Observation workflows in KStars -- looking for feedback and ideas

[Akarsh Simha]

Am Sa., 31. Okt. 2020 um 05:30 Uhr schrieb Jasem Mutlaq <
mutlaqja at ikarustech.com>:

> Hello Akarsh,
>

Hi Jasem

I agree that the observing wizard is due for a revamp! The GUI itself could
> reuse some design as well. With one object occupying a single row that
> includes all information, including a view for Alt vs Time for EACh object
> (so you can compare a few against each other). Furthermore, I think it
> should also cater now to astrophotography use. For this to work, I have a
> couple of ideas:
>

I agree that the ability to compare a few objects against each other is
cool, but I think having the Alt vs Time in the row will make the rows too
big, to the point where you will only be able to display 5--6 objects in a
smaller screen. This is not ideal if you want to search for an object by
just scanning the list. Instead, I propose that you can select multiple
objects, and just like in the actual Alt vs Time tool, the Alt vs Time
widget that's in the observation planner should plot multiple traces, one
for each object that was selected -- does this serve the purpose instead?
I'm a bit surprised we don't already do this...


> 1. Filter by Band: Broadband vs Narrow band targets.
>

This would be extremely useful! But this is somewhat challenging because we
don't have a field in KStars that describes whether something is a
narrow-band target or not. We could make some guesses by catalog (eg: Sh2,
Abell PN), but it's hard because I think we only have one designation in
KStars ("Diffuse Nebula") for both emission and reflection nebulae. Any
ideas on how to make this happen?


> 2. Filter by size: Show objects that fit within say 60% to 120% of the
> FOV. So they're not too small or too big to image. Of course, this is only
> applicable to extended objects with known angular resolutions.
>

This is totally doable.


>
> Also, I think instead of having to use the wizard page-by-page to produce
> this, these should always be accessible to filter from. So no more wizard,
> but controls to filter ALL the objects. Since we're limited by memory, we
> only show the first 100 or so applicable objects by default, and perhaps
> this can be increased. So we can have these filters:
>

I agree. I think this is a major itch to scratch! The step-by-step wizard
is a bit too "elaborate" and yet inflexible. I would add the ability to
search all objects in KStars (including CatalogComponent), as well as apply
the filters only on the existing Wish List (while adding to the Session
Plan). This way, for those of us who have targeted wish lists that are
getting "too large to manage", we can still filter from the wishlist to
plan a given night easily.

Also, showing 100 objects "live" might be hard because we'll need to filter
a very large database repeatedly. So I think we can use a mechanism similar
to the present "Update Count" button, with an "Update List" button that can
take 1--2 seconds to process the entire database (since we cannot possibly
have an index on every field). The other solution is to have an QTimer to
update it whenever the user has not changed the filters for a while. This
feature is very easy to bring on top of the wish list, but it's very hard
to bring for the entire database, especially if we are going to lazy-load
things like PGC galaxies at a later stage (Valentin's merge request).

So for this project, I think we should "leave out" the ability to filter
the entire database including custom catalogs, but we can readily provide
the ability to filter the wishlist as well as the NGC/IC catalogs. I think
we should merge Valentin's work before we can do any filter on the entire
database.


> 1. Type: Stars, Planets, Nebulae..etc
> 2. Band: RGB, Narrowband..etc
> 3. Size: arcmins steps? maybe have option for "camera FOV" as well which
> is auto-calculated from INDI.
> 4. Region (Constellation or NSWE)
> 5. Magnitude
> 6. Altitude
> 7. ???
>

On the FOV subject, we could also allow calculation from FOV symbols (and
for the FOV symbols, we have the ability to use various calculations while
defining them).

If I can add a few more here:
1. Regex on the name (so someone can search a specific catalog from the
long name etc.)
2. Does the object transit meridian during the dark part of the night? This
is immensely useful as is for visual observers, but it becomes very useful
for imagers also if we add one more control -- how many hours before /
after meridian is available without twilight/moon. This logic will be hard
to code, since we should calculate interference from moon and astronomical
twilight, but I think it will be extremely useful and therefore worth it.
3. Has a "Note" associated with it in the "Log" field (less important)

This is everything I can think of.


