Tab-Delimited Format

The tab-delimited list is the simplest of the target formats accepted by the AcquireImages.js script. You can create tab-delimited text using Notepad, Word, Works, Excel, and many other tools. The two most common tools are Notepad and Excel. In any case, the format of a target line is:

name<tab>right-ascension<tab>declination

The RA and Dec must be in standard J2000 coordinates. We'll precess them to the current epoch and translate to local topocentric for you.

The right ascension and declination may be supplied in a variety of formats, we're very liberal in what we accept. Here are some examples:

Right Ascension Declination

11.32956346 -23.347843

13 24 18.25 63 11 43.2

2h23.2394m 13d51.836m

04:01:33 +42:56:12

Right Ascension	Declination
11.32956346	-23.347843
13 24 18.25	63 11 43.2
2h23.2394m	13d51.836m
04:01:33	+42:56:12

Basically, the strings are chopped up into numeric parts (from 1 to 3) and combined sexagesimally. Any and all parts may have decimal digits. Right Ascension and Declination may have different formats as well.

Back