Toolstrip

Toolstrip buttons

Click on parts of the toolstrip to jump to more information:

Object

Used with [ Qualifier ] to uniquely name a stored ephemeris. Enter the name of the object, used to retrieve ephemeris information using the MPES, NEOCP, Scout, Horizons or NEOFixer buttons, or when adding an ephemeris manually.

If using the MPES or Horizons services, enter an already designated object e.g. a permanently numbered or provisionally designated minor planet or comet, e.g. 73P, 2022 DA2, 99942 or a named Minor Planet, e.g. Apophis.

If using the NEOCP or Scout services enter the temporary designation (trkSub) of an object currently on the NEOCP.

If using the NEOFixer service, enter an already designated NEO or comet, or a temporary designation (trkSub) of an object currently on the NEOCP.

If manually entering an ephemeris directly into the Ephemeris lines area and using the Add or the Paste clipboard into ephemeris lines and add button there is no restriction on what can be entered for the object name.

If a name is entered which includes text in square brackets, e.g. C09G4M5[174] it will be automatically split, with the text inside the brackets being put into Qualifier (see below) and the text before the brackets being put into Object.

If the Object drop-down list arrow is clicked, object selection can be made from a list of all the NEOCP objects that meet the filter conditions.

If Object is blank when the NEOCP button is pressed, ephemerides for all NEOCP objects that meet the filter conditions will be added.

If Object is blank when the Add last ephemeris generated in Find_Orb button is pressed it will be set to the object name found in the Find_Orb ephemeris file.

The object name (and optionally qualifier) can be copied to the clipboard by right-clicking Object with the mouse, with options as follows:

Right-click will copy the (unpacked) name to the clipboard (even if the name is packed)

Hold Shift+right-click to copy the name and qualifier to the clipboard

Hold Ctrl+right-click to copy the packed name to the clipboard. Note: Packed names are only provided for MPC permanent and provisional designations that can be packed. See MPC packed format.

When the text is copied to the clipboard the field background turns green momentarily to show the copy has been done.

See also the Copy object name buttons in the Ephemeris Interpolator and the Pad for options copying Object and Qualifier to the clipboard.

The object name is also copied to the clipboard when using the Paste speed and P.A.° to Astrometrica button in the Pad.

[ Qualifier ]

Used in combination with Object to uniquely name a stored ephemeris. Qualifier is optional but when downloading MPES or NEOCP ephemerides, if the qualifier is numeric it is assumed to be a variant orbit number and will be used to download the corresponding variant ephemeris. Qualifier is ignored for Scout, Horizons and NEOFixer ephemeris retrieval. Qualifier can be used to store different versions of ephemerides for the same object. If the qualifier is empty a default value will be supplied when these buttons are pressed:

Retrieve Scout ephemeris for NEOCP object default qualifier = 'Scout'.

Retrieve Horizons ephemeris default qualifier = 'Hrzns'.

Retrieve NEOFixer ephemerides default qualifier = 'Nfx'.

Add last ephemeris generated in Find_Orb default qualifier = 'FO'.

Do not enter square brackets [] when entering the qualifier, they will be automatically added when needed. See above for entering object name together with qualifier directly into Object.

Retrieve MPES ephemeris

Requests an ephemeris for the minor planet or comet named in Object from the Minor Planet Center's MPES service for the date and time entered. The ephemeris interval and the number of dates to generate can be entered. The actual number of dates returned may be more than requested to ensure that there are at least two ephemeris lines before and after the requested time. If [Qualifier] is numeric it will be used to request an ephemeris for the corresponding variant orbit for the object.

Retrieve NEOCP ephemeris

Requests an ephemeris for the temporary designation named in Object from the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP service for the date and time entered. If Object is empty then ephemerides for all current NEOCP objects that match the NEOCP filters are requested. The ephemeris interval can be selected and the NEOCP uses this to determine the number of ephemeris dates that will be generated. See NEOCP ephemeris for more details. If [Qualifier] is numeric it will be used to request an ephemeris for the corresponding variant orbit for the object.

