Thank you for the info, and that
sounds reasonable.
I am going to try download the comet
database. and see if I can use Skyview.
I am bit worry that I am using old
data, but maybe it is still valid.
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Here's a screen shot:
http://siderealtechnology.com/CometAsteroidsScreenGrab.jpg
Comets:
If you want to select and/or goto/track Comets, here's a step by
step procedure:
1. Download the file named Soft00Cmt.txt from the minor planet
center.
You can do that by clicking on the menu item labeled Orbits/Load
Comets From Internet: Soft00Cmt.txt
This file is only 150K, currently, there's about 900 comets in
it.
Normally, this file can be downloaded here:
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/Soft00Cmt.txt
If you want to get this file somewhere else, you can change the
path in the SiTechExe/Config tab/ChangeConfig/Misc.
However, it has to have the exact same format as Soft00Cmt.txt.
If you want, you can download this file manually, then place it
here:
C:\ProgramData\SiTech\SiTechExe\Database\Soft00Cmt.txt
Your path may vary depending on your windows computer and
location settings.
This should be downloaded occasionally, to get the latest
orbital elements.
2. Once you've downloaded the file, you can select the menu
item:
Orbits/Load Comets From Existing Soft00Cmt.txt
This will calculate the Comet orbits, and put the data into
memory.
3. Set up the limiting magnitude you want for the comets under
the Magnitudes menu.
4. Under the Objects menu, turn on Comets
Now there should be comets on SkyView.
You can search for a particular comet by selecting the
Orbits/Search For Comet
You can put in an integer here, it will return the indexed
comet. For instance, "1" would return "Hale Bopp", "10" would
return "P/2000 S1 (Skiff)"
Otherwise, it will look for the string you specify. It's not
case sensitive, you can use lower or upper. It returns the first
occurance of your string.
Thus, "C/2013 E" would return "C/2013 E1 (McNaught)", even
though there is an "E2".
I think the coolest feature is the menu item Orbits/Comet
Selection and Sorting.
It loads all the comets from the Soft00Cmt.txt file into a
listBox and you can sort by Altitude, Magnitude, Motion,
Distance from Earth or File order.
For instance, to look for the brightest comet that's above the
horizon, you can sort by Magnitude, and then look through the
Altitudes column to find the highest one you're interested in.
Double click on an entry (or click the OK button) , and you have
the option to GoTo/Sync or Center Skyview on the Comet.
If you want to GoTo the comet, you can make sure the "Track
Planetoid" is checked. This is the default.
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