[APBeta] # of Observations

[Paul Rodman]

BTW, this kind of posting is probably best done on the Yahoo group, where many folk can chime in or benefit. The beta list is for, well, beta issues. There are currently no beta releases (although I'm working on 2.0.1b1 as we speak).

Paul R.

On Sep 24, 2011, at 9:25 AM, Paul Rodman wrote:

> 
> On Sep 23, 2011, at 8:13 PM, Michael Rudy wrote:
> 
>> When I create a plan, I need to know if I have made an observation that night, and how many obs total made for that object. I need this because I always need to move to a particular part of the sky, then make obs of objects in that area.
>> 
>> Without knowing that I have made an obs that night, right there in front of me, now requires time consuming work flipping between the windows. V1 did the job for me.
> 
> A solution might be to make the entry in the Obs column bold and red (or somehow different) if an observation was made within the past n hours or days. This would require an update to the application.
> 
> Another solution would be to use a user-defined field that runs a small script that shows (say) the date/time of the most recent observation (or the text "OBSERVED!") if that observation is within the past n hours/days. This can be done now. I can assist.
> 
>> I have seen another software package that contains a column of best viewing time of an object on the list.
> 
> This is a very subjective (and somewhat non-trivial) thing to do, and depends on many factors (twilight, moon phase and position, height above the horizon). In the past I have challenged users to provide me with a recipe for doing this. I know other apps (I imagine you are referring to SkyTools) have this ability built in, but I also know that not everyone agrees with the "best observing time" produced by that app.
> 
> Again, a user-defined field script could be devised to do this, but it would be non-trivial. Using the Transit time is a good first step, but that ignores sky darkness and moon position.
> 
> Paul R.