Tomas,

The Start setting you describe doesn't match what I find, putting +0 always seems to give an ephemeris for the current date/time.

However, the logic seems to be to start the first ephemeris position with the NEXT ephemeris interval, so for instance, generating an hourly ephemeris using +0 at the moment I'm typing this (at 14:39 UT) would generate an ephemeris starting with 15:00 UT.

I would rather have it start with the immediately earlier time so that a position at the current moment has ephemeris positions either side of it, so current can be interpolated, so in the previous example, putting +0 would generate from 14:00 UT. I end up having to force an earlier time instead of having the convenience of using +0.

btw, you should be able to put an MPC obs code in the Lat field (with Long left blank) to generate ephemerides for that code - and the code gets remembered between sessions too.

Peter
J95

--- In find_orb@yahoogroups.com, "Tomas" <scibuffcom@...> wrote:
>
> I have a question about the Make Ephemeris functionality settings. When I run it and create an ephemeris for an object I input the values of
>
> - Start
> - # steps
> - Stepsize
> - Latitude
> - Longitude
>
> and I'm wondering how these values remembered and how/if it is possible to change them. For example, the later four (# steps, stepsize, lat and lon) seem to be preserved from one ephemeris generation to next, but the Start keeps coming back to 2012 03 19 for me (even though i'm generating the ephemeris for 2012 04 23).
>
> Is there any way this could default to the next night, e.g. +0.
>
> Also, any chance of adding the ability of using the OBS CODE instead of lat/lon, i.e. if obs code is given it is given a preference over lat/lon values?
>
> Thanks
>
> Tomas
> IASC Astronomer
>