Observatories¶

Why This Page Matters¶

Observatory settings affect:

• target visibility
• altitude and observability calculations
• moon avoidance
• horizon restrictions
• which equipment is available at a given site

Minimum Altitude¶

Minimum Altitude defines the lowest altitude at which AstroManager should still consider a target usable from that observatory.

Use this setting if you dont know the Custom Horizon of your observatory. But defining the Custom Horizon is preffered to avoid scheduling targets that are not truly visible.

Custom Horizon¶

Custom Horizon lets you describe the real blocked horizon of the observatory instead of assuming a perfect flat one.

A custom horizon makes observability calculations far more realistic, because AstroManager can then account for where the sky is blocked even if the target would otherwise be above the general minimum altitude.

Sky Brightness And Bortle¶

You can also store sky-quality information directly on the observatory.

• Bortle Scale can be set manually in the observatory settings
• Sky Brightness (mag/arcsec2) can be used if you prefer a measured value instead

This is useful for planning, for comparing observatories, and for community workflows where the observing-site quality should be visible more clearly.

Equipment Assignment¶

It is also important to assign the equipment that is actually used at that observatory. This is required for the Client Configuration.