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Schedule Observations

There are many reasons why you might want to schedule an observation for a future date. Some of them are below:

  • the object is not visible now
  • you need a series of observations at different times
  • you are planning a GCSE Astronomy observational task and want to set up some observations now rather than come back to them at a different time

 

The Go Observing interface provides a very easy way for you to find out when an object is visible, which can help you decide whether to schedule your observation. This is done with a visibility bar; the colour scale shows the chances of observing your object over a month.

You can see an example of this below.

A screenshot showing a table. Left column titled "Objects", middle is titled "Classification" with each object stated to be a type of galaxy, and right column displays a timeline from Oct 2024 to Nov 2024 with horizontal rectangles in shades of blue and black in the rows below. A rectangle in the bottom right indicates what the colours mean: black is a poor chance of observing, up to white which is excellent. There are 2 links above the table reading "Need help?" and "Another date?".
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved

 

If the chances of observing your object are low, you can check within another timeframe. By clicking on the link that says "ANOTHER DATE?", we come to a screen that allows us to set the date we would like the observation to be taken from, which can be any (reasonable) time in the future.

A screenshot that reads "When do you want to observe?" with options below to change the number of the month, the month, and the year. It is displaying "9 October 2024". Below is another question reading "How long after that do you want to consider?" with options "A day", "A week", "A month", "3 months", and "A year".
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved

 

When we click on Continue, we will be taken back to the previous screen, but now the bars will be shown using the new date that was set.

A screenshot showing a table. Left column titled "Objects", middle is titled "Classification" with each object stated to be a type of galaxy, and right column displays a timeline from Nov 2024 to Dec 2024 with horizontal rectangles in shades of blue and black in the rows below. A rectangle in the bottom right indicates what the colours mean: black is a poor chance of observing, up to white which is excellent. There are 2 links above the table reading "Need help?" and "Another date?".
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved

 

We can now select one of the galaxies, and attempts to complete your observation will start on the specified date. But don't worry if this doesn't happen on the first day! Attempts will continue for the amount of time you've chosen (e.g. a week, a month, a year).