AlexK

Great find indeed! The only issue the screen is not AMOLED, which is a must have for serious astronomy applications (to preserve your darkness adaptation). In fact, you can protect your high-end smartphone with the OtterBox Defender case practically to the same good extent. I'm doing just that for 11+ years and had my smartphones falling and kicked badly numerous times. All 5 are still alive and in perfect condition. The additional benefit of some Otterbox Defender models is the integrated screen protector. That makes adding a red film (to preserve your darkness adaptation even more) as simple as scissor cutting a piece and dropping it between the protective screen cover and the phone screen. You can even add two films if desired - no problem. To stay on topic: I've finally pulled the trigger on Ethos 3.7mm for planetary use. The 110 deg AFOV provides a large FOV at high magnification, which allows to watch a planet drifting through the field without moving the telescope. On my 12" Dob it allows to observe the drifting planet at 400x for one minute! Unpacked it yesterday, and as usual the weather has changed

The "Light pollution" is not a sentence to your planetary views yet The atmospheric "seeing" is. So, research your "micro-astro-climate" or ask your local astro-mates/club (I'm sure they would have answered you already if you have had your location added to your profile or/and signature on the forum). Your 127mm Mac is OK for planets (I have Meade ETX-125 myself). But if your seeing is good at least in certain time of the year, a 8" newt would show waaaay more.

That largely depends on your observing location(s). If you live or can get to a location with frequent good seeing, then an upgrade of the aperture might be viable. I personally believe that for a serious planetary views the minimal telescope aperture is 150mm (6") But that's for a refractor. A reflector or a CAT (anything with the central obstruction caused by the secondary mirror) better be bumped to 8". But the really striking planetary views are possible only after 10" (like 12"). It's all about the maximal resolution the aperture provides vs the type of atmospheric turbulence it need to deal with. If you are observing from a dense urban zone exclusively, most likely you will never get decent views with such a large aperture, as in the city the turbulent air has a small-celled structure of about 5" in size on average, so the image will be blurry at high magnification in a larger than 5-6" scope 99.9% of the time.

I've been poking the idea of building a 8" travel scope for myself. If you have any experience sawing plywood there are plenty of easy to repeat designs. The set of nice mirrors for a 8" (same as in all scopes you see for $400-600 with mirrors from GSO) is around $200. I've been targeting the 1:4 one for $300 shipped. Set of mirror cell and a spider is around $80 (toughest to build). Set of eyepieces of same quality as what shipped with these Dobs is around $100. But I'd rather get a good 8-24 zoom for 70 and a Barlow for 30. And yes, the difference between 6" and 8" views is striking enough to consider skipping the 6".

I'm using thick knit wool mittens with the flip-off fingers pocket on magnets. When open, the pocket stays on the back of the palm on the magnet exposing 4 fingers in the semi-fingerless knit glove). Can't tell the brand or anything, as that was a lucky find at the local general store. Nearly ideal when it's really cold (well, in California it's rarely blow freezing, but often quite chilly at night in winter) and super kozy.

Thank you, Mark. Galaxies is where DSO Planner excels! If you see anything changed in an "unsatisfactory way" lately, just let me know. That "major refactoring" was quite challenging for our "team of two".

Oh! Missed the previous announcement, there it is: Finally, the long awaited Android future-proofing DSO Planner update 3.7 is in the wild! The primary goal of this massive update, which took several months to polish, is making sure that the DSO Planner app will stay fully compatible with all Android device versions from the ancient Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) all the way to the latest Android 10 devices and even farther in time as it is now leveraging the latest recommended for developers Android API. I would highly recommend that update, even though it might pose a minor inconvenience for the folks who has moved their databases to the external SD card (the fix is trivial actually, see below). Despite of our focus on future-proofing, we have managed to implement a couple of neat new features based on requests from our users: Full support for the QuInsight collimating pointer (I believe that’s a great Telrad pointer successor). You can adjust its additional ultra-wide rings sizes with the same high precision as Telrad rings (see the QuInsight discussion on CN forum: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/691228-quinsight-the-telrad-successor ). The user-selectable option which allows to remember orientation and mirroring settings of the star chart for every zoom level. Which is saving a tap or two on the screen (as well as the chore of remembering to do that manually each time) when your observing flow with a particular telescope is well established repeating step by step procedure. For example: when you are starting from the full sky view (chart at a wide FOV like 150°) mirrored so you can easily figure which constellation is where in Azimuth above the horizon; then, moving to QuInsight (chart at around 20° FOV) with the straight view; then, to the finder (if you are not using the TPM method) with rotated 180° view (chart is at ~6° FOV). And finally to the main EP view with smallish FOV upside-down charts. Now you can just turn ON that mode and set up your typical charts sizes with typical orientations and mirroring you need. They are saved even if you turn OFF the feature for some other project (it's OFF by default). The Observation Notes feature is now directly accessible from the Tools module of the main screen as a separate DSO Planner “application”, same as the "Red Flashlight" and "Twilight calculator" mini apps. It simply opens your observing notes database with just two taps on the screen. As you might already have guessed, we have huge plans for extending that very popular and powerful feature further (and much quicker now as the new API also means the new versions releasing train as well!). The possible issue after the update on Android 10 devices is about the "Image" button in the Object Details data screen. If it stopped working or is not displayed for a regular NGC/IC object (DSO Planner has the entire NGCIC.org project's images database integrated), just check the Alternative Path value in the Settings / System-wide Settings / Data files location / Change data files menu. If you see some path there you don't recognize, simply clear the text in that field and tap OK button (if not, just tap OK button). Reopen the app. That should fix the issue.

