A program that reduces observations of satellites relative to the background stars into their precise coordinates. Observers identify their reference stars in a simulated binocular or telescope field of view, select them using the mouse, enter the observed geometric and positional data, and the program automatically produces a formatted observation report.
ObsReduce supports all three reporting formats in common use: IOD, UK and RDE (Russell Eberst's abbreviated form of the UK format.) All R.A. and Dec formats and epochs are supported, as are visual magnitude and optical period reporting.
Also supports three observational geometries: satellite in-line with reference stars, satellite forming right-angled triangle with reference stars, and appulses (satellite passing near a single star).
Several star databases, derived from the Tycho 2 catalogue, are available for ObsReduce. The complete set of Tycho 2 stars is also available, consisting of more than 2.5 million stars to about magnitude 13. The program enables the addition of stars missing from the database, as well as coordinates of planets and asteroids.
To aid in finding and confirming reference stars used in observations, ObsReduce has the ability to display predicted satellite tracks computed using the SGP4 and SDP4 orbital models. It also displays the difference between the satellite's predicted and observed time and track, and can compensate for Earth's rotation in the interim, to produce accurate plots of satellite tracks.
ObsReduce can be configured to simultaneously write its results to as many as four text files and provides numerous configuration options.
