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Night Preview

Night Preview shows AstroManager's current plan for the selected night.

It is the most important tool for understanding what AstroManager is actually going to do before the night starts.

You can use it to answer questions like:

  • which targets AstroManager would choose tonight
  • when target changes would happen
  • how much of the night is filled with imaging
  • to quickly fill imaging gaps
  • why some target X was not scheduled at all

Before an important night, it is worth checking Night Preview for the selected client and date.

Where You Find It

Night Preview is included directly in the Remote Control Dashboard:

  • in Classic View as its own card
  • in Modern View under the Targets tab

What Night Preview Uses

The preview is always calculated for the currently selected client.

That means it uses the context of:

  • the assigned observatory
  • the assigned equipment
  • the active targets of that client
  • the scheduler configuration that is currently selected for the preview

UI

Night Preview

At the top of the card, AstroManager shows the most important controls and summary values.

Controls

At the top you can change:

  • Configuration
  • Date
  • Start
  • Refresh Preview

This is useful if you want to compare how a different scheduler configuration or a different start time changes the same night.

Summary Row

Night Preview also shows a quick summary of the simulated night:

  • Night Start
  • Moon
  • Night End
  • Imaging
  • Empty

This gives you an immediate feeling for how productive the planned night is before you inspect the details below.

Altitude Preview

The large chart in the middle is the visual heart of Night Preview.

It shows:

  • the altitude curves of the scheduled targets
  • the moon line
  • the observatory horizon
  • the current time line, when relevant

Planned Sessions

Below the chart, Night Preview shows the planned sessions of the night.

Empty Time And Gaps

The Empty value and the unscheduled parts of the preview are especially important.

They show when AstroManager could not find a useful target for the selected client.

Typical reasons are:

  • no active target is valid
  • the remaining slot is too short
  • moon avoidance blocks the relevant filters
  • altitude or custom horizon rules block the target
  • scheduler settings are too restrictive