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Booking a Live Control Session

See it in Video!

This page walks you through the steps of booking a telescope session and connecting to the telescope:

The Booking Page
Start Booking a Session
Select Duration
When Your Session Time Arrives
When the Telescope Control Applet Starts

The Booking Page:

To get to the booking page, click on "Book Live Control" on the top menu bar:

On the booking page, you should see a booking schedule that starts with today's date and shows a 24 hour time bar (in the timezone you selected when you registered):

Below the `hour bar' are a number of horizontal bars that show the forecasted conditions at the site: the yellow and black bar shows what the sun and moon are doing: yellow means the sun is up, black means night; the white crescents show the phase of the moon and its rising and setting. There are four bars under this which indicate the forecasted conditions (cloud cover, transparency, seeing conditions and wind); mousing over these gives more detail.

To the left of the schedule there is a list of telescopes (e.g., #106, #205, etc.), each with an indication of what it is currently doing (Available: ready to be used, Busy: someone is using it, Offline: not currently working) and whether the roof is open, closed or ajar (partly open). This is followed by a `StartNow!' button and then a horizontal bar with various colors indicating what is currently scheduled: gray represents the past, white indicates unbooked time in the future, and various other colors indicate booked sessions (both yours and other user's) - click the "Legend: Show" at the top of the booking page to see a legend that explains the various colors.

Start Booking a Session:

If there is a telescope that is `Available' then you can click the `StartNow!' button to begin operating the telescope immediately. Note that if it is daytime at the telescope site, or if it is a cloudy or windy night, then the roof will be closed (useful for practice sessions!). If it is nighttime and the sky is clear then the roof should be open. If no telescope is `Available', you can make an advance booking - the next paragraph explains this.

The advance booking pop-up window
(appears after clicking on the white area).

To book a telescope in advance, you may need to click the "Choose Day" (which pops up a calendar) or use the "Next>" link to get to the day you want. White space in the schedule shows time that is open for booking - if it is under a yellow portion of the "site conditions" indicator, it is during the day, and if it is under the black, it is at night (check the forecast info if it is displayed). There is one row for each telescope so the row you click on determines the telescope you are booking. Once you have found a time that is available (white) and is good for you, click on the white area. This should cause a pop-up window to appear.

Select Duration:

As soon as you click either the `StartNow!' button or a white area, a pop-up window should appear (if not, see the FAQ). Next you:

Check the start time: for advance bookings you should check and possibly adjust the start time (for `StartNow!' bookings, the start time is preselected to be as soon as possible).
Select the duration: the value to select depends on what you want to do; for practice (roof closed) sessions 30 or 60 minutes should do; for your first observing session, 30 minutes may be good.
Click on `BookIt': this checks to see if the booking can be made; if successful the booking information, including the estimated cost, is displayed and you are asked to either confirm or decline the booking.
Click on `Confirm': this will confirm your booking. What happens now depends on the type of booking: for advance bookings, your booking is acknowledged and you can then close the pop-up window - the next section tells how to join your session when the time arrives. For `StartNow!' bookings, skip ahead to the section on When the Telescope Control Applet Starts.

When Your Session Time Arrives:

If you booked a session in advance (or if you want to rejoin a session that is in progress), you should:

log in at least 10 minutes before your session is set to begin.
Click on the "Book Live Control" tab on the top menu bar.
Click on your booking: the booking schedule should show your booking as a light green area - click on this area to open up a pop-up window for the booking.

Click the `Join' button in the pop-up; this starts the telescope control applet, which is described in the next section.

Joining a booked session - pop-up window

Pop-up window for joining (or canceling) a previously booked session.
(appears after clicking on a light green area in the booking schedule).

When the Telescope Control Applet Starts:

The telescope control applet will launch after you confirm a `StartNow!' request or when you `Join' a session that you previously booked (see 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 the telescope control applet will not run. If you close the window accidentally, follow the instructions in the previous section. The applet may take a minute or so to start - be patient!

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. The next section, Using the Telescopes, describes the applet and how to use it.

(Let us know if you encounter any difficulties! You may email us at .)

Next: Now you are ready to know about Using the Telescopes.