After migrating DSO Planner to the latest Google Android libraries, we had several issues reported on the newest Android X devices, which are more widely utilizing new Material Design features in their system apps. In particular, users were struggling with the virtual Navigation Buttons Bar (usually Back/Home/Recent apps buttons at the bottom of the screen) and several interface "beautifications" which were frankly ruining our meticulous darkness adaptation measures in the Night Mode of the app, as the original mechanism hiding that Navigation Bar on Android Tablets was not working properly with the new interface. Even though, there is an option to hide that bar in the Android settings, other features had no user-side control over them at all. So we have decided to make a quick patch in the DSO Planner taking care of these Android system changes as we are considering the darkness adaptation being the most important precondition to the perfect observing experience. Thus, in the version 3.7.2 just released: New settings option "Hide the Android Navigation Bar" which works on latest devices. Additional controls added to make navigation more straight-forward without it displayed. Tip 1: If you feel confused using integrated DSO Planner "finger flicks" gestures for the fullscreen navigation (without that System-provided Navigation Bar), you can turn on the long-time available for tablets "Floating Back/Menu buttons..." option(s) in the "System-wide settings" menu. Tip 2: For myself, I have that Navbar completely disabled in the Android System settings globally, but allow to trigger its commands by flicks up from the screen corners for a long time. That's saving the screen space, and so natural and functional that when our users reported the issue I could not even recall if I have that annoying Navbar feature on my Galaxy S8 at all! Improved Night mode support for new Android OS "Material Design" themes. The new Android feature showing a bright balloon under the text entry cursor when you make observation notes was really blinding for new Android devices' owners, and there is no system control for it. Now it's barely visible in Night mode (but it is there, so you can still move the cursor if necessary). Multiple similar fixes around the app color Themes. Added automatic Android Navigation Bar theme change with app screen themes changing (between 3 modes: Day, Onyx, and Night) to match the visual experience better. More significant features are in the work, so stay tuned!

Wow! I didn't know that. Will study the Starsense's tech. Thank you for the tip!

Wait a sec, but the Polemaster (QHY and Celestron) has the USB connection too. It should go into a real computer as well to make it work. The handset is just a microcontroller and has not enough computing power to plate solve images. And that's logical as otherwise, the price of the mount with it should be bumped for the price of a decent smartphone.

Ahh! I've missed that turn. Then, sure thing, this is prob. the best solution.

That ASPA is a much more viable idea, indeed: https://www.celestron.com/pages/all-star-polar-alignment# Thank you for sharing! Though, not helpful for the OP.

Just looking at the image of the new mount provided. The iPolar is nothing more than the factory-integrated Polemaster. There is no pole finding eyepiece but USB ports on that end, and there are no other possible openings for a camera not looking at the pole. Website? The Polaris star is a very small object, so yes, it can be obscured, but the polar region must be visible in a good vicinity anyway. The FOV of the Polemaster camera is 10 deg, so the Polaris could be no more than 5 degrees below the edge of the roof (palm width, which is nothing), otherwise, there are no stars visible for the camera to plate-solve. Yes, it is possible to make a wider FOV camera for that, but that will degrade the alignment accuracy which is already just 5 arcmin (the stated 30 arcsec max is just the camera's pixel pitch).

