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Getting Started with Booking a Live Control SessionContents:
Book Live Control:From the member home page click on "Book Live Control" on the menu bar near the top of the page. You should see a calendar starting with today's date and showing a 24 hour time bar. The yellow and black bands below the 24 hour time bar depict the "site conditions": daylight, darkness (the yellow - gray border is at sunset and sunrise) and moon phase at the telescope site. Immediately to the left of the calendar area there is a list of telescopes, each with a current booking status indicator that reads either 'Available', 'Busy' or 'Offline' and current roof status indicator that will read either 'Open', 'Closed' or 'Ajar'. This is followed by a `Start Now' button and then a horizontal bar with various colors indicating what is currently scheduled: gray represents time that is now in the past, white shows unbooked time in the future, and various other colors indicate booked sessions (both yours and other user's) - click the "Legend: Show" to see a legend that explains the various colors. If there is a telescope that is available then you can click the [Start Now] button to begin operating the telescope immediately. Note that if it is daytime at the telescope site, or nighttime and cloudy, then the roof will be closed and you will be starting a practice session. If it is nighttime and the sky is clear then the roof should be open and you will be starting an actual observing session. If no telescope is immediately available then you can book for a future time - the next paragraphs explain this (if you are using the `Start Now' button you can skip to Select Duration). To book a telescope for a future time, either click the "Choose Day" (which pops up a calendar) or use the "Next>" links to get to the day you want. A white space in the schedule display shows future time that is open for booking - if it is under a yellow portion of the "site conditions" indicator, it is during the day (good for practice sessions!), and if it is under the black, it is at night (good for stars!). The 24 hour time bar shows the time for your time zone. This should make it easier to locate a time that is convenient for your own personal schedule. Once you have found a time that works for your schedule, click on any white space that is below your desired observing time. There is one row for each telescope so the row you clicked on determines the telescope you are booking. Tip: You can ask to receive an email notification when clear weather is expected using Account Info / Change Notifications. Select Duration:As soon as you click either the [Start Now] button or a white area, a pop-up window should appear. If you are booking a future session (that is, you clicked on a white area), this pop-up will allow you to select the time to start the session; for [Start Now] bookings, the start time is preselected-selected to be as soon as possible. In both cases, the pop-up allows you to select the duration of the session - for a practice session a half hour or an hour may be adequate, however you can book more time if you wish. Once you have set the desired start time and duration click on [Book It]. The next screen indicates if the booking can be made as well as the cost of the booking, and asks you to either confirm or decline the booking. If everything looks OK, click the [Confirm] button. What happens now depends on the type of booking: for future sessions, your booking is acknowledged and you can then close the pop-up window, while for "Start Now" bookings the pop-up window begins loading and running the applet (thus it is important not to close the window!). In this case, you can jump ahead to the section What to Do When the Telescope Control Applet Starts. What to Do When Your Session Time Arrives:If you booked a session at a future time, you should log in at least 10 minutes before your session is set to begin. After you have successfully logged in, click on the "Book Live Control" button on the menu bar near the top of the member's home page. When the booking calendar is displayed you should see your booking appear in a light green color and it should be getting close to the current time. Click on your booking (the light green segment) which should open up a pop-up window, and click the [Join] button. This will start the telescope control applet. It may take a minute, but when the applet appears, a timer in the lower left corner will display the amount of time remaining before your session starts. When your session starts you will be notified that you have control of the telescope. What to Do When the Telescope Control Applet Starts:The telescope control applet will launch after you confirm a "Start Now" request or when you join a session that you previously booked as explained above. The first thing you will see is a red pop-up window with the text "Do Not Close This Window". You can minimize the window but do not close it or else the telescope control applet will exit. If you close the window accidentally you can always go back to the booking calendar and rejoin your session. (For instructions on how to join a session in progress see the previous section What to Do When your Session Time Arrives)
When the applet starts it will display a window with three panels. A skymap is
displayed on the right. A Pan/Zoom Map is displayed on the top left
and a Spotting Camera panel on the lower left. A countdown timer in the
lower left corner displays the time until the session becomes active. You
will be notified when your session begins and then you will have control
of the telescope.
(Let us know if you encounter any difficulties with the booking process.
You may email us at
and enter 'booking' on the subject line.)
Now you are ready to know about Using the Telescopes.
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