{"dataset":{"slug":"observing-suite","title":"Professional Observatory Planning Suite","description":"The observing planners (tonight, visibility, target, Moon, planet, deep-sky, season, twilight, darkness, altitude, meridian-transit, equipment, astrophotography, session) built on the platform's real computed live-sky data and its observing equipment, sites and techniques, and the architecture-ready data integrations (weather, seeing, transparency, cloud cover, Bortle sky brightness) that await connected providers.","version":"1.0.0","lastGenerated":"2026-06-29","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","entityCount":19,"sources":["nasa"]},"entities":[{"id":"observing_planner:altitude-chart-planner","name":"Altitude Chart Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"How high a target rides through the night — its altitude against time — so an observer can catch it near the meridian, above the murk of the horizon.","entryPath":"/observing/altitude-chart-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:astrophotography-planner","name":"Astrophotography Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"Plans an imaging session — the target's framing against the sensor, the Moon and darkness windows, and the capture technique — reusing the real camera, mount, and image-stacking entities.","entryPath":"/observing/astrophotography-planner"},{"id":"observing_integration:bortle-integration","name":"Bortle Sky-Brightness Integration","type":"observing_integration","domain":"science","description":"An architecture-ready interface for light-pollution and Bortle-class sky-brightness data by location — which sets how faint an object a site can reach. Wired into the deep-sky planner; a site's darkness is reported only from a connected light-pollution source.","entryPath":"/observing/bortle-integration"},{"id":"observing_integration:cloud-cover-integration","name":"Cloud Cover Integration","type":"observing_integration","domain":"science","description":"CONNECTED: total cloud cover from MET Norway, averaged across the night's dark window and reported alongside the observing plan rather than folded into it — a clear sky does not make a full Moon dark. Requested only when the reader presses the button, from their own browser, with the coordinates rounded to about a kilometre. Satellite cloud IMAGERY is a separate thing and is not connected.","entryPath":"/observing/cloud-cover-integration"},{"id":"observing_planner:darkness-planner","name":"Darkness Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"The window of real darkness on a given night — after astronomical twilight ends and while the Moon is down. The hours that matter most for faint targets.","entryPath":"/observing/darkness-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:deep-sky-planner","name":"Deep-Sky Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"Plans a tour of galaxies, nebulae, and clusters by season, constellation, and difficulty, matched against the night's darkness and the target's altitude. The deep sky, night by night.","entryPath":"/observing/deep-sky-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:equipment-planner","name":"Equipment Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"Matches targets to gear — which objects suit binoculars, a small refractor, or a large Dobsonian — using the platform's real equipment catalogue and the target's brightness and size.","entryPath":"/observing/equipment-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:meridian-transit-planner","name":"Meridian Transit Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"When a target crosses the meridian — its highest, sharpest point in the sky — the ideal moment to observe or image it. Computed from its right ascension and the local sidereal time.","entryPath":"/observing/meridian-transit-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:moon-planner","name":"Moon Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"The Moon's phase, illumination, and rise and set for a chosen night — the single biggest factor in deep-sky observing. Computed, not assumed.","entryPath":"/observing/moon-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:planet-planner","name":"Planet Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"Which planets are visible tonight and where, from the platform's computed planetary positions and their altitudes through the night. Jupiter and Saturn to Mercury's fleeting apparitions.","entryPath":"/observing/planet-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:season-planner","name":"Season Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"What each season brings — the constellations overhead, the meteor showers, and the signature deep-sky objects — so a year of observing can be planned in advance.","entryPath":"/observing/season-planner"},{"id":"observing_integration:seeing-integration","name":"Seeing Integration","type":"observing_integration","domain":"science","description":"An architecture-ready interface for atmospheric seeing — the steadiness of the air that sets how fine a detail a night can show. Wired into the astrophotography planner; seeing values appear only from a connected forecast source, never invented. NOT satisfied by the connected cloud-cover forecast: seeing is turbulence, forecast from entirely different model output, and a clear night with terrible seeing is an ordinary one.","entryPath":"/observing/seeing-integration"},{"id":"observing_planner:session-planner","name":"Session Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"Assembles a full observing session — an ordered list of targets timed to their best moments through a single night — from the visibility, altitude, and darkness plans. Exportable as a calendar or a printable plan.","entryPath":"/observing/session-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:target-planner","name":"Target Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"Builds an observing list from the graph's real objects — stars, deep-sky objects, planets — and checks each against the night's visibility. A bridge from the catalogue to the eyepiece.","entryPath":"/observing/target-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:tonight-planner","name":"Tonight Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"What is worth observing tonight from a given place, drawn together from the platform's computed twilight, Moon, and planet positions. The plan updates with the observer's clock and location, which stay on the device.","entryPath":"/observing/tonight-planner"},{"id":"observing_integration:transparency-integration","name":"Transparency Integration","type":"observing_integration","domain":"science","description":"An architecture-ready interface for sky transparency — how much haze and moisture dim faint objects. Wired into the deep-sky planner; transparency is reported only from a connected source.","entryPath":"/observing/transparency-integration"},{"id":"observing_planner:twilight-planner","name":"Twilight Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"The civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight times for a given place and date — when true darkness begins and ends. Computed from the Sun's position.","entryPath":"/observing/twilight-planner"},{"id":"observing_planner:visibility-planner","name":"Visibility Planner","type":"observing_planner","domain":"science","description":"When and whether a target clears the horizon and the twilight for a given night, from its coordinates and the observer's latitude. Built on the computed rise, set, and twilight times.","entryPath":"/observing/visibility-planner"},{"id":"observing_integration:weather-integration","name":"Weather Integration","type":"observing_integration","domain":"science","description":"Local weather — the first thing that decides whether a session happens. CONNECTED for total cloud cover only, from MET Norway, and fetched by the reader's own browser when they ask for it so their coordinates never reach this platform. Rain, wind and temperature come with the same forecast but are not what an observer is deciding on; nothing else about the weather is assumed.","entryPath":"/observing/weather-integration"}]}