How do you rate darkness?

A poll has been running on the Deep-Sky Planner web page for several weeks that asks the simple question 'What scale do you use to rate sky darkness?'

The results as of now are a bit illuminating (pardon the pun).

• 20% don't bother with rating darkness at all. Observers really should rate darkness somehow.
• 12% use the Bortle scale. It is a very coarse scale but it is easy to use.
• 45% use NELM - the naked eye limiting stellar magnitude at the zenith. This is an easy test to conduct during observing but is subject to one's visual acuity and experience. It is a finer measure than Bortle, but subjective.
• 20% use magnitude per square arcsecond. This is very likely to be measured by equipment such as a Sky Quality Meter. It is easy to acquire this value during observing but only if you have the equipment. It is also a very objective measurement so it is the most precise measure of darkness, but it does require an investment.
• 0% just make up a number on their own scale. This is a surprise because observers often say something like 'darkness was 8 out of 10'. Maybe the poll is missing respondents on this question.

If you'd like to participate in this non-scientific poll, visit http://knightware.biz/dsp/ and look in the left column for the Observer's Poll. Please vote only once.

Importing Planet Events into Google Calendar

Deep-Sky Planner 5 can produce reports in various file formats. HTML is popular for users that have a website for their planning information or observing log. Text and CSV are popular for moving data into spreadsheets, but another use popped up recently that I'd like to share.

I wanted to plan some summer camping trips around new moon dates. Since I use Google Calendar, I looked into the possibility of importing moon phase information generated in Deep-Sky Planner's Planet Events report into my Google Calendar. Since Google publishes the import file format, it was easy to convert the CSV format file produced by Deep-Sky Planner into the CSV file format required by Google Calendar. The script could also be used to produce a file with the dates of eclipses, the dates of opposition, greatest elongations, etc.

I wrote a simple script that performs the conversion. I use Python for most scripting tasks like this, so I have made the script available on the Files section of the Deep-Sky Planner Yahoo group. The script is written for Python 2.6 and can be run from a command prompt. If you use Python, that would be something like:

python EventToGoogleCalendar.py

The script prompts you for input and output files. Once you've converted the file, you need to log into your Google Calendar and import the file.

If you prefer a different script language, you can use the Python script as an example in writing your own script. Of course, the idea of sharing planet event information with a personal calendar is applicable to other calendar services. The key is having a calendar service that has import capability and publishes import file format.

Use Deep-Sky Planner 5 with TheSkyX Pro

Deep-Sky Planner 5 has been updated to support TheSkyX Professional edition. Deep-Sky Planner 5 now provides smart interoperation through its Show Chart feature with these planetarium software products:

• TheSkyX Professional edition
• TheSky6 Professional and Serious Astronomer editions
• Starry Night 6 Enthusiast, Pro and Pro Plus editions
• Redshift 7 Premium, Advanced and Compact editions
• Redshift 6 Premium edition
• Cartes du Ciel 3

Users of TheSkyX Pro must have version 10.1.6 or later to use this feature. Users of Starry Night must have version 6.3.8 or later to use this feature.

Northeast Astronomy Forum 2010 Redux

NEAF was quite busy this year. Attendance seemed larger, and there was a healthy interest in astronomical software. It was great seeing previous customers again while meeting some new ones. It may take the voice and feet a while to recover!

Answering questions for an interested customer

NEAF was more than a trade show this year. Knightware also hosted a technical meeting about OpenAstronomyLog for interested astronomy software developers on Friday during vendor setup. The purpose of the meeting was to help developers add support for OpenAstronomyLog (OAL) to their products. We discussed the technical and business merits of the OAL project, talked about support resources that are available, and explored some ideas that may make supporting OAL easier. Several other developers expressed interest in the project but were unable to attend the show.

Developers of Redshift and TheSkyX participated in the OAL meeting.

Knightware greatly enjoyed taking part in this year's NEAF and we look forward to it again next year.

TheSkyX Revealed

Software Bisque has confirmed that TheSkyX Pro will be released today at NEAF. This release contains the interface that Deep-Sky Planner needs to support its Show Chart interoperation feature with TheSkyX.

Knightware is currently testing support for TheSkyX in Deep-Sky Planner 5. Support for TheSkyX is planned for the first minor update to Deep-Sky Planner 5 (v5.0.1) which will be released in a few weeks.

If you'd like to see Deep-Sky Planner 5 working with TheSkyX, please drop by our booth for a demonstration - we're right beside the Software Bisque booth.

Heading to NEAF (April 17-18)

Knightware will be packing up and heading for the Northeast Astronomy Forum and Telescope Show (NEAF) later this week in New York. NEAF is an exciting time for attendees and vendors - there's so much happening. If you are going to attend NEAF, please stop by the Knightware booth (#343) and say hello. It is always fun to meet users who are otherwise known only via e-mail.

We'll answer your questions about our software products, Deep-Sky Planner 5 and SQM Reader Pro. Both products will be available for you to try on our demo computer, and both will be available for purchase at a special price at the show.

Please tune in to this blog for updates as the weekend unfolds. We plan to provide some photos and commentary about the goings-on.

Starry Night 6.3.8 update affects Deep-Sky Planner 5

Good news! Simulation Curriculum has released an update to Starry Night 6 that fixes a problem with changing field of view from the Show Charts feature in Deep-Sky Planner 5.

The update from v 6.3.3 to 6.3.8 is available using the Starry Night update service. You should follow their procedure for applying updates.

You may also need to update your Deep-Sky Planner 5 plug-in for Starry Night if you haven't done so since version 5 was releasd. Click Help | Community Page(online) inside Deep-Sky Planner 5. This should open your web browser and log you into the DSP community page. Next, click the hyperlink 'download the updated plug-in' towards the bottom of the web page to start the download. Once you have downloaded the plug-in and saved the file to your hard disk, copy it to your Starry Night installation. On most systems, you would be replacing the file at C:\Program Files\Starry Night Pro Plus 6\Sky Data\Plug-ins\DsSN50.plug

Also, if you are using Deep-Sky Planner 5 with Starry Night on Windows 7 or Vista, you will probably need to run both programs 'As Administrator'.

The updated plug-in will be released in the first bug-fixing update, v 5.0.1. Hopefully that will be released by late April.