Our Whole Syndicate System is based Upon

A four factor algorithm that a pier uses in order to decide what object to image with what filter on any given night

1. Minimum horizon limits - which on pier-14 for example are 25º
2. Moon avoidance - the less susceptible a particular filter is to the moon, the closer it can image to it in all the moon phases
3. Filter priorities - Ha being the lowest priority etc as that filter can be used almost every night if need be, see priority explanation below
4. East bias - Only choose objects that are rising or have not risen yet if planning ahead

Pier Prioritization by filter:


Mono Cameras


Ha has the lowest priority of 0 as you can image almost every night of the month with this filter and luminous has the highest of 5 apart from transients like Comets and moon down requests. All other filters have priority setting in between depending upon the actual filter, O3, He2 and Hb will have a higher priority due to the shorter wave lengths & they suffer more from light scatter than other filters.

OSC Colour cameras

Again, dual-band filters have the lowest priority, whilst standard colour images have a higher priority. Moon down and Comets are treated the same way as we do with mono cameras

Always pick jobs that are rising as our system is east biased

The only other aspect you have to take into account is the position of the object in the sky, our algorithm is biased to the east as it works best with rising objects, so it's always best to pick your job as it's rising and at the very worst at the meridian. Never pick objects more than 10 degrees past the meridian on the West as they are now setting so you have limited time to collect data

One final point, use the whole sky not just southern areas, it really helps with moon avoidance as the moon increases in phase throughout the month, making image acquisition more efficient.

For example, if the moon is setting on the west and at 60%, if you have some North Easterly jobs in the pier it will continue to image in Narrowband. Whereas if all your jobs are in the South, it will most likely be in sleep mode!

I really hope this helps new & existing members alike :)

Steve & the team