The Pad is a small window displaying a summary of the information available in the main Interpolator window. It is designed to sit on top of other windows and to take up only a small amount of screen space while working with other applications such as Astrometrica.


It is displayed using the Undock pad or Undock pad and minimise buttons on the Ephemeris Interpolator window.


The Pad is hidden again using the Dock and Dock and minimise buttons on the Pad.


Click on parts of the window to jump to more information. Buttons have been grouped separately below the Pad for clarity:


Date and timeRA and DecSpeed and PA°Previously calculated timesAdjust timeCopy RA and DecCopy RA and DecCalculateCalculatePaste Speed and PA° to AstrometricaPaste details to AstrometricaCopy AstrometryCopy AstrometryDisplay position in Google SkyDisplay position in Google SkyCopy nameCopy nameCopy nameDock / Dock and minimise PadDock / Dock and minimise PadObject namePaste Speed and PA° to AstrometricaPaste RA and Dec to AstrometricaPaste RA and Dec to AstrometricaAstrometrica stacking methodStack with speed = 0"/minStack with speed = 0"/min



Object name

The name of the currently selected object is displayed in the Pad window title. If the object is permanently numbered or has a provisional designation issued by the MPC then the equivalent packed designation is displayed in (brackets) following the object name.


The name (or packed name) can be copied to the Windows clipboard using the Copy object name button. 

Date and time

Enter the day of the month and time to be used when the calculate button is pressed. The time is entered in three separate fields, in hh, mm and ss format. Although rarely justified, seconds can include decimals. Any change to day or time made in the Pad is automatically updated in the day and time in the Ephemeris Interpolator window.


Note: The year and month are entered in the main Ephemeris Interpolator window only.


See also the time adjustment buttons.

RA and Dec

The RA, Dec (and Speed and P.A.°) are calculated for the entered date and time when the Calculate button is pressed. The currently displayed RA and Dec can be copied to the clipboard with the Copy RA and Dec button.

Speed and P.A.°

The speed and Position Angle of direction of motion (P.A.°) are calculated for the entered date and time when the Calculate button is pressed. Left click into either field to copy that value to the clipboard, the field background turns  green  momentarily to show the copy has been done.

Stacking method

Selects the stacking method used when Ephemeris Interpolator initiates a stacking operation in Astrometrica, either by using the Paste speed and P.A.° to Astrometrica button, or by using Stack images by drag and drop.

The choice of Add, Median or Average can be made either by clicking on one of the radio buttons, or, while dragging .FITs files from Astrometrica to the Pad, dragging the mouse over a radio button which will automatically select that method before the files are dropped.

Previously calculated times

Each time Calculate is pressed with a new date and time for an object, that date and time is added to this drop-down list. An entry in the list can be selected later to re-establish the same date and time as used previously if e.g. re-stacking the same set of images after having changed the date and time or the object for processing a different stack. The most recently used date and time is at the top of the list. A separate list of times is stored independently for each object in the Ephemeris Interpolator list of tabs.


The times can be cleared if required by right-clicking in the list and selecting the option to clear the previous calculator times for the currently selected object.


Note: The Previously calculated times lists shown in the Ephemeris Interpolator window and Pad are the same.

Adjust time

Set time to now sets the date and time fields to the current time (in UTC). Seconds are set to zero.  


Decrement the time by 1 hour. The date is updated automatically if the time passes 0h/24h.

Increment the time by 1 hour. The date is updated automatically if the time passes 0h/24h.


For Decrement and Increment, hold Ctrl while clicking to change by 1 minute and hold Alt while clicking to change by 1 second. For any of the combinations, also hold the Shift key to multiply the change by x10 e.g. clicking Decrement while holding Ctrl + Shift will change the time by -10 minutes.


Changes made to date and time in the Pad also update the date and time values in the main Ephemeris Interpolator window.

Stack with speed = 0"/min

Drag and drop files from Astrometrica on this button to stack the images with a speed of 0 arcsec / minute, instead of the speed calculated from the ephemeris. The button only appears when a drag and drop operation is in progress and will only cause the files to be stacked with zero speed if the mouse hovers over the button long enough to cause the button to be highlighted, before the files are dropped. See Astrometrica integration for more information on drag and drop operations.

Calculate

Uses the currently entered date and time to calculate values for RA, Dec, Speed and P.A.° using a third order interpolation method.


If the date and time entered are outside the range of the first and last ephemeris dates the calculation cannot proceed and the calculated quantities will be shaded  red .


If there are not enough ephemeris lines available to interpolate accurately for the given date and time then the interpolation Fit area will highlight in red. 2 ephemeris lines are required both before and after the date and time being calculated for best accuracy.


If the ephemeris values are changing rapidly (e.g. during the close approach of a NEO) then the interpolation Fit area may highlight in red if the ephemeris interval (step size) is too large. Consider reducing the ephemeris interval to get more accurate results. Note that there are different settings for downloaded NEOCP/PCCP ephemerides and downloaded MPES/Scout/Horizons ephemerides.


The Calculate buttons on the Ephemeris Interpolator and Pad provide the same functionality.

