Interesting project. I have not attempted to use the scheduler for satellites, however I can say that the start and end times should correspond to the constraints set up for imaging. It likely is using a fixed RA/DEC coordinate, and tracking that across the sky. It is looking at other constraints you may have configured such as altitude and twilight. It is considering the imaging sequence you have chosen, eg how many exposures you requested and at what duration. The start time is sampled every minute or two and the end time is an estimate of how long the imaging might take, including focus times, download times, etc.

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