Understanding the Target¶
Target List¶
The Target List shows all targets for the current sequence (it will scroll when you have more than 5 unless you enter the expanded view).
Each target is presented in its own row. The checkbox at the far left indicates whether a target is active and, as such, if it will be considered when a sequence is running. Note that a target can have an active status, but still have no target events that are active. Conversely, a target event can be active, but will not be considered if the target is inactive.
"Left-most" Icon Key¶
This icon is located to the right of the checkbox and indicates the current state of the target: The target is not currently running, but has uncompleted work. The target is currently running. The target is complete.Pause Icon
Play Icon
Check Icon
Target Status Icons¶
Sequencing Status¶
From left to right, these icons will tell you at-a-glance if... Slew on start is active (see below). Center on start is active (see below). Rotation will occur at target start. The target has an active end time at the time indicated.Telescope Icon (slew)
Target Reticle Icon (centering)
Rotation Icon
Clock Icon (end time)
Note
If more detail about a target is required, open target options or hover the mouse to present a target tooltip.
Target Calculations are Queued¶
Certain configurations of targets can result in a condition where SGPro needs to perform a series of time intensive calculations in order to proceed. In these cases, a target that is awaiting its turn to make these calculations, you will see a dot icon preceding the target name:
Note
Nothing to worry about if the waiting dot is present, it only means that properties like start and end time may not be accurate yet.
Target Calculations Failed¶
With respect to the calculations above, many of them are performed in the background. As such, the success or failure of these calculations is not known when the sequence loads. If you see a dot icon indicating the target is awaiting calculations and then that dot turns red in color, it indicates that SGPro was unable to complete certain calculations that will affect the way in which the sequence runs. These specific issues will be presented upon attempting to run the sequence (or the log file):
Target Tooltip¶
The target tooltip is designed to give you rapid access to most of a target's settings without needing to actually open the settings dialog. This can be convenient especially if you just want to check or verify target state prior to starting the sequence. To open a target tooltip, simply hover over the target.
Tip
Want to disable the Target Tooltip? You can do so in the General Options dialog.
Action Buttons¶
Adding a New Target (+)
To add a new target simply click the + button and a new target will appear.
Deleting a Target (X)
To delete a target, click on a target, then click the X button.
Drag to Reorder Targets (up/down arrow icon)
Places the Target List into a "drag to reorder" mode. Use the mouse to find the gripper icon and drag the targets into the desired order. Click this button again to exit "drag to reorder" mode. When dragging a target, an "insert line" will appear when the dragged target is above a "droppable" area. In addition to the appearance of the "insert line" you'll also see text fields above and below that indicate what the new ordering's adjacent targets will be (if you dropped the target at the current position).
Moving a Target (arrow icons)
To Move a target, first select it and then click the up or down arrow.
Current Target (clock icon)
Click the clock icon to select the target the sequence is currently running.
Sequence Settings
A shortcut button to open the Sequence Options Tab in the Control Panel.
The Number of Targets Displayed¶
Or rather... the number of targets displayed without scrolling the target list can be altered. This is useful for sequences with large numbers of targets as it will limit the amount of scrolling needed to find particular targets. In the sequencing window, you will see a small button in the lower left side of the window. Clicking it will toggle a view where the target list is in its default location (as pictured above) or where the target list is rendered along the entirety of the left side.
Left: When the extended target view is toggled off
Right: When the extended target view is toggled on
Note
The target view setting is unique to a sequence. This means that a sequence with only a few targets can be saved such that it opens with the shorter, default target list view and a sequence with many targets can be saved such that, whenever it is opened, will automatically open the extended target list view.
Target Context Menu¶
There are several actions that can be performed on targets by right clicking on them in the Target List view.
Checks (selects) all targets in the list. This marks all targets in the list as active. Unchecks (deselects) all targets in the list. This marks all targets in the list as inactive and none will run during the sequence.
Select All Targets
Deselect All Targets
Move to Top / Bottom
These actions will move the selected target to either the top or bottom of the Target List.
Move Up / Down
These actions are identical to the arrow buttons (Moving a Target) described above (they alter the target order).
Toggle Reorder Targets Mode
Enables and disables a drag and drop to reorder mode for the target list. When enabled, this mode will show a gripper icon that can be used to drag and drop the target into a new location. See Changing Target Order below.