That's nonsense. iPolar is just a cheap camera on the end of the small telescope in the polar axis. So it cannot polar align without the clear view of the pole. Actually, there is a simple computational way for that indeed, but in order to implement it, the iOptron CEM40 should be priced not just pathetic $2000, but $4000, as that will require two additional motors and gears installed to drive the polar axis for the "hassle-free" alignment without direct view to the Polaris... Any even cheapest GoTo system, even Alt-Az, can adjust its motion model to compensate for bad (or none) polar alignment, but in most cases, that's insufficient for the AP due to the field rotation and overall tracking accuracy provided.

The Star Drifting polar alignment method is in the toolbox of astronomers from ancient ages. If you don't have a laptop for that, just do it manually (see this guide , for example). Tedious, yes, but with the artificial TNP method I have described earlier it's needed only once, the Polar scope can be fooled well enough for your typical backyard AP subs after that.

Hey, folks. If I understood correctly, the original goal was to improve the printing accuracy? But, imho, the Z sensor is not for that, it's to eliminate the need to level the bed often as it gets randomly misaligned with use. It is indeed crucial for mass-production. However for the fine printing accuracy it's more beneficial to just take care of good manual bed leveling (including the orthogonality) each time and better yet always print on the raft. The original construction of commercially available printers could be custom tailored to the expected printing dynamics, i.e. adding weight or drag may easily lead to various strange issues without the firmware correction or/and mechanical re-calibration. I'm playing with my 3d printer (Rigidbot) since 2014. Glad there are more and more astronomers in that hobby too around!

No problem! Just forgot to mention, that in case your polar finderscope doesn't provide the TNP reticle to mark on the wall, then just use the Polaris marker after setting the time position to some fixed easily reproducible value (e.g. zero).

The easiest solution to that problem is making an artificial TNP (True North Pole). It doesn't make the initial polar alignment any easier, but all subsequent alignments will be (almost) standard. The accuracy depends only on the distance from the scope to the artificial Polaris and repeatability of the tripod configuration. I'm sure you have already guessed how it works: Find the perfect place for your tripod, so it's convenient to use and the distance to the house wall in the North direction is maximal (every inch counts). Polar align using the drift method (SynScan method will be most likely insufficient for the AP accuracy, it meant for the visual tracking). Confirm that you are truly aligned making some test images you are planning. Assuming the result is satisfactory, start marking the resulting geometry: Mark tripod legs positions on the floor so you can put them back again exactly as they are now. Mark tripod legs length as they are extended now (if not fully extended) so you can reproduce their length. Mark tripod legs, so you can be sure the same legs are going into the same marks. Mark whatever else could move the polar axis in your EQ mount. Finally, focus your polar finder on the wall of the house and mark the position of the true celestial pole (having a buddy helping with that would be the easiest). After the takedown, just match all your markings at set up and finally tweak the residual errors per the Polar finder instruction, just skip the Polaris timing steps as you have the TNP which is not affected.

Thank you! Feel free to ask any questions right here. Our own forum engine seems to have the broken registration facility at the moment.

Thanks! That was actually the idea behind that feature. I'm using the Dragon Dictate software for the voice typing for like 15 years if not more (not much lately, as my academic career is over). Thus that feature is already there! Read the "Note" here: http://dsoplanner.com/Observation_Notes#Note for all the details. The 3GP container file format is the standard media container compatible with Android and Windows Players (not 100% sure about the rest of platforms, but most likely too). For an older voice recognition app, you may need to extract the audio from the container to some compatible format like .wav file using some free or online converter first (there are plenty of them).

No, DSO Planner is not a SkyTools clone, just using a similar approach to dealing with the data from data maintenance (planning) tasks to displaying (charting/tabulating). I love Stellarium too! Very beautiful presentation-vise and open source (mine is rebuilt from sources with my own modifications). But its Android version is really frustrating so far. Also, it is following the third astronomy charting apps paradigm the "Home Planetarium" controlled by mouse and keyboard. Thus in many regards, it is hard to use at the telescope. Finally, our ultimate goal is to produce a standalone offline handheld assistant (it's often no Internet in the field) controllable with just one hand, preferably by a single finger (as your other hand might be occupied with the telescope controls, and when it is cold you should be able to operate the app with the capacitive stylus, keeping your hand in the mitten

I understand, DSO Planner it's not an ordinary planetarium app but more of an observations planner app kind, inspired in many ways by the SkyTools desktop software. After 40+ years in the hobby, I wanted an ultimate field solution in the palm of my hand. That required to move away from the typical approach of replicating paper charts functionality on a computer screen. So, a learning curve required in order to get rid of the old (paper) habits ?. You can check my write-up elaborating on my own routine here: http://dsoplanner.com/General_use_of_DSO_Planner Sorry for the still rough English, though still might be of help. After grasping the idea the planning of the entire night takes 5 minutes max.

