Gfamily

On 30/11/2023 at 09:13, Gfamily said:

Skywatcher say on their Support pages...

Feedbacks are appreciated: app@skywatchertelescope.net

Looks like it's time to send Skywatcher some feedback 

Just after midnight today, they sent an email request to try a couple of tests, and also asking for Android version etc, as they couldn't replicate it on their devices. 

Then, about 3 hours later they sent another email to say they've identified that it has a problem with the Android GBoard keyboard app and they advised that I should download the MS SwiftKey keyboard app.  

I've asked them when the fixed version will be available from Google Play

Another tip when using an app is to go to a known region of the sky and work out the faintest stars you can see through the 32mm eyepiece.

Then, in the app, use the 'magnitude' slider so that those stars just about appear.

That way, you'll be able to match what you're seeing to what's visible in the app (particularly when you have the circle showing) and that should make star hopping easier.

When I had a chance to go to the Mount Palomar Observatory in 2001 (regrettably, just as a visitor I have to say), I think I was most struck by the cold cold air streaming out of the vents between the dome and the visitors' gallery. 

It struck me as (belatedly) obvious that it would make sense to keep the dome air conditioned to roughly the forecast temperature for the upcoming evening, so that there wouldn't be thermal air currents between the dome air and the outside air once the dome is opened.

One issue with Cats (such as SCTs and Maks) is that the light travels 3x through the OTA, so the effects of any internal thermal currents are triply emphasised. 

As Olly and AKB say, insulation can help reduce the effects (and is often mentioned on other forums) - though in both cases using a Hyperstar or RASA will by their design tend to show less effects as the light only travels 2x through the OTA. 

On 30/11/2023 at 09:49, happy-kat said:

My gripe is with skysafari 7 plus not finding the mount to connect too 

I've held off from updating from SS6+ to SS7 - there doesn't seem to be much gain, and I read a lot of significant complaints with 7 when it first came out. 

On 30/11/2023 at 09:15, Zermelo said:

I've found them to be responsive to feedback in the past.

Got a same day reply 

Quote

This could be a known issue. We have forwarded this to the app developers to look into it.
We will have the app updated as soon as possible. Thank you.

🤞

Skywatcher say on their Support pages...

Feedbacks are appreciated: app@skywatchertelescope.net

Looks like it's time to send Skywatcher some feedback 

7 hours ago, Zermelo said:

I've just tested SynScan Pro 2.4.10 on my Android 11 phone, and I too get the bright screen during goto. Clearly a bug.

Same here - but I also find I can't enter the catalog number for Deep Sky Objects such as Messier 32. Is it the same on your phone? 

On 20/11/2023 at 19:50, saac said:

Yes, looks like it., being offered at £40.49 for Photo. 

Jim 

If you've already got Version 1 of any of the apps, you can get the full suite with an additional 25% off - so £71.99 for Photo, Publisher and Designer (plus a bunch of extras). 

Might be tempting. The only thing that concerns is when they might be thinking of releasing Version 3 (as, once again, there won't be an upgrade path).  

The shower is known as the Andromedids, and there's a decent Wikipedia article about them

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromedids

Just now, Cjg said:

We met at the Autumn AstroCamp in Cwmdu! 😁 I had my Stowaway with me and was sharing the views with the 3 campers who had been walking earlier in the day. Nice to meet you on here too, and good luck next year with the MM...I had frost on my cases both times at the AstroCamp. 

Wasn't that a good evening* at the Autumn AstroCamp! Those walkers really appreciated your showing them the highlights.

* though it turned out the only really outstanding evening of the weekend, it was  still a great time. I hope you enjoyed the impromptu talk I gave the next evening. 

This Friday's talk at the Mid Cheshire Astro Group is being given by one of our best astrophotographers, and you'll be very welcome. 

We meet at Norley Parish Centre which is near to Delamere Forest. Doors open at 7pm, for a 7:30 start. 

It's not the closest astro group to Stockport, but it's not too far. Though the M56 can be busy on Friday afternoons. 

https://www.midcheshireastro.co.uk/

Owen

For those not on Facebook - the dates for the 2024 Spring Astrocamp have been announced as April 6-9th This is the weekend after the Easter weekend. 

Bookings haven't opened yet - but if you're interested, it's a good one, taking place in the Bannu Brycheiniog National Park near to Crickhowell. 

No guarantees of course, but the 2023 Spring Star Party enjoyed a rare auroral display. 