Paste speed and P.A.° to Astrometrica

This is intended to be used during Astrometrica Track & Stack processing to save the user from manually entering speed and P.A.° details for an undesignated object, e.g. a NEOCP object, where the object is not contained in the MPCORB file that Astrometrica uses internally to calculate Speed and P.A.° for already designated objects. The button will however also work for any object where Speed and P.A.° can be calculated.


Steps:


  1. In Astrometrica press Stack Images button (Ctrl + S), press Add and select the files to be stacked. Press OK.
  2. Astrometrica displays the 'Coordinates, Tracking and Stacking' window with the date and time of the images to be stacked.
  3. In the Pad enter the date and time presented by Astrometrica in its 'Coordinates, Tracking and Stacking' window.
  4. Press the 'Paste Speed and P.A.° to Astrometrica' button. The Pad then:
    • recalculates the speed and P.A.° using the newly entered date and time
    • fills in the speed and P.A.° values in the Astrometrica 'Coordinates, Tracking and Stacking' window
    • presses the Astrometrica OK button
    • copies the object name to the Windows clipboard
  1. Astrometrica proceeds with the stacking operation.
  2. When the target is being measured, the object name is already on the Windows clipboard, so can be pasted directly into the Astrometrica Object Verification window.


Note that the Astrometrica 'Coordinates, Tracking and Stacking' window can occasionally be hidden behind the main Astrometrica window at the end of step 1, so that the date and time of the images to be stacked cannot be seen. In this case, try right-clicking the Paste speed and P.A.° to Astrometrica button. This attempts to bring the 'Coordinates, Tracking and Stacking' window back into visibility and works on most, but not all occasions.


See Astrometrica settings and Astrometrica integration for more information.

Paste RA and Dec to Astrometrica

This is intended to be used when Astrometrica presents either the Coordinates window, or the 'Coordinates, Track and Stack' window but there is no field centre available in the FITS files being processed. If the target object is actually within the image then use this option to put the calculated RA and Dec into Astrometrica as a first approximation of the actual field centre.


Steps:


  1. In Astrometrica either select files and press the Data reduction button (Ctrl+A) or press the Stack Images button (Ctrl+S), select files and press OK.
  2. If the Coordinates window (Ctrl+A) or the 'Coordinates, Track and Stack' window (Ctrl+S) displayed does not have RA and Dec coordinates or they are incorrect then:
    • Enter the appropriate date and time for the images being processed in the Pad and press the Paste RA and Dec to Astrometrica button.
    • The program recalculates the RA and Dec using the newly entered date and time and fills in the RA and Dec values in Astrometrica.


No final OK button is automatically pressed at the end of this sequence so no further processing in Astrometrica will occur until manually initiated, allowing the RA and Dec to be manually amended if need be. For a Track and Stack operation, the Paste Speed and P.A.° to Astrometrica button can be pressed immediately afterwards to initiate stacking using the newly calculated Speed and P.A.°.


Note: If images being measured can be relied on to always have good RA and Dec coordinates then the Paste RA and Dec to Astrometrica button can be disabled in Settings to stop it being pressed by mistake, by changing setting AstrometricaEnableSendRADec to False.

Copy astrometry from MPC to clipboard

For objects where the ephemeris has been downloaded from the MPC (using the or buttons) this will retrieve all existing astrometry from the MPC and copy the text lines to the Windows clipboard. If the FindOrbCombineAll setting is set to True then the first line of text when astrometry is copied to the clipboard will be "COM Combine all".


The Copy astrometry from MPC to clipboard buttons on the Ephemeris Interpolator and Pad provide the same functionality.

Display Position in Google Sky

When this button is pressed, RA, Dec, Speed and P.A.° are recalculated using the currently entered date and time. The date and time and the calculated values are then combined with the current GoogleSky KML template before starting GoogleEarth. See Display a position in Google Sky step by step for detailed information.


Note: The Display Position in Google Sky button is only enabled if the GoogleSkyFieldSize setting is greater than 0 and the (free) GoogleEarth application is also be installed. See GoogleSky integration and also the Google Earth Pro on Desktop section on the https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/earth/versions/ page.


The Display position in Google Sky buttons on the Ephemeris Interpolator and Pad provide the same functionality.

Copy object name

Copies the object name to the Windows clipboard. Hold the Shift key to include [Qualifier] and hold the Ctrl key to copy the packed object name to the clipboard (for MPC permanent and provisional designations).

The Copy object name buttons on the Ephemeris Interpolator and Pad provide the same functionality.

Copy RA and Dec

Copies the RA and Dec to the clipboard in the format displayed.


The Copy RA and Dec buttons on the Ephemeris Interpolator and Pad provide the same functionality.

Dock

Causes the Pad to be hidden and the main Ephemeris Interpolator window to be made visible again.


See also the complementary Undock pad and Undock pad and minimise controls on the Ephemeris Interpolator window.

Dock and minimise

Docks the Pad to the Ephemeris Interpolator then minimises the Ephemeris Interpolator window so that neither are visible.

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