A good set of reticles can be of great help for on-screen astro work. Perhaps one of the most obvious uses is with planning the layout of an astronomical image so that it will be displayed to best effect. For example a reticle can be laid over an on-screen sky atlas / planetarium display of a target object and its surrounds and positioned so that the object is nicely framed. The centre of the reticle will then indicate the celestial coordinates at which the imaging camera should be aimed. In some cases it may be best to centre the target object in the image. In other cases the rule of thirds might be used to good advantage. Sometimes the image might be best arranged by reference to the "golden mean". No single reticle can serve all of these purposes so Reticles supplies a range of different reticle designs. Each design can be sized and positioned to exactly meet your needs. Moreover its colour can be changed to best show against whatever background it covers.
Presently, the following reticle designs are provided :
Presently, the following reticle designs are provided :
Default
Quarters Diagonals Thirds Golden mean |
A two circle bullseye with crosshairs.
Simple crosshairs with optional centre circle. Diagonal crosshairs (optional centre circle not shown). The horizontal thirds layout is shown here. A vertical thirds equivalent layout is also available. A combination of horizontal and vertical thirds laid over a sky atlas display shows that if M20 is positioned at the lower right of the imaging frame it can be balanced by the star cluster at the upper left resulting in a nicely composed image. The golden mean was often used by some of the old masters to compose their paintings. It can equally well serve for astro-imaging purposes too. Four orientations are offered with the main square being placed at the left, right, top or bottom of the reticle. |