </imageobject>
0124     <caption>
0125       <para>
0126         <phrase/>
0127       </para>
0128     </caption>
0129   </mediaobject>
0130   <para>You can choose the date for the observation and the place you are going to observe from.</para>
0131   <mediaobject>
0132     <imageobject>
0133       <imagedata fileref="Another_way5.png" format="PNG"/>
0134     </imageobject>
0135     <caption>
0136       <para>
0137         <phrase/>
0138       </para>
0139     </caption>
0140   </mediaobject>
0141   <para>You can choose the threshold of magnitude for the objects to be shown. In astronomy, absolute magnitude (also known as absolute visual magnitude when measured in the standard V photometric band) measures a celestial object&apos;s intrinsic brightness.</para>
0142   <mediaobject>
0143     <imageobject>
0144       <imagedata fileref="Another_way6.png" format="PNG"/>
0145     </imageobject>
0146     <caption>
0147       <para>
0148         <phrase/>
0149       </para>
0150     </caption>
0151   </mediaobject>
0152   <para>You can save your observation plan. And it will save it with a <literal role="extension">.obslist</literal> extension.</para>
0153   <mediaobject>
0154     <imageobject>
0155       <imagedata fileref="Savin_session.png" format="PNG"/>
0156     </imageobject>
0157     <caption>
0158       <para>
0159         <phrase/>
0160       </para>
0161     </caption>
0162   </mediaobject>
0163   <para>You can also access the <guilabel>WUT</guilabel> (What&apos;s up tonight), which could be of a great assistance to you. It can give you ideas what to observe on a date, time and place that you specify using the configuration buttons int the top-right corner of the <guilabel>What&apos;s up tonight</guilabel> window.</para>
0164   <mediaobject>
0165     <imageobject>
0166       <imagedata fileref="wut.png" format="PNG"/>
0167     </imageobject>
0168     <caption>
0169       <para>
0170         <phrase/>
0171       </para>
0172     </caption>
0173   </mediaobject>
0174   <para>Another way of adding objects to your observation plan is using the newly introduced <guibutton>Batch Add</guibutton> will open up a text box where you can type many objects to add in one shot to the observation planner. Any objects not in the &kstars; database already will be resolved using SIMBAD Astronomical Database (provided this has been enabled in the Settings) and added to the database. The entire process of adding objects is slow and may take a while, and you can watch the progress in the Status Bar. Any objects that could not be found are then listed in an error message, so you can identify and fix the errors. Usually this may be because SIMBAD expects a different way of specifying the object (&eg; Sim 147 instead of Simeis 147). This new feature allows you to easily scrape data from observing lists on the web &etc; and add them to your workflow in &kstars;.
0175   </para>
0176   <para>This is how the <guilabel>Execution Session</guilabel> Window look. It can be opened by pressing <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>2</keycap></keycombo>. In it you can also see some information about the selected object and you are able to add observing notes.</para>
0177   <mediaobject>
0178     <imageobject>
0179       <imagedata fileref="execute_session_nt.png" format="PNG"/>
0180     </imageobject>
0181     <caption>
0182       <para>
0183         <phrase>First Execute Session window</phrase>
0184       </para>
0185     </caption>
0186   </mediaobject>
0187   <para>By pressing the <guibutton>Next Page</guibutton> button you will access the second page of Session Plan. Here you are able to see information not about your object, but about your equipment.</para>
0188   <mediaobject>
0189     <imageobject>
0190       <imagedata fileref="execute_session_the_nt.png" format="PNG"/>
0191     </imageobject>
0192     <caption>
0193       <para>
0194         <phrase>Second Execute Session window</phrase>
0195       </para>
0196     </caption>
0197   </mediaobject>
0198   <para>Pressing the <guibutton>Next Target</guibutton> button will cause the Execute Session to open the first window about the next object.</para>
0199 </sect1>