Deep-Sky Observing
Deep-Sky Planner allows you to search through a database of over 820,000 deep-sky objects from 25 deep-sky catalogs and report results in a tabular format. In addition to essential object data, the contents of a report can be configured to include or exclude any item (column) of data.
The star atlases cross referenced in Deep-Sky Planner reports include:
- The Herald-Bobroff AstroAtlas by David Herald and Peter Bobroff, HB2000, 1994.
- Millennium Star Atlas by Roger Sinnott and Michael A.C. Perryman, Sky Publishing Corporation, 1997.
- Pocket Sky Atlas by Roger Sinnott, Sky Publishing Corporation, 2006.
- Sky Atlas 2000.0 by Wil Tirion, Sky Publishing Corporation, 1981.
- Uranometria 2000.0 by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport and George Lovi, Willmann-Bell, Inc, 1987.
- Uranometria 2000.0 2d Ed. by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport and Will Remaklus, Willmann-Bell, Inc, 2001.
Click here to see a list of deep-sky catalogs included with Deep-Sky Planner.
Deep-sky catalog search criteria include:
- object designation, including range of object numbers or object name with wildcard pattern matching
- common name of object, e.g., search NGC for 'Owl nebula'
- whether ever viewable at your latitude
- magnitude range
- angular size range
- object type(s)
- constellation(s)
- sky position (on a chart from 5 supported atlases, within a range of altitudes and azimuths, or within a radius of an equatorial position)
- viewing time (up during the date's astronomical darkness or during a user-specified time period)
- whether observed
The results can be sorted in any combination of ascending or descending order of any one or more data items (columns) in the report.
- compute altitude and azimuth of objects at specified date & time
- slew your GO TO telescope to the object (or sync the telescope position with the object)
- show a star chart centered on the object using TheSky, Redshift, Starry Night or Cartes du Ciel (see version compatibility)
- view a graph of any reported object's altitude over time on the specified date
- view a graph of any reported object's altitude at a time of day over a specified year
- view all common names and cross references for any reported object
- view your logged observations of any reported object
- add an observation to your log for any reported object
- print or save reports as formatted text, HTML or delimited text (CSV)
Example report shows NGC galaxies in the western sky on the evening of Jan 13, 2010 brighter than mag 12. The report is sorted by ascending best time to view and ascending surface brightness.