Toggle Reorder Events Mode
Enables and disables a drag and drop to reorder mode for the event list. When enabled, this mode will show a gripper icon that can be used to drag and drop the event into a new location. See Changing Event Order for more information about moving events.
Duplicate Target
Create another target with settings and events identical to the selected target.
Delete Target
This action is identical to the X button (Deleting a target) described above.
Reset Progress
This will reset the progress of all events in the target and mark the target as incomplete (if it was previously complete).
Clear Completed Status
When a target stops (for any reason) and moves onto the next target, it is considered "done". If you want to add more events to a "done" target and then make it eligible for execution again, you will need to clear its "done" status. This option will be disabled if the current target is not current in a "completed" state.
See
See sequencing for more information.
Tip
You can clear the "completed" state for all targets by resetting the sequence.
Set as Current Target
Choosing this option will set the selected target as the current target. This means that when the sequence starts or resumes it will start with this target. The current target is "sticky" and persists between session. You can clear the selected target by resetting the sequence.
Center on Target
This will perform a precision centering the selected target's location.
Note
This option is technically a parent menu that, when clicked, will show options for all of the Plate Solvers you currently have configured for use. The top one is always the Chain Solver which will use all of your Plate Solvers, in order, until the current image is solved. If you don't want that for some reason (e.g. testing a specific solver, etc) then you can specify the single Plate Solver to use.
See
For more information on centering, click here.
Slew to Target
This will perform a low precision, standard telescope slew to the position defined in the location section.
Rotate camera
This will rotate the camera to the angle specified in the On start, rotate to field.
Note
This option is technically a parent menu that, when clicked, will show options for all of the Plate Solvers you currently have configured for use. The top one is always the Chain Solver which will use all of your Plate Solvers, in order, until the current image is solved. If you don't want that for some reason (e.g. testing a specific solver, etc) then you can specify the single Plate Solver to use.
See
For more information on camera rotation, click here.
Center Target & Rotate Camera
This will simultaneously perform these two operations.
Note
This option is technically a parent menu that, when clicked, will show options for all of the Plate Solvers you currently have configured for use. The top one is always the Chain Solver which will use all of your Plate Solvers, in order, until the current image is solved. If you don't want that for some reason (e.g. testing a specific solver, etc) then you can specify the single Plate Solver to use.
See
For more information on centering and camera rotation, click here.
Copy Target Settings and Events to..
This will allow you to copy a target's settings and all of its events to another target. For more information on copying targets to other targets see here.
Copy Target Events to..
This will allow you to copy all of the events from this target to many other targets while allowing the destination target to retain its own settings. This is very useful in situations where many targets have the same general composition of events, like when creating a mosaic. For more information on copying targets to other targets see here.
Copy Target Settings to..
This will allow you to copy a target's settings to another target while allowing the destination target to retain its events. For more information on copying targets to other targets see here.
Copy Events from..
This will allow you to copy all of the events from another target to this target.
Target Settings
Opens the target's setting dialog. See below.
Changing Target Order¶
Targets are captured in the order they are displayed. In order to change the order of existing targets you have several options:
Target List Action Buttons
Use the up / down icon buttons located below the target list. Select the target to move and then click one of the arrow buttons. This will cause the target to move up or down a single position in the list.
Target Context Menu
Right-click on the target to move and select from one of the target reordering options (Move to Top, Move to Bottom, Move Up, Move Down). The Move Up and Move Down options function identically to the arrow icon buttons while Move to Top / Bottom will move the target to the top or bottom of the list causing other targets to shift in place.
Drag and Drop
You can also use a drag and drop mode to reorder targets. To do this you first need to enter a drag and drop "mode" that exposes the target's gripper icon. To enable the drag and drop mode, either click the 
button below the target list or choose Toggle Reorder Targets Mode from the context menu.
Once this mode is enabled, simply grab the target's gripper icon and drop it elsewhere in the list. When dragging a target, an "insert line" will appear when the dragged target is above a "droppable" area. In addition to the appearance of the "insert line" you'll also see text fields above and below that indicate what the new ordering's adjacent targets will be (if you dropped the target at the current position).
Target Settings¶
Settings can be accessed by clicking the gear icon or by right clicking a target and then clicking Target Settings or double clicking the target. Note that the gear icon does not appear until you mouse over the targets list.
Each target has settings that will alter the behavior of the sequence. In addition, you will find several manual actions here (like slewing and centering).
Is the Target Settings Icon missing?
