How to tell when an object will be highest in the sky?

[Nikodemuzz]

I hope I am not asking too simple a question. 😅

Does Stellarium (or other similar program) tell me when a given object will be highest in a given location? I mean during the year, not tonight.

What I would like to do is to formulate an observing/imaging calendar for my interesting targets. As we all know, this hobby cannot be planned out with the calendar in hand, but hey, it seems I have some time in my hands sitting in the quarantine. 😃

[MarkAR]

I think you should be able to select a target and change the date setting.Go month by month and see where it is in the sky. It'll be a bit random and will take up some of your time.

[Star101]

Best place and easiest place is here

https://telescopius.com/

A great site when looking for things to image. Especially when looking for something different

Tell it your location. You may have to log on. Its easy and free to setup an account. Donations are accepted.

It will show the rising and setting times etc.

[Nikodemuzz]

1 minute ago, MarkAR said:

I think you should be able to select a target and change the date setting.Go month by month and see where it is in the sky. It'll be a bit random and will take up some of your time.

Thanks Mark!

Oof, I was fearing I would have to do it that way... What I would like to achieve is a database of objects and their elevation above horizon on a monthly basis. It will take a few cups of coffee to complete even the Messier objects.

I'm sure there are calculation models for this, but whether they are accessible or usable by a normal person is another thing entirely.

[Nikodemuzz]

5 minutes ago, Star101 said:

Best place and easiest place is here

https://telescopius.com/

A great site when looking for things to image. Especially when looking for something different

Tell it your location. You may have to log on. Its easy and free to setup an account. Donations are accepted.

It will show the rising and setting times etc.

Cheers!

I'll have a look!

[Stu]

40 minutes ago, Nikodemuzz said:

I hope I am not asking too simple a question. 😅

Does Stellarium (or other similar program) tell me when a given object will be highest in a given location? I mean during the year, not tonight.

What I would like to do is to formulate an observing/imaging calendar for my interesting targets. As we all know, this hobby cannot be planned out with the calendar in hand, but hey, it seems I have some time in my hands sitting in the quarantine. 😃

I use an iOS app called Observer Pro, which is excellent for showing when objects are best to view, taking into account position and also the Moon. It does this on a nightly, monthly and annual basis too.

 

[Nikodemuzz]

Now that I think about it, this might not be so hard to calculate after all. Since the coordinates for the objects are readily available, all I need to figure out is how to calculate which RA/DEC coordinates are visible each month based on your coordinates on the globe.

[Nikodemuzz]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

I use an iOS app called Observer Pro, which is excellent for showing when objects are best to view, taking into account position and also the Moon. It does this on a nightly, monthly and annual basis too.

 

Seems interesting, unfortunately wasn't available in the app store for Android.

[JoshHopk]

In Stellarium, there's a 'Graphs' tab under the 'Astronomical Calculations Window', with which you can select different graphs with different info. If you select the object you're interested in it should plot a graph for your location (if you've set it up). Here's an example of M42 over the year.

HTH 😃

[Nikodemuzz]

33 minutes ago, JoshHopk said:

In Stellarium, there's a 'Graphs' tab under the 'Astronomical Calculations Window', with which you can select different graphs with different info. If you select the object you're interested in it should plot a graph for your location (if you've set it up). Here's an example of M42 over the year.

HTH 😃

Here we go! This is what I was looking for, thank you!

Still, if someone can give me some hints on how to calculate such graphs myself, that would be extremely useful!

[Nikodemuzz]

I think I'll start here and see how far I get: http://www.jgiesen.de/elevaz/basics/  😃