Feature proposal: adding a Bortle class indicator

[elythomaslumber]

Hi Robert,
just a proposal. What do you think about a Bortle class indicator?
In detail:
- showing a Bortle classe with an additional arrow
- arrow up, tendency to the next better class
- arrow down, tendency to the next lower class
- arrow horizontal, fits to the class
- however it´s clear to define a tolerance range about each SQM value
- also it can be added a short explanation like shown hera: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-resources/light-pollution-and-astronomy-the-bortle-dark-sky-scale/
I mean only the head-lines.

A table with the reference between SQM and Bortle can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale

Cheers
Hardy

[brownrb]

Hi Hardy
This has been a subject of discussion before. The Wiki also points to a document which outlines only some of the issues involved, and rightly so. The environment and light pollution levels have significantly increased since the original formula was devised, perhaps calling into question the accuracy of the scale.

The connection of this to sqm is probably imperfect at best. To most people, those using telescopes etc SQM is widely used and referred to.

Because of the flexibilty of the mySQM+ controller, it is easy for an app (such as curl, perl etc) to use a json call to get the current sqm value, then convert that value to other units (such as bortle) as required.

At the moment any additions are on hold. The mysqm+ firmware is in the middle of a major update rewrite, so everything is frozen (except for bug fixes) till it is ready for release.

regards
Robert