Technical data

Chapter 6 Starmap Utilities 27
6. Starmap Utilities
The Starmap Utilities dialog box is displayed by clicking the left mouse button anywhere on the Starmap display.
You would normally want to set the cursor over a particular object before clicking the button, but it is not required.
The top of the Starmap Utilities box displays the current coordinates of the mouse in (Right Ascension and
Declination) at the time the button was pressed. Below the coordinate display is a number of radio buttons that allow
you to select the available functions.
Center Object
The Center Object feature resets the Zenith coordinates to the current mouse coordinates and re-draws the starmap.
This allows you to quickly center the display on the area, or object, that you choose.
SetDistance Ref
The Set Distance Reference enables the distance measurement feature and locks its starting point to the current
coordinates of the cursor. With distance measuring enabled, you will notice an additional field in the Coordinate
display. The Dist. field shows the angular distance in degrees, minutes and seconds from the starting point to the
current position of the cursor. As you move the cursor you will see a line drawn from the starting point to the current
position of the cursor. Clicking the left mouse button disables the distance measurement feature.
Object Description
When Object Description attempts to find the object near the current mouse coordinates, and, if found, displays
information describing the object. If there are a number of objects very close together, it is recommended that you first
Zoom into the area so that you can accurately locate the object. If no object if found, a warning message is displayed.
Add to User Data
The Add to User Data function appends a new entry onto the currently selected User Object file using the R.A. and
Dec. values displayed at the top of the dialog box. These values are the coordinates of the mouse when the dialog box
was created, NOT the coordinates of the object that may be near this location.
After the OK utility box button is depressed, the current object file is opened for editing by the Windows Notepad
program. You must then add an unique object ID and a description to the new entry which appears at the bottom of the
list. The object ID should normally increment sequentially from the first entry, but you may have another numbering
scheme for your observing run. The only restriction is that each of the IDs must be unique within a given user object
file
Slew Telescope
If you are connected to an Autostar or LX2000 telescope, clicking on Slew Telescope moves you telescope until it
points at the selected object or Starmap location.