Observation Logbook

C2A integrates a tool to gather and store notes during observation sessions, then to retrieve them easily. This Observation Logbook includes a certain number of fields on which specific filters can be applied in order to quickly find a particular observation made in the past.

The screenshot below shows the tracking drift analysis window. To get information on one of the components of the window, left-click on it:

The only mandatory field in a logbook entry is the start date and time of the session. This can be insereted into the Session Start field in two ways: either by clicking the small '!' button in which case the current date and time is used, or by clicking the small calendar button on the right side of the field. The end of session date is optional. It can be quickly defined by clicking the small 'V' button. Doing so will make the end date equal to the start date + 12 hours (so around a full night of observation).

A click on the Filter button at the bottom of the logbook allows you to enter the filter mode. In this mode, you have the possibility to speicify the values that must take the fields Observer, Location, Target object, Target name, Constellation, Observation type, Mount, Telescope, Camera, Eyepiece and Filters. It is possible to specify a range of dates that the logbook entries to be displayed must satisfy. Once the filter is set, the filter mode can be exited by clicking again on the same button.

Since C2A uses the SQLite database engine to store the logbook data, it is possible to specify the different text fields of the filter using the usual SQL wildcards: % is a substitute for zero or more characters, _ (underscore) is a substitute for exactly one character, [charlist] is any single character in charlist, [^charlist] is any single character not in charlist. For instance, if you specify NGC% in the field Target Object, all the objects for which the refererence name starts with NGC will be displayed in the logbook entry list. For more information about SQL wildcards, see: http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_wildcards.asp.

  

The Def. button lets you edit the default values for the fields when a new entry is created into the logbook. In this mode, it is possible to specify the default values for the fields Observer, Location, Observation Type, Mount, Telescope, Camera, Eyepiece and Filters. These default values save you time when creating an entry where these fields are essentially the same.

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