Phillips6549

11 hours ago, Artik said:

I have just released 19 with updated ASI SDK (and other things) . Please tell me if it helps.

Artyom

Beta-19 has fixed it for me.  Just need the clouds to go away for a while to try it outside. 🌧️

Thanks for your perseverance!

Mark

1 hour ago, han59 said:

The latest OpenLiveStacker version works well with my ToupTek aps-c IMX571 mono camera.

Artyom

I guess this is not the version from the new ASI SDK?  

Mark

Thanks Artik

1 hour ago, Artik said:

Can you please give me exact ASICap version and Android version.

ASICap version is 2.0.7 (1260_0804)

Android 13, Security Patch 1st June 2023;  One UI 5.1;  Kernel 4.19.87-26203352

Hope this helps

Mark

14 hours ago, Artik said:

You can try ASICap app (their own app to show live video) too see if it works -

Yes, ASICap does work with the same equipment.

This also clarifies that the USB ports can power the camera.  Is there anything I can log to help debug your  app?

Hi Artic

I just tried to use your tool on both a Samsung Galaxy S8+ tablet and a Samsung Galaxy S20 phone (both on Android 13) with my Zwo Asi 120MC-S

In each case the Software detects the camera and asks for permission to use it but then returns an Alert: Failed to open ASI camera 0 code=16: GENERAL ERROR

Does this mean that the USB cannot power the camera?  Or perhaps my USB A to C adaptor is missing something?

The camera is working OK on my Windows Laptop with Sharpcap 4.

Excellent project.

Mark

I hope it's clear for someone somewhere.  Wall to wall cloud here in Birmingham

Occultation at 16.50 UTC

Just installed the latest MacOS security update this morning - all working again now.

Thanks for providing Stellarium, by far the best planetarium SW out there.

Stay safe and enjoy Christmas & New Year.

Thanks.  That confirms my experience too.  Anything which is using OpenGL is now broken.

Just as well I have another machine on which to run Stellarium 🙂

Hi Alexander

Are you aware of any compatibility issues with MacOS 10.15.7?

When I start Stellarium it gets to the splash screen (as far as initialising colour scheme) then just closes. 

I was originally running 20.4 and this issue started only after a MacOS upgrade from 10.15.6 to 10.15.7

21.2 does exactly the same.

I've sent an error report to Apple as it is clearly something they have done in the MacOS upgrade which is causing the problem but, honestly, I don't expect they will do anything about it!

Keep well

Mark

There is a free version of Stellarium for Android phones at least.

Hi Johnygail, and welcome to SGL

Jupiter and Saturn are both visible in the early morning at the moment - you'll need to be looking at around 4am to see them at their best.  Even then they are very low in the sky so unless you have an unobstructed view below 12 degrees from the horizon, you'll not see them.

You won't see Jupiter in the evening until August.

Any views of the planets will be