Re: [ATM] telescope emulation software

[Dominic-Luc Webb <dlwebb@canit.se>]

On Tue, 1 Nov 2005, Saqib Sajjad wrote:

> but now my question is, is there any software which
> can emulate aperture+magnification ? e.g how would m31
> look through 6" (f8) with 100X magnification? or any
> other combination of aperture and magnification. is
> there any software which can emulate a telescope?

Xephem does something like this. Check the skymap functions.
I am quite sure it will show you the apparent size of the
disk of this object with different magnifications. Exactly
how it would look depends on quite a lot of variables,
including your vision. I think the apparent size and
brightness should not be difficult to compute. Many of the
details like fine structure, contrast between objects of
different colors, etc must be a monumental task, and one
would have to consider visual appearance versus imaging with
different cameras and optical configurations.

I rely on programs like Xephem + actual pictures to be found all
over the Internet.

Dominic-Luc Webb

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