To conserve space in the Target List, the gear icon only appears when you hover over the target with the mouse.
Target Name¶
This is the name of the target and is what will be displayed in the Target List. This is also the name that will be used when %tn is defined as part of the target name. Note that, within a sequence, target names must be unique.
Tip
Click the name with the mouse and the field will become editable.
Target Location¶
This is the exact location of the target's center. It is required if any of the centering options below are used. Tip These fields are "free text" and will accept quite a large variety of formats (e.g. Click this to auto populate the location fields with data from Astrobin, Telescopius or Flickr. Simply copy and paste the URL from the image provider site into the This will perform a low precision, standard telescope slew to the position defined in the location section. This will perform a precision centering of the telescope on the target's location. See For more information on centering, click here. If this option is checked, the sequence will automatically attempt to center the image on the defined location and will accomplish this by first executing an imprecise slew action followed by precision Auto Centering. In order to use this feature, you must have a plate solver and telescope connected. If you are guiding with PHD2, the sequence will attempt to stop and restart guiding automatically (on the new target). See For more information on auto centering, click here. It is possible to simply slew to the target's location without going through a centering routine. Due to imprecise polar alignment, bad modeling data or mechanical imprecision, this will likely not get you pointing to where you want to be at for imaging. Using this can very easily yield a series of frames unsuitable for stacking. This option will direct SGPro to fully ignore the target's defined location and perform no location-based centering at time of target start. NOTE: While this option will effectively disable Auto Centering for purposes of pointing, it has no bearing on camera rotation settings (below). Even if Auto Centering is disabled for location, the Auto Centering routine will still run if automated camera rotation is requested (below).
RA and DEC fields
20h58m54s +43°51'46 or 20:58:54 -43:51:46 or even decimal forms like 20.92). You can also paste text containing both RA and DEC into the RA field and it will properly populate both fields (most of the time... currently copying and pasting target data from Cartes du Ciel and Stellarium are known to be working, just copy the buffer into the RA field and SGPro will try to sort it out for you).Populate from web link
Image URL field and click Check. If the import is successful, it will automatically update the Location fields for this target.Slew Now
Center Now
SLEW to and then CENTER on location
SLEW to location
Do not move to location
Camera Rotation¶
This option will force the sequence to alter the angle of the camera prior to starting the target. The dropdown menu immediately to the right of the angle field defines the permissiveness of the target's angle requirement. The angle field can describe of one of 2 different properties. In the last drop down menu in the section, you can select either: Note Note that "Sky / Target" degrees in SGPro are standardized on east of north / counter-clockwise of north (a.k.a equatorial angle). Because angle can be given from any relative orientation in other apps, we recommend that you use angles only from plate solves conducted in SGPro. See More information on camera rotation can be found here.
Rotate camera to... (Automatic camera rotation)
+/- 180 degrees (default): This means that if you enter 15 degrees for the target, either 15 or 195 degrees is OK. Switching sides of the meridian will also experience no change in camera rotation. This is just fine for most folks as processing software will take care of the stacking and, even better, you will only need one set of flats.Always: This means that the sequence will keep the camera angle at the angle you entered no matter what. So, if you flip, the camera will actually rotate 180 degrees to maintain that exact angle. This can be useful to keep the same guide star (OAG) in the CCD's FoV, but will require 2 sets of flats.Sky: Indicates that the angle describes rotation with respect to the target. When this option is selected, the angle field is not to be interpreted as the actual positional angle of the rotator.Mechanical: Indicates that the angle describes rotation with respect to the rotator. The angle field is not to be interpreted as the target angle. Note that a mechanical rotation does not support +/- 180 degrees and will always move to the specified position.
