Script Support Files

The script support files are rudimentary "friendly" configurators and resource files used by several of my scripts.

Get all the files.

Resource Files:

Ecliptic.txt - a file containing the RA, Dec of the ecliptic at fixed intervals around the sky. This was originally programmed 'soft,' so that the position of the ecliptic could be found simply by converting ecliptic coordinates to equatorial coordinates, but a persistent bug in that routine motivated me to "make it work" by shifting it to an explicit lookup, and I've not gone back to fix things yet.

YearDatFile.txt - the yearly data file. This is valid for places around Sierra Vista, Arizona. It contains the time of the beginning and end of astronomical twilight, the RA of the sun, and the number of minutes of dark time during the night, for dates twice monthly. The script uses this to compute the stationary points, schedule targeting, and close down the scope when it gets too light to observe. You will have to substitute values for your own observatory for this file, or else things probably won't work right!

Both of these files qualify as kluges or worse. I use them only because I have been spending most of my time on scope control projects, and haven't had time to "do the right thing."

AcquireConfig and TLMaker

AcquireConfig and TLMaker are two very simple VB programs that I put together to allow non-computer-savvy users operate 701's robotic telescope with a minimum of fuss. AcquireConfig manages various preference settings for the Acquire script and other scripts available on this site, such as exposure times and behavior around the moon. TLMaker allows the user to enter a series of targets; this target list is then written to a file (you will find it on the root directory of the hard drive of the machine you ran TLMaker on - this need not be the same machine as is running the script.)

Note that you should put your targets into TLMaker in the order you want them observed, if you are using this with Acquire. For GetPhot, it doesn't matter what order you use.

Quick Start

• You must make directories c:\asteroids and c:\plan on the machine running the telescope.
• In the c:\asteroids directory, you must make subdirectories called "log" and "point."
• You must put everything in the above file in c:\plan. (You can tweak the directory requirements as much as you want by changing the settings in AcquireConfig or the ini file, or by editing the script directly. For now, we just want a script that works.)
• Run AcquireConfig. Set your exposure times, telescope settling times, and guiding preferences. All options are used for Acquire; some options are unused for other scripts (see the documentation for those scripts).
• Run TLMaker, and input the night's targets. The resulting file, TargetList.txt, will be saved to the root directory of the computer you ran TLMaker on. Move this file to the c:\plan directory of the telescope control computer.

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