Thank you, R26. That's true, our GoTo feature is minimalistic and requires 2 taps of the screen to move the scope or synchronize the chart with it. We could probably improve on that, but it's not the top priority, as we are both prefer just manual pointing Even though I have Meade ETX-125 too, it was dedicated for terrestrial views and solar projection long time ago. My current passion is visual DSO observing with the twelve-incher.

You are correct. The only difference of the Plus is the lack of USNO UCAC4 stars below 14m and similarly cut off PGC catalog. Which is good enough for an up to 8" aperture scope in reasonably good conditions. To be precise though, the Plus version actually exists to amend the 2Gb app data limit of early Android devices hardware, which I have mentioned above (the Pro requires more than 2Gb which you can't move to the SD card, at least initially due to Google restriction on the installation destination of the app data). Otherwise, it's exactly like the Pro in functionality. OTOH, we don't plan to ever sell you a newer version of the app again and Google can't do upgrades later. So if you plan at least a 12" ever in the future and your Android buddy is at least of a Lollypop breed, consider the Pro. Also, the Pro is usually released the first in the batch, as we are making it for our own enjoyment

I'm using DSO Planner for about 9 years. I'm one of its two developers. Let me list the most crucial differences of the DSO Planner app from the rest of similar Android apps (i.e. only its unique features). DSO Planner is the only handheld app that has complete USNO UCAC4 stars database. So you can see ALL stars down to 16m on the chart. That tremendously helpful for the identification of the star field with any eyepiece on an up to 16" aperture scope. With my 12" Dob I can rarely see a not charted in the app star or DSO. The most strict possible on the Android platform night mode with the fully user-adjustable brightness and size of dozens of chart elements. Most of the elements are designed to be giving up as little light as possible (wireframes). I'm observing from grey and black LPZs exclusively so the app is fine-tuned on my Galaxy Note 4 to avoid interfering with my almost 2 hours of elaborate darkness adaptation at all times. The day mode is also tunable to any taste. In general, the DSO Planner provides an enormous number of optional settings and tweaks, so you can personalize it to your routine in many ways. Exhaustive support for direct pointing with the Telrad. I have improved the scope pointing technique with the Telrad by developing dedicated app features to the extent that I never use any other finders anymore for the past 8 years but pointing it to any DSO, even not visible in my main eyepiece, with Telrad in one swift motion of the Dob between stars. It's faster and more reliable than GoTo systems (I have Meade ETX 125 GoTo for 20 years as well to judge). Star Boldness feature, which allows you to control how brightest and faintest stars are looking on the chart in real-time (the unique two handle slider), which is solving the problem of the real stars looking different in the eyepiece from the star symbols on the chart to a great extent, as every person's perception is different at that. It provides the objects' databases control system rivaling most advanced desktop apps. An advanced user can filter, create, combine, import, and share stock and custom objects databases in almost any imaginable way (all the way to simplified SQL requests), extending the functionality of the chart and the planner almost indefinitely. E.g. I have created the Variable Stars database to use in the planner and show on the chart from the public GCVS catalog in just two hours! Support for very old Android devices (excluding the Kindle series from Amazon, which is only a half-Android, plus there are some hardware restrictions for the Pro version on very early Androids). That means not only performance on high-end devices but also allows iPhone or WinMobile users to opt for a cheap second-hand Android device to serve as a dedicated astronomy navigator. My Galaxy Note 4 is dedicated to the extent of having a permanent clip cradle on the OTA near the focuser. We have the permission from Steve Gotlieb to show his NGC/IC project's images and great objects' observation notes in the app. DSO Planner even has its own app launcher, so you can start your other astronomy-related apps (or your observing flow supporting apps like weather) apps from one place (but prepare to part with your darkness adaptation if not wearing deep-red glasses or not using the screen film and opening a not well dark-adapted app). I believe we also have many other chart/database features improved over many obsolete ideas through these years, as we both are using our app in the field and from home first hand for several years already. We are listening to our users too and having short turn-around for new viable features as this is actually just our pet project, we are both doing different things for the living (which I believe is also an advantage for such an app development, no bold financial goals but pure observing efficiency). The only downside I should mention it's not a trivial star chart and it not made for cheap amusement. Thus reading the highly technical and detailed user manual is a must for observing efficiency (we even have a pdf one downloadable from the site). There is a learning curve to its most advanced features. A good grasp of astronomy science and data science academic basics would be highly beneficial as well. But Astronomy is not a trivial hobby either. It's for perpetual learners.