Wait Dawn, request

In DragScript we have two functions:
Wait Dawn
Wait Astronomical Night

In both of these we can set an offset in time. I think both of these wait until the sun is at a particular angle below the horizon to trigger the event. The time for the sun to reach this angle for a given latitude depends on the time of the year, slower in summer and faster in the winter. Setting an offset based on time is therefore dependent on the time of year.

What I would like to request is either:
a) a new DragScript function: Wait Sun and you specify a distance below the horizon in degrees (e.g. Wait Sun -12, which means the event is triggered when the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon).
b) add the angle to the existing two DragScript functions.

Craig

Hello Craig,

i think solution a … not useful in b that already work fine and the offset is just to have time to run setup ready to go.

Thank you
Leonardo

Solution (a) is actually very useful. Here is how I would use it:

Dragscript start
Wait Sun 0
Open Observatory Roof // this will open the observatory when the sun reaches the horizon

Wait Sun -5 -10 minutes
Start Camera Cooling // this starts the camera cooling 10 minutes before the sun reaches 5 degrees below the horizon

Wait Sun -7.5 -10 minutes
Slew Telescope and do focus and plate solve // this prepares the telescope ten minutes before the sun reaches 7.5 degrees below the horizon

Wait Sun -7.5
Begin photometry run using SR filter

It has been determined that photometry can begin when the sun is 7.5 degrees below the horizon when using the SR photometric filter. It is not necessary to wait to 12 degrees below the horizon (astronomical night?) and lose valuable imaging time.

So having the Wait Sun degrees, time offset is actually very important.

Craig

Just curious, how is dusk defined, and is this not doable by “wait dusk”?

Dusk is when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon…
Astronomical night is when the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.

If we could define these in Voyager setup then using the example above I would set:
Dusk = 0 degrees
Astronomical night = 7.5 degrees

It would be better to have the element Wait Sun, but if not then being able to define Dusk and Astronomical night in Voyager would be next best solution.

Question is … dawn and dusk is fixed like for definition and cannot be changed.
Not all user know deep some things and i dont want to complicate what is really simple.

With WAIT SUN you will able to do what you want.
I think this is the best solution.

All the best
Leonardo

1 Like

Hi Leo,
Agree. If you can add WAIT SUN that would be perfect.

Craig

In WAIT SAFE i added just now the nautical and civil night for who are up to 52° long, i added a new blocks WAIT NAUTICAL NIGHT and WAIT CIVIL NIGHT, and i added nautical night and civil night to EMERGENCY SUSPEND exit for timeout.

I added IF SKIPPED for sequence with constraints trigger
I’m working on WAIT SUN for adding it.

All the best
Leo

2 Likes

You are the man Leo :sunglasses:

Roberto

1 Like