> --
> Best Regards,
> Jasem Mutlaq
>
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 4:43 AM Akarsh Simha <akarshsimha at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm just trying to get a sense of how people use the Observation Planner.
>> A long time ago, the "Observation Planner" was called "Observing List" and
>> just carried:
>> (a) A list of objects
>> (b) Ability to add notes / observation logs
>> can't remember what else -- there may have been Alt vs Time
>>
>> But anyway, in 2009, Prakash Mohan and I worked together as part of GSoC
>> to add the DSS image download feature, and the bifurcation between a
>> "Session Plan" and a "Wishlist". Back then, my idea was as follows:
>> 1. Whenever you come across an object that interests you, add it to your
>> Wish List
>> 2. Before you go out observing, plan out your observing session by
>> importing the objects you wish to see from your wish list into your
>> "session plan". KStars automatically assigns the upper meridian transit
>> time on the night of observation (I suspect this is currently broken) as
>> the observing time for each object.
>> 3. Before you go out to a dark place, while you still have fast internet
>> access, download any reference images you need from the DSS
>> 4. On the observing field, sort the observing session plan by observation
>> time. A special sorting filter sorts it from evening to morning.
>> 5. Work through your objects in order.
>> I have a tendency to pack my night with as many objects as I can possibly
>> observe, and I imagined that the above workflow would maximize my
>> efficiency.
>>
>> After trying this out on the field a few times, though, I found it very
>> sub-par for visual observing. The reason is, it is difficult to estimate
>> correctly how long it takes to observe an object. And the above is not
>> robust to, let's say, losing half an hour due to dinner. Moreover, for
>> those of us who observe with Dobsonians, sometimes meridian transit is a
>> very inconvenient time to observe an object because of the singular motion
>> of azimuth around the zenith ("Dobson's Hole" / "the Dob hole").
>>
>> So I later came up with the following workflow that only involves the
>> "Wish List":
>> 1. Whenever you come across an object that interests you, add it to your
>> Wish List.
>> 2. Before you go out to a dark place, while you still have fast internet
>> access, download any reference images you need from the DSS
>> 3. On the observing field, sort the _wish list_ by % of max. altitude
>> achieved at current time, while demoting the objects that are in the hole.
>> 4. At any given time, pick your favorites amongst the top 5 or 10 objects
>> in the sorted list and observe it.
>>
>> I have found the above wishlist-based workflow exceptional for visual
>> observing. So much so that I am tempted to deprecate the session plan
>> workflow, but I do think:
>> (a) The session plan workflow is much better suited for imaging /
>> scientific observations
>> (b) There might still be people out there using the session plan workflow
>> so I do think we should still retain it.
>>
>> Now, finally, I have a few more itches to scratch with the wishlist
>> workflow:
>> 1. Wish list grows to unmanageable sizes very quickly.
>> 2. There is no easy way of removing/demoting objects that you have
>> already observed.
>> 3. Plus, unlike with the session plan, there's no scope for targeted
>> observing projects -- just one massive wishlist.
>>
>> I'm looking for other people's "itches" with these workflows, and trying
>> to understand how others use the Observation Planner, if at all. I remember
>> Jasem telling me it's also integrated somehow with the Ekos sequencer, so
>> I'm curious to know how that works. Finally, I'm proposing the following
>> changes:
>>
>> 1. Let the Wish List remain a massive "Wish List"
>> 2. Move/replicate the "% of max. altitude" workflow into the session plan
>> instead.
>> 3. Provide flexible ways of selecting and adding objects from the Wish
>> List into the session plan (eg: only objects in a certain constellation,
>> only objects in a certain catalog, only objects matching a certain regex,
>> only objects that will attain culmination tonight, only objects which are
>> above a certain magnitude...)
>> 4. Preserve the old workflow of "assigned times" for objects, and fix any
>> bugs in it
>> 5. Provide an "Observed" checkbox that will demote the object in the "%
>> of max. altitude" workflow, if checked.
>> 6. Provide a way of removing objects that have already been observed from
>> the session plan / wishlist
>>
>> I believe these features will create a much smoother observation
>> experience for anyone interested in using the Observation Planner for
>> observing. Now, I don't have enough context on imagers' requirements, but
>> if there are any allied requirements, I would be happy to incorporate them
>> into a project.
>>
>> The plan for this project is either I will slowly do it over my weekends
>> and evenings, or work with a GSoC / SoK student to achieve these goals.
>> Anyone else interested is also welcome.
>>
>> Regards
>> Akarsh
>>
>>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kstars-devel/attachments/20201031/ed24f3bd/attachment-0001.htm>