Sample Observing Plans

The samples shown on this page use either the simple tab-delimited format or MPC orbital elements. Directive usage is the same regardless of the target line format. For details on plan formats and directives see About Observing Plans.

Use AcquireImages.js to run these plans. It does auto-guiding, plate solving, auto-focusing, sky-flats, rotation, dithering, and pointing updates automatically. You can be assured that your targets will be centered and tracked (if you have an auto-guider and/or offset-tracking-capable mount).

Three Messier objects

The M-objects are known in the ACP database, so coordinates are not needed. The database requires the catalog name, a space, then the number. Thus "M5" will not work, it must be "M 5".

#INTERVAL 300                           ; 300 second exposures
M 5
M 60
M 104

You can specify the coordinates yourself in a sexagesimal or decimal format, in which case the name is not important; it's used only to name the image files. The name-RA-Dec fields on each line are separated by tabs.

#INTERVAL 300                           ; 300 second exposures
M 5     15:18:35        2:04:50         ; TAB between name, RA, Dec!
M 60    12:43:37        11:33:35
M 104   12:39:59        -11:36:50

Multiple Images for Stacking

#INTERVAL 60                            ; 60 second exposures
#REPEAT 5
M 5
#REPEAT 5
M 60
#REPEAT 5
M 104

You could replace #REPEAT 5 with #STACKALIGN 5, and ACP will automatically align and stack the images for you. You should have autocalibration turned on if you're going to stack! Images should be calibrated before stacking!

Two LRGB With Multiple Images in Each Color, plus
Dusk and Dawn Sky-Flats, Dawn Cal Frames, and Shutdown

This plan takes multiple images of two targets in LRGB. Consider using ACP Planner if you do this sort of imaging. The plan must be started before dusk, as it waits for the correct twilight conditions, then acquires dusk sky-flats per the default flat plan. After sky-flat acquisition, it waits until the first target (M5) is high enough and it is dark enough (0300 UTC) then starts acquiring LRGB images. After doing the M5 series, it again waits, this time until the second target (M60) is high enough. It then does the LRGB series for M60, which must complete before dawn. After the M60 series, it waits for the correct twilight conditions then acquires dawn sky flats. After completing dawn flats, it comes back to this plan, at which time it closes the dome and disconnects the weather. The latter is to prevent unsafe weather from interrupting the next images which are cal frames (not needing sky, and done with the dome closed). The #SHUTDOWN directive causes the observatory to be shut down.

The #WAITUNTIL that follows #DUSKFLATS is vital! Without it, images for the first target will start immediately after doing the sky flats. ACP Planner will handle this for you.

#DUSKFLATS                              ; Use default flat plan
#WAITUNTIL 1, 03:00                     ; Start observing at 0300 UTC
; == M5 ==
#COUNT 10,15,10,20
#INTERVAL 180,240,180,240
#BINNING 2,1,2,2
#FILTER Red,Clear,Green,Blue
M 5
#WAITUNTIL 1, 07:30                     ; Wait till 0730 UTC
; == M60 ==
#COUNT 15,20,15,30                      ; #INTERVAL, #BINNING, and #FILTER carry over
M 60
#DAWNFLATS                              ; Use default flat plan
; == DAWN CAL ==
#DOMECLOSE                              ; Close the dome/roof/clamshell
#NOWEATHER                              ; Disconnect weather to avoid safety interrupts
#COUNT 5,5,5,5
#DARK                                   ; Take needed darks at interval/binning from above
#COUNT 1,1,1,1
#BINNING 1,1,2,2                        ; (stay with 4 groups for simplicity)
#BIAS                                   ; Finally, a couple of bias frames each at bin-1 and bin-2
#SHUTDOWN                               ; Shut observatory down after dawn flats

LRGB Mosaic Created in TheSky (see the mosaic-to-plan script info)

This plan was generated by Sky6ToMosaic.vbs after creating the mosaic in TheSky 6. After that, the rest of the directives were added in Notepad. The position angle was set in TheSky, and this plan is for a system with a rotator. The delimiters are tabs, and the coordinates are in decimal hours and degrees (also understood by ACP!).