Details, and booking when opened, on the Awesome Astronomy website https://www.astrocamp.awesomeastronomy.com/

if you're a Android user,  the DSO Planner app (various versions exist) has a built in voice recording capability as part of its observing list functionality.  This allows you to link your recordings directly to the targets. 

I'm pretty sure that neither Sky Safari nor Stellarium have this direct connection to audio recording available.  

You'd have to work out your voice to text process at a later date.  

On 13/11/2023 at 17:20, Cjg said:

Good luck! I travelled to the AstroFarm in France and (from memory) saw 102 on the night, missing out on M30, M72 and M73, plus a couple in Sagittarius that were hidden by branches from the adjoining fields. I struggled to get the two in Corvus too, but was a superb night. I've since got them all by travelling to Greece. Having a list of targets certainly helps you improve your visual stargzing as some of the targets, in my experience are in the skies for a short period of time before they become too low down...M79 is only above the trees at Seething for a month or so. 

Harvard Pennington's book is a super guide if you can find a copy.

Chris

We bought next door to Astrofarm and attempted the Messier Marathon from there last spring*. Being at 46° N makes it a lot easier to see the low southern ones.  

*No great success I'm afraid - we started with some cloud, and then had a lot of dew falling out mid evening, which then tried to freeze up towards midnight. My commitment didn't survive the cold.  We'll try again as we're there again next April. 

This might be useful though - it's a Google Sheets list of the Marathon in order that can make it do-able in a single night. It should be viewable, and you can download a copy for your own use/records - Credit to Dan Machholz who originated the sequence here .

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L2jp_22MnaoI4cD_hnvzZvcM8z2pLOATz35xKsvpAwE/edit?usp=sharing  

18 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I click on properties on my windows 10 computer to unblock the file and no such window appears. i can't find a way to unblock it.

 

When I tried to Run the exe (Win 10 machine), I got the 'woah, this might be dodgy' pop up warning, but there is a 'more information' link, and that gives you the 'run it anyway' option to install the programme.

On 17/11/2023 at 20:39, Neil H said:

Hi I know you can add comets etc to stellariaum on your pc but can you add it on stellariaum mobile I am having problems with sky safari pro 7 so wanted to give stellariaum a run see if it better for telescope control

I find they're there anyway - presumably background refreshed from the MPC - at least, I haven't done any downloads and yet, if I search for (for example) C/2023 T2 (Borisov) it locates it. 

I'm using Stellarium Plus. 

If you read the book "First Light: Switching on Stars at the Dawn of Time" by Emma Chapman, one of the questions that needs to be determined about the very first stars (the Population III stars) is what was the Initial Mass Function of stars formed when the primordial gas clouds collapsed. As there's only Hydrogen and Helium (and possibly a very little Lithium), only 1 molecule (H₂) can exist to be implicated in the cooling required to allow collapse. 

The Initial Mass Function gives the size distribution of the stars that were produced - and the larger the stars that were formed in the first generation of stars, the more rapidly heavy elements can be created and (importantly) dispersed back into the interstellar medium to form the next generation of stars. 

1 hour ago, cajen2 said:

@Richard N and I in Wales caught the moon approaching Venus in a beautiful blue sky using Richard's 80mm achro, so I got the Starfield set up, found them in the finder...and then the clouds came over with a vengeance. This sort of thing always happens to me...😉

 

Croeso i gymru cymylog (as they say) 

The egress was clouded out, but I got a moody view a few minutes later 

On 24/10/2023 at 19:00, Gfamily said:

Yes, Venus should be easily visible - and I suspect that the surface brightness may be even brighter than the Moon's occulting edge*

*The moon's surface is fairly dark - with an albedo of about 12% it's similar to used asphalt in reflectivity - whereas Venus' clouds have a much higher albedo, reflecting up to 70% of the Sun's light.  

Told you so! 😃

My tracking wasn't perfect, and my trees were getting in the way, but I just about managed to capture the start of the occultation

The sky cleared just as I thought I'd not have any chance of seeing it. Now tracking to hopefully capture the egress later

It does seem likely that many of us will struggle to see both ingress and egress, but if you're in the UK in a location where the weather deities aren't paying attention, the Moon will be more or less due South at about 9:20 with an altitude of ~40 degrees above the horizon - the Occultation starts some time between 9:30 and 9:40 depending on where you are. 

Thanks for those references.  I'd seen mention of Prof Ruggles, but didn't know that he had made so much available online.