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How to work with variable stars in Ekos

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Hi!

I've recently begun working seriously with variable stars, and I wonder if there is a better way to do this in Ekos. Today, I use Cartes du Ciel to locate the stars, since there is a good catalog of variable stars, and slew to it. After that, I can use an image to set up the scheduler to autmatically slew to that star again (although a bit laborious).

Is there a smarter way to do this? What I want is to set up a scheduler sequence to take pictures of 10-15 variables, at times of my choosing, and preferably while I am sleeping (otherwise I can do it manually). So - any advice on this?

Magnus
The following user(s) said Thank You: Craig
4 years 3 months ago #46483

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I don’t have an answer to this, but I use Telescopius for building mosaic’s and there doesn’t seem to be an easy to get the data it produces into the EKOS scheduler either. It outputs in CSV. For your use case it’d be cool to go to “aavso” or somewhere and get lists of variables in CSV and have a way to load them into the scheduler.
4 years 3 months ago #46617

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Magnus,

Did this request ever get satisfied? I've created a CSV that I loaded into KStars with the latest from GCVS. I probably can't share the database which is likely a violation of copyright. I can tell you how to do it.

CS,
Bob
2 years 5 months ago #76585

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Hi!

Since I asked, there has been the development of a way to search for objects on the internet, both in Kstars and in the Scheduler. So now I just type in the name (or copy-paste) and if it is in GSVC, it will be found. Not so far ASASSN-variables, CSS and the like - still needs typing in coordinates (as far as I know). 

But: it would be good to hear how you import that CSV-file. I produce csv-files as export from VXS, would be handy to just import them, for variables less easy to find the other way. 

Magnus
2 years 5 months ago #76586

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Loading the CSV file is easy. Converting the gcvs.txt file to a CSV format is the "hard" part.

Here's a bug that I found yesterday. I submitted it to KDE and of course Jasem is the current KStars lead. If you load a CSV file using the standard method, and you have a star name like R And, when you go to the Pointing -> Find Object menu, it will not be found. The menu will find RR And, but not S Ant, or any single letter prefix. Go back to where you loaded the file in the Setup page, and the star will be there. The work around is to change all the single letter stars to something like R* And which will be found in the pointing menu.

CS,
Bob
2 years 5 months ago #76587

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Hi again!

How do you upload a cvs-file of stars to Kstars? I just can't find that. 

Magnus
2 years 5 months ago #76784

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#1. It may depend on which version of KStars you are using. I've loaded kstars-bleeding on Ubuntu. I'm trying to recall if I ever encountered the CSV dialogue in the normal KStars -- just can't remember.

#2. Even if you are running the bleeding edge KStars, they don't make the CSV-load capability very evident. You can get to the CSV load in one of two ways:
Settings -> Catalogs -> Manage Deep Sky Catalogs or
Data -> Manage DSO Catalogs.

Both get you to the same spot. Although they call this Deep Sky, you can load anything you want: stars, galaxies, your favorite recipes -- doesn't matter.

From there, click on Create Catalog. A metadata box will appear. Fill in whatever you like; you can also just hit OK and the process continues.
A new catalog will now appear in the catalog list. Click on the catalog you just created.
Along the right side, buttons will come to life. Click on the very bottom one labeled More.

Now you've finally arrived at the promised land. At the bottom left there will be a button labeled Import CSV.

When you click Import CSV, a new dialog box will appear. The button labeled Select/Read allows you to choose which file to import. Note that the RA and Dec have to be in decimal degrees or the RA can be decimal hours.

Once you've selected the file to import, the Mapping buttons will illuminate. Use these buttons to tell KStars which field is Name, RA, Dec, etc.

When you're finished, you will return to the catalog list. Don't forget to Enable the catalog you just created. Click on the catalog name and hit the Enable button.

Hope this helps.

CS,
Bob
2 years 5 months ago #76786

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