Default Settings
The Default Settings dialog holds two columns of the same nine settings. The left column is the Application Defaults, and the right column is the workspace defaults of the workspace you have open. If you nearly always work from the same place and the same date conventions, setting them here means every new study starts that way instead of being reconfigured each time.
How Defaults Are Inherited
Defaults reach a new study through a two-step chain:
- Cygnus copies the Application Defaults into a workspace's defaults when you create a new workspace.
- Cygnus applies the workspace defaults to each study as you create it in that workspace.
So the Application Defaults shape every future workspace, and the workspace defaults shape every future study in the current one. Changing either has no effect on studies that already exist.
Cygnus then applies any default ephemeris preset or bodies list preset over these values as it builds the study.
Open the Default Settings Dialog
To open the dialog:
- Open the Edit menu.
- Click Default Settings in the Edit menu.
The dialog opens over the main window with the Application Defaults column on the left and the workspace defaults column on the right, each pre-filled with its stored values.
The Default Settings button on the Toolbar opens the same dialog.
The Nine Settings
Both columns hold the same nine settings.
| Setting | Options | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Location | The places in your locations list | The observing place, and with it the time zone records are dated in. |
| Zodiac System | Tropical, Sidereal | The zodiacal system that positions are expressed in. |
| Coord. Origin | Geocentric, Topocentric, Heliocentric | The point that positions are measured from. |
| Ref. Plane | Ecliptic, Equatorial | The plane that positions are measured against. |
| Start Date | A date | The beginning of the period a study covers. |
| Start Time | A time of day | The time of day the period starts at, read in the location's time zone. |
| End Date | A date | The end of the period a study covers. |
| Interval | A positive whole number | How many time units fall between successive records. |
| Time Unit | Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Months, Years | The unit the interval is counted in. |
The Zodiac System, the Coord. Origin, and the Ref. Plane together make up the Reference System.
An Interval of 1 with a Time Unit of Days gives one record per day, which is the setting most ephemerides are built on.
Adjust the Application Defaults
The Application Defaults are the nine values a newly created workspace is built from. Every control in the column already shows its stored value, so change only the settings you want to adjust:
- Default observing place: the Location dropdown sets the place, and with it the time zone, that every newly created workspace starts from.
- Default Reference System: the Zodiac System, Coord. Origin, and Ref. Plane dropdowns fix the frame new workspaces measure their positions in.
- Default period: the Start Date, Start Time, and End Date pickers bound the span of time new workspaces cover.
- Default sampling rate: the Interval box and the Time Unit dropdown decide how often a record falls within that span.
Adjust the Workspace Defaults
The workspace defaults are the nine values studies created in the current workspace are built from. Every control in the column already shows the workspace's stored value, so change only the settings you want to adjust:
- Default observing place: the Location dropdown sets the place, and with it the time zone, that every study created in this workspace starts from.
- Default Reference System: the Zodiac System, Coord. Origin, and Ref. Plane dropdowns fix the frame new studies in this workspace measure their positions in.
- Default period: the Start Date, Start Time, and End Date pickers bound the span of time new studies in this workspace cover.
- Default sampling rate: the Interval box and the Time Unit dropdown decide how often a record falls within that span.
Save the Default Settings
- Click the Save button.
Cygnus writes changed Application Defaults to the application settings and changed workspace defaults to the current workspace, then marks that workspace as changed so your next workspace save keeps them. Save is disabled while nothing has changed.
Close the Default Settings Dialog
- Click the Close button.
If the dialog still holds unsaved changes, the "Unsaved Changes" prompt appears first rather than the dialog closing straight away. See Save Changes from the Unsaved Changes Prompt.