Here are just some of the features LOW has to offer:
You can import both old ILOC and new IOTA2008 format observation files into LOW. LOW will then compute the predictions related to your observations for you, along with creating any expeditions to grazing occultations. Once imported, you can immediately start looking at (graphic) reductions of your occultation observations.
The XZ80Q star catalogue with 244’051 stars is now used. In addition to stars and the planets you can now also create predictions for the 12 brightest natural satellites in the solar system, Messier, NGC/IC and even your own objects. To save you time, you can select from specific periods for which to calculate predictions. You can now also calculate predictions for multiple stations in one go.
You can now set up expeditions to grazing occultations. Using Google Maps (or your own) for maps of the earth, you can find and select interesting grazing occultations, which are shown as lines on the map. You can then set up expeditions to the interesting ones. The graze stations at which observers are to observe the events can be easily created and are shown on the map. Best of all, you can see on a figure with the lunar limb profiles how many events are expected to occur. Your can move the graze stations on the map to optimise the number of predicted events for your stations.
You can now set up expeditions to grazing occultations. Using Google Maps (or your own) for maps of the earth, you can find and select interesting grazing occultations, which are shown as lines on the map. You can then set up expeditions to the interesting ones. The graze stations at which observers are to observe the events can be easily created and are shown on the map. Best of all, you can see on a figure with the lunar limb profiles how many events are expected to occur. Your can move the graze stations on the map to optimise the number of predicted events for your stations.
Once you’ve recorded total occultation observations, you can view their reductions in graphic detail. If you’ve recorded observations of grazing occultations for one or more graze stations, you can start finding the illusive shift of the lunar limb profile. Simply click the left mouse button and drag the observations (each observation event is shown as a circle) to match the lunar limb profile best. With LOW this type of functionality has become available for the first time to every user!
Comments