Retrieve Scout ephemeris for NEOCP object

Requests an ephemeris for the temporary designation named in Object from the JPL CNEOS Scout service for the date and time entered. The temporary designation must be an object currently on the NEOCP. The ephemeris interval and the number of dates to generate can be entered in the MPES / Scout / Horizons settings area. The actual number of dates returned may be more than requested to ensure that there are at least two ephemeris lines before and after the requested time. If [Qualifier] is empty it will be defaulted to 'Scout'.

Retrieve Horizons ephemeris

Requests an ephemeris for the minor planet or comet named in Object from the JPL Horizons service for the date and time entered. The ephemeris interval and the number of dates to generate can be entered. The actual number of dates returned may be more than requested to ensure that there are at least two ephemeris lines before and after the requested time. If [Qualifier] is empty it will be defaulted to 'Hrzns'. See Horizons ephemerides for more details, including selecting from a list of objects and the selection of major planets, natural satellites and selected artificial satellites.

Retrieve NEOFixer ephemerides

Requests an ephemeris for the NEO, comet or NEOCP object named in Object from the NEOFixer service for the date and time entered. The ephemeris interval and the number of dates to generate can be entered. The actual number of dates returned may be more than requested to ensure that there are at least two ephemeris lines before and after the requested time. If [Qualifier] is empty it will be defaulted to 'Nfx'. The requested step size may be day, hour or minute but the step size returned will always be 15 minutes. See NEOFixer considerations for more details.

Paste clipboard into ephemeris lines and add

Used to manually add an ephemeris that has previously been copied to the Windows clipboard. Object and optionally [Qualifier] should be entered before pressing this button. The contents of the clipboard replace the text already contained in the Ephemeris lines area and the ephemeris is added or is replaced in the list of objects already stored. Equivalent to manually clicking into the Ephemeris lines area and pressing Ctrl+A to select all existing text, then Delete to remove existing text, then pressing Ctrl+V to copy the clipboard in, then pressing the or button to add or replace the ephemeris in the list of objects already stored. See Add an ephemeris manually.

Add last ephemeris generated in Find_Orb

Only enabled if the setting for FindOrbPath contains an existing folder name and that folder contains a file named in the FindOrbEphFile setting (normally ephemeri.txt). If Find_Orb has previously been used to generate an ephemeris, the ephemeris lines in the named file will replace any text already contained in the Ephemeris lines area and the ephemeris will be added or replaced in the list of objects already stored. If Object is empty it will be set to the object name found in the Find_Orb ephemeris file. If [Qualifier] is empty it will be defaulted to 'FO'.

Add or Replace

Manually adds or replaces the ephemeris contained in the Ephemeris lines area, identified by Object and [Qualifier] into the list of objects already stored. See Add an ephemeris manually.

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 name to the clipboard (for MPC permanent and provisional designations).

Copy astrometry from MPC to clipboard

For objects where the ephemeris has been downloaded from the MPC (using the Retrieve MPES ephemeris or Retrieve NEOCP ephemeris 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 the text on the clipboard will be "COM Combine all", followed by the retrieved astrometry.

Obs code (MPC 3-character observatory code)

An existing observatory code is required and is upper/lower case sensitive. The current list of observatory codes, maintained by the MPC can be viewed at https://minorplanetcenter.net//iau/lists/ObsCodesF.html and a local copy of the list is stored in the Ephemeris Interpolator. If a code is entered that does not exist in the local copy then the current list of codes will be downloaded and used to replace the local copy (internet connection required).

Ephemeris Format Editor

Starts the Ephemeris Formats Editor to add or replace the specifications for where date, time, RA, Dec, Speed and P.A.° information are extracted from, for ephemerides from a wide range of different sources.

Edit GoogleSky KML template

Opens the GoogleSky KML template text file stored internally in Ephemeris Interpolator using Windows Notepad, or the external text editor configured in the TextEditor setting. See GoogleSky integration for more information.

Settings

Display the Settings window to edit program settings. See Settings for more information.

Help F1

Display this help document (online version is available via link in the About screen). Same as pressing function key F1.

About

Display program version details, contact information and registration. A link connects to the application home page at the Great Shefford Observatory website.

Exit

Exit program.

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