Time and Altitude Constraints¶
A target's start and end times can be constrained by either the time of day or by its altitude (a user profile must be assigned to the sequence in order to reference a target's altitude). The check box to the left will indicate if a target should use start and end times or altitudes. A start or end time will need to identify either time or altitude as the locked value. That is to say: as time carries on, the locked parameter will remain constant and the other will vary in order to sync with the locked value. If an end time is "time locked" (default), the altitude will vary day to day. Conversely, if the altitude is locked, then the time at which the target is at the specified altitude will vary day to day. The When this option is checked, the target will not commence capture until the time / altitude constraint is met. This means that the sequence may sit idle for a bit (mount will still track). No date is required for the start time. This means that you are not required to update the date when using the sequence over multiple nights. This also means that SGPro must infer a date based on the time you entered. The inference system is fairly simple... sequences run in what is referred to as a Sequence Day... a period of When this option is checked, the sequence will quit capturing frames for this target at the specified time (regardless of work remaining). At this point the next target in the sequence will run. No date is required for the end time. This means that you are not required to update the date when using the sequence over multiple nights. This also means that SGPro must infer a date based on the time you entered. The inference system is fairly simple... sequences run in what is referred to as a Sequence Day... a period of Examples: Example For a target that ends at Example For a target with an end time at Example For a target with an end time at Both locked parameter is outlined and shaded in orange and the other unlocked property in gray. For every target, it is possible to enter an altitude that, for your geographical position, the target will never attain. In this case, the linked chain icon between altitude and times will appear as broken. In this state, only the time will be considered.Start at times
24 hours that spans from 10:00 to 10:00. The dates attached to those times will either be yesterday and today or today and tomorrow. This decision is made based on when you click the Run Sequence button. The start time also has a helpful indicator after that time that will read either yesterday, today or tomorrow. This is to be interpreted as: The target start time will be at 07:24 today if you click the Run Sequence button right now. See the end sequence docs below for a couple examples of how time works within the bounds of a Sequence Day.End at times
24 hours that spans from 10:00 to 10:00. The dates attached to those times will either be yesterday and today or today and tomorrow. This decision is made based on when you click the Run Sequence button. The end time also has a helpful indicator after that time that will read either yesterday, today or tomorrow. This is to be interpreted as: The target end time will be at 23:46 today if you click the Run Sequence button right now.22:00, starting the sequence at 22:15 will skip this target, the sequence day will be 10:00 today through 10:00 tomorrow and the end time at 23:00 will be in the past. Conversely, starting at 22:45 would place the 23:00 end time in the future. Starting the sequence at this time will produce the same Sequence Day".05:00, starting the sequence at 16:45 (more than 12 hours before the intended end time), the Sequence Day will be 10:00 today to 10:00 tomorrow and the end time of 05:00 will be in the future (this is the same example as above really... just illustrating that it still works when you are more than 12 hours away from the intended end time).23:00, starting the sequence at 02:00 will create a Sequence Day from 10:00 yesterday to 10:00 today. The end time of 23:00 will be assigned to the only 23:00 that occurs in this Sequence Day (yesterday), and will be skipped.Altitude for start and end times
start at and end at times have corresponding altitudes. The time and altitude, when possible, will always be in sync (meaning that if the target reaches the requested altitude, it will automatically fill in the time field). When they are in sync, they will contain a solid chain link icon between the altitude and time. When the time and altitude fields are not in sync, the chain icon will appear as broken.
Planning Tools¶
Click the Planning Tools link to open a visual planner for this target. Planning Tools offer an interactive visual tool set you can use to set start and end times based on target altitude with respect to your imaging site's visual obstructions.
Copying to Other Targets¶
SGPro offers a variety of copy functionality that can save you time by allowing you to copy the current target elsewhere or by populating the current target with settings from another. To invoke one of the available copy functions right-click on the "source" target (i.e. the target you want to copy from or to) and choose one of the following options:
When choosing from amongst the various Copy to... options they will present a Target Chooser dialog as the immediate next step in the copy workflow. Use this dialog to select one or more destination targets (i.e. targets to receive settings from the current target).
Note
When copying target settings from one target to another, SGPro will never attempt to copy the target's Name or Location. In other words, if you choose to copy settings from Target 1 to Target 2, neither name or location from Target 1 will be copied over to Target 2 and Target 2 will retain both its original Name and Location. All other target properties will be copied (e.g. SLEW and CENTER, start times, end times, rotation angle etc).
Settings and Events¶
This option will copy both settings (see note above) and events from the current target to another target. All of the current target's Events, with the exception of completion progress, will be copied over to the selected targets.
Events Only¶
This option will copy only events from the current target to another target. Using this option will allow the destination target to retain its own settings. This is very useful in situations where many targets have the same general composition of events, like when creating a mosaic.
Settings Only¶
This option will only copy settings (see note above) from the current target to another target. Using this option will allow a target to retain its own events.
Copying from Other Targets¶
Copies events from an external target to the currently selected target. To copy settings, see the Copying to Other Targets section above. To copy events from a different target to this target, simply select the source target from the menu:
