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Time Service

You can use the Time Service function to synchronize your computer's system clock to an Internet time server. Internet time can be expected to be accurate to within milliseconds of actual time. System time accurate to minutes is important if you are controlling a telescope with Deep-Sky Planner as it affects GO TO pointing accuracy¹.

Important: You must run Deep-Sky Planner with elevated privileges to change system time.

Select a Time Server Host Name allows you to select an NTP time server address. The time server addresses that ship with Deep-Sky Planner all belong to public access servers with no restrictions. If you are unfamiliar with time servers, select More >> to see a complete list of time servers and their geographic locations. You should select a server near you geographically to get the best accuracy.

Press Synchronize System Clock to Time Service to retrieve the correct time from the selected Time Server Host Name and set your computer system clock to that time. Note that it is not unusual for time servers to become unavailable either due to maintenance on the server, or a change in the address. If you select a time server that is not available, simply select another server from the list of Time Server Host Name entries.

More >> / Less << toggles the time server details pane on and off.

Time Server Details Pane

The lower pane of the Time Service dialog box shows all of the time server addresses known to Deep-Sky Planner and their geographic location. You can add servers, edit the address or ISO country code of an existing server, or delete servers. You can find a current list of time servers by searching the Internet for 'Public NTP Time Servers'. The host name must be correct - it is case sensitive; the ISO country code is simply text that helps you discern the geographic location of a server.

▪Add - opens a dialog box in which you enter an NTP time server address, ISO country code

▪Edit - opens the selected time server entry a dialog box in which you can modify the NTP time server address and/or ISO country code

▪Delete - deletes the selected time server entry. You are asked to confirm before the entry is deleted.

▪Select - changes the selection in Select a Time Server Host Name to the entry selected in the lower pane. Double clicking an entry in the lower pane also selects it in Select a Time Server Host Name.

Notes:

¹ If you have a mount that includes GPS capability, you may want to set your computer system time to the mount's time as it is also highly accurate. See Telescope/DSC Information to synchronize your system time to your mount's time.