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Location Editor

The Location Editor is used to change any part of a location definition. Location definitions are important because all astronomical calculations in the software take the observer's location on earth into account. The Location Editor contains 2 tabbed pages. The General tab allows you to enter all information that describes a location. The Map (Web) tab allows you to use Google Maps to pinpoint the latitude and longitude of a location.

General Tab

Location Name is any name up to 50 characters in length that describes a location. You may use uppercase and lowercase. The name must be unique. (Raleigh, NC is considered to be the same as RALEIGH, NC.) A unique Location Name is required.

Time Zone contains a list of time zone definitions. Each time zone definition has a name (shown in Time Zone), a displacement in hours from the Greenwich prime meridian (Hours from UTC) and a rule for changing To Standard Time and To Daylight Saving Time. You should select the time zone definition that matches the rule for your observing location. Note that changing the time zone for a location does not affect the Regional Settings in Windows. Also, Daylight Saving time rule does not affect universal times. A Time Zone selection is required.

Area is the area to which the location belongs. An Area selection is required.

Latitude may appear in any of the angular formats defined in Data Formatting Properties. Be certain to select either North or South as appropriate. Note that latitude of 90° 00' 00" is not permitted because some trigonometric calculations are undefined at that angle. Please choose 89° 59' 59" instead.

Longitude may also appear in any of the angular formats defined in Data Formatting Properties. Again, be sure to select the correct direction, East or West. Note that longitude of 180° 00' 00" is not permitted because some trigonometric calculations are undefined at that angle. Please choose 179° 59' 59" instead.

Elevation is the elevation of the location in meters. You can obtain the elevation of a site using a GPS device or a topographic map. This value is used in atmospheric extinction calculations.

Horizon Model

Name is the name given to a local horizon model.

New allows you to create a new local horizon model in the Horizon Model Editor.

Edit allows you to modify an existing local horizon model in the Horizon Model Editor.

Delete allows you to remove the local horizon model from the location. The model is discarded after you confirm that you want to delete the model.

Import allows you to import a local horizon model from a file. The Horizon Model Import dialog box is used to control import.

Export allows you to export a local horizon model to a file in XML-based, native Deep-Sky Planner horizon file format. The file to which the horizon model is exported is specified in a Windows Save dialog box.

If you need to copy a horizon model from one location to another, export the model in Deep-Sky Planner format from the source location and import it into the destination location.

Map (Web) Tab

The Map tab uses Google Maps to pinpoint the latitude and longitude of a location. When the Map tab is opened, the map is centered on the latitude and longitude of the selected location on the General tab; therefore, it is most useful to have roughly accurate latitude and longitude values specified on the General tab before opening the Map tab.

The map supports most of the functions usually available with Google Maps, for example, zoom in, zoom out, drag to reposition, satellite and map views. Below the map, the name of the selected location is shown along with the marked Latitude and Longitude. Latitude and longitude are displayed in decimal degrees and degrees, minutes, seconds.

If you want to make the displayed map larger or smaller, use the and buttons. Note that this affects the size of the map shown; you can also zoom the map in or out to refine your position.

Markers

You can place multiple markers on the map, but the most recently placed marker depicts the Latitude and Longitude displayed below the map.

Click a marker to remove it. If the Latitude and Longitude displayed correspond to that marker, these values are removed. When you add another marker, the latitude and longitude of that point are displayed below the map.

When you have pinpointed the position of your location, click Save Lat/Lng to record the latitude and longitude as displayed below the map on General tab. If you do not want to update the latitude and longitude on the General tab, simply click on the General tab without updating the location.

Caveats

Google Maps does not have map data above 85° N or below 85° S.

If you open the Map tab and receive 'Navigation to the web page was canceled', it is likely that you are not connected to the Internet, or your security software has blocked access to the Internet. Be sure that you are connected to the Internet properly and that Deep-Sky Planner is permitted to access the Internet. After you have connected to the Internet and resolved any security issues, you can click 'Refresh the page' or re-open the Map tab.

The HTML rendering engine used to display the Google Map requires that MS Internet Explorer 4 or later be installed on your computer (whether you use it regularly or not.) Also, Google Maps requires Javascript so this must be enabled for Internet Explorer.

Data returned from Google Maps is validated to minimize your risk of receiving any malware through the service (e.g., XSS or similar.)

Press OK to accept the changes, or Cancel to leave the location unchanged.

Additional Information:

▪You can have times automatically converted from universal to local time throughout the product by selecting the option in Preferences.