Basically, it is the name I gave my observation rig which consists of a Meade LXD75 equitorial "GO TO" mount sporting a Meade AR-5 (5" f/9.3) achromatic refractor. Even after a full cleaning, polishing, AND greasing this thing growls as is slews across the night sky.

While Growler started out as a name, it is evolving. I decided to dedicate my programming skills to create a web based frontend for Growler allowing control of the scope wirelessly. This portion of the site is, in reality, going to be a repository for this applications development AND to give pople the chance to actually control AND look through growlers eyes via a control panel AND streaming video. The name of the site is the name of this project, GrowlerVision!

Not far, there is quite a bit of math involved not to mention the programming time required. To the right is a sample of different values I get while crunching the numbers. Any help people can offer in calculating the required values for local sidereal time (done!), rising AND setting times of steller targets, AND how to know where an oject is in the night sky at any given time would be extreemly useful.

Object: Helix Nebula
Distance: 0.16 Parsecs
Meridian: 22.4933
Semi-Diurnal Arc: 77.3226
116.70881559228
156.45547093607
Rise: 8.2207
Set: 20.2207
Horizon 1: 15.6482
Horizon 2: 3.6482
LOCAL: