DSP5.1 Update - Object Designation Improvements

A catalog designation for a celestial object enumerates a single object, at least within the context of the catalog. The problem that arises is this: what is obviously 'NGC 100' to one person may be NGC100 or n100 to someone else. The IAU has a rule for this, but that doesn't change common use among the astronomy community. What to do?

Introducing the new object designation pattern matching engine. The engine is being added to Deep-Sky Planner to help change user-entered object designations into the format expected by Deep-Sky Planner. The engine is also being used to develop some sample plan documents that will be included in the 5.1 update. The engine is in final testing now.

To give an idea of how the engine will be presented, the screenshot below shows the new plan document editor which is used to add a celestial object to a plan. In the screenshot, the designation 'n100' is entered.

'Blank' Plan Editor

The second screenshot shows the result of a Lookup - what the engine found in the database and transferred to the editor form.

Plan Editor - NGC 100 found & retrieved from the database