I know this is an INDI forum but since there is so much KStars knowledge here as well and the response time in this forum is very fast, I thought I'd ask my question here anyway. Please let me know if this is inappropriate and I'll never do this again.
Currently the asteroid 3200 Phaethon is passing close by Earth. I'd like to look it up with my telescope and was hoping to use KStars icw Ekos to point my telescope and image it while it moves between the stars. However, when I perform a search for "3200 Phaethon" or "Phaethon" I don't get a result back, not even when I search the internet. Can anyone help me get KStars recognise Phaethon?
I've never tried to find a comet in Kstars instead I use NASA's horizons web interface which is very accurate ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi
Just fill in your figures and you are ready to go
Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I am familiar with horizons as well as Cartes du Ciel and SkyTools. But I’d like to use KStars to point my telescope and image it. Of course I could use the position from horizons but I just wonder why KStars cannot find the asteroid in the first place.
Problem is that KStars by default only download data for comets/asteroids up to absolute magnitude 12. 3200 Phaethon is 14.6, so you can go to KStars Settings --> Solar System, change the magnitude limit to something like 15, then update and search for it again. I wish if there is a better way to deal with this, or maybe a better method of loading up data without hogging the RAM.
@knro Is this something that could be combined with the internet lookup to get the ephemeris for a single desired object from horizons or another such site with an API? It could then be added to the custom list and a menu option to update data for the custom list could be added to just update those items? Was going off your question of saving memory in the system.