;4 x 4 mosaic, 10% overlap, 32' x 24' FOV, PA = 317
#POSANG 317
#COUNT 3,5,3,4
#INTERVAL 180,240,180,240
#BINNING 2,1,2,2
#FILTER Red,Clear,Green,Blue
Mosaic_0        23.80527928     33.30642958
Mosaic_1        23.83328466	    33.64101535
Mosaic_2        23.86150491	    33.974186
Mosaic_3        23.88994558	    34.30593622
Mosaic_4        23.82525857	    33.04405835
Mosaic_5        23.85325606	    33.37763554
Mosaic_6        23.88146697	    33.70978531
Mosaic_7        23.90989677	    34.04050231
Mosaic_8        23.84511695	    32.7809601
Mosaic_9        23.87310573	    33.11353915
Mosaic_10       23.90130649     33.44467857
Mosaic_11       23.92972462	    33.77437302
Mosaic_12       23.8648568	    32.51713577
Mosaic_13       23.89283609	    32.84872705
Mosaic_14       23.92102591	    33.17886661
Mosaic_15       23.94943161	    33.5075491

Asteroid Follow Up

This plan takes 3 images each of 3 asteroids. The second and third sets are started 20 minutes after the previous set, to allow enough motion for astrometric detection and velocity measurement. The first set starts at 0500 UTC. These are MPC 1-line orbital elements, which cause AcquireImages.js to calculate the current ephemeris position at the moment of the exposure, and do orbital tracking (if the mount supports track offsets):

#INTERVAL 120                           ; 120 second exposures of each
#SETS 3                                 ; Do the list 3 times
#WAITUNTIL 1, 05:00                     ; First set starts at 0500UTC
#WAITUNTIL 2, 05:20                     ; Second set starts 20 min later
#WAITUNTIL 3, 05:40                     ; Last set starts 20 min after that
#TRACKON                                ; Enable orbital tracking
; 2000 PA25
K00P25A 15.5   0.15 K036A 337.50234  283.24068  339.86567    3.43740  0.2305188  0.27820801   2.3239296  1 E2003-J01    94   6 1993-2003 0.65 M-v 38h MPC        0000         2000 PA25
; 1995 WV23
J95W23V 17.1   0.15 K036A 165.12004    9.78753   34.45956   11.33706  0.2644021  0.18900102   3.0071837  5 MPO  9042    13   2 1995-2000 0.44 M-v 38h Williams   0000         1995 WV23
; (23257) Denny
23257   14.9   0.15 K036A 256.40478  112.69375  307.31015    5.71767  0.1100523  0.24371604   2.5383216  2 MPO 10256    59   4 1993-2002 0.51 M-v 38h Williams   0000         (23257) Denny

This can be simplified if you have installed and built the fast-lookup database based on MPCORB.DAT, the Minor Planet Center's orbital elements database. Look at the readme.txt file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\ASCOM\MPCORB for instructions.

#INTERVAL 120                           ; 120 second exposures of each
#SETS 3                                 ; 3 images of each
#WAITUNTIL 1, 05:00                     ; First set starts at 0500UTC
#WAITUNTIL 2, 05:20                     ; Second set starts 20 min later
#WAITUNTIL 3, 05:40                     ; Last set starts 20 min after that
#TRACKON                                ; Enable orbital tracking
MP 2000 PA25
MP 1995 WV23
Denny

V-B-R Photometric Sequence With
Dusk and Dawn Sky-Flats and Shutdown

This plan acquires 5 sets, each consisting of a sequence of 10 images each of the target star in three color bands (filters) and 20 images of fainter nearby reference star, waiting for each to rise above 2.0 airmass. This will take a total of 450 images (= 5 x (10 + 10 + 10 + 20 + 20 + 20)). The reference star was selected from The LONEOS/TASS reference list maintained by Brian Skiff at LONEOS. The #WAITAIRMASS is required to prevent image acquisition from starting immediately after acquiring dusk flats.

#DUSKFLATS
#SETS 5                                 ; Do whole thing 5 times
; == Target Star ==
#WAITAIRMASS    2.0, 60                 ; Assure below 2 airmass
#FILTER V,B,R
#COUNT 10,10,10
#INTERVAL 2,5,3
#BINNING 1,1,1
TYC-1451-2807-1 17.33833333     18.056944
; == Reference Star (fainter) ==
#WAITAIRMASS    2.0, 60                 ; Assure below 2 airmass
#FILTER V,B,R
#REPEAT 20,20,20
#INTERVAL 5,20,15
P448-D  17.63022        18.5511
; == Dawn Flats, then shut down
#DAWNFLATS
#SHUTDOWN                               ; Shutdown after dawn flats

Note that if you are using a German Equatorial mount, you don't need to worry about meridian flipping. ACP will manage that operation if needed during the long sequences, reorienting the images taken looking west so they can be automatically stacked if you wish (using #STACKALIGN).