My night
Advanced levelA complete tool for anyone already familiar with altitude, filters, thresholds and the Moon’s effect.
1 · The session
2 · Equipment
Choose one camera type for the whole session.Filters available tonight
3 · Target basket
0/4 targetsSIMBAD provides the name and coordinates needed to plan this night.
SIMBAD could not resolve this target.
You have reached the maximum of 4 targets per night.
The basket is still empty.
4 · Night order
Provisional calculation for central Catalonia.
Recalculate the plan before downloading
5 · Calculations
Target scoring
The score is calculated in three steps: first the input data are obtained, then the penalties are calculated, and finally the total score is obtained.
1 · Input data
- Target altitude: degrees above the horizon at the slot midpoint.
- Moon altitude: degrees above the horizon at the slot midpoint; it determines whether the Moon is visible.
- Target–Moon separation: the angular distance between them at the slot midpoint, expressed in degrees.
- Moon illuminated fraction: the percentage of the visible lunar surface that is illuminated, calculated at the slot midpoint. The formula converts it to a continuous value between 0 and 1; for example, 65% = 0.65. It is not divided into predefined phases or steps.
- Lunar weight: depends on the filters being used. Blue 34, Luminance 30, Green 24, Red 15, OIII 7, Hα 4 and SII 4. OSC cameras and smart telescopes are treated as colour capture, with weight 30.
- Altitude threshold: the selected value used to decide whether the target is high enough.
2 · Calculated variables
Moon visible = 1 when Moon altitude is ≥ 0°; 0 when it is below the horizonProximity = Moon visible × max(0, (100° − target–Moon separation) / 100°)Lunar penalty = proximity × illuminated fraction × lunar weightThreshold penalty = 120 points when target altitude is below the threshold; 0 otherwise3 · Final score
Final score = target altitude − lunar penalty − threshold penaltyThreshold selected for this plan: °