Start/End capturing times

Similar to Andy’s idea of start/end by altitude, perhaps start/end by time to meridian?

It’s certainly not a big deal, but I often keep the scope on the east side. Usually I set a start time that I know is within my meridian limits just to prevent unnecessary flips.

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I like that idea; maybe allow it to specify time past meridian as well, and that would also solve my tree line scheduling problem.
Andy

I would likely use both if it were an option. :slight_smile:

Both my east/west are obstructed; in one particular setup I usually start imaging 2 hours before meridian and the westerly tree line is about 30 degrees. I pick 2 hours before meridian because it means the object clears the roof line of my house by a reasonable amount and is also a safe max for my scope on the ‘wrong’ side of the pier for most objects.

Now, I realize we’re just spitballin’ ideas and I can conceded this is unnecessary complexity, but when imaging over multiple nights, I load up a sequence with multiple targets to maximize the “sweet spot” at meridian and have a number of exposures that will typically take 3 nights to get.

I’ll often put a stop time for one target at 30 degrees, and for the next target I look ahead and put stop time at astronomical twilight. Both of these need to be looked up, and it’s not hard to do. Ideally (yes, I know) I’d love to say, stop when either of these are conditions are true. At that point, because my camera has a shutter, I’ll schedule some darks until I wake up…

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Yes, that would be great if SGP also had an option to start/stop events at astronomical twilight (or better, a time offset relative to astronomical twilight), or at altitude or meridian offset (hour angle), taking whichever came first (stop time) or last (start time).

Andy

Not guaranteeing an implementation identical to those described above, but this is definitely on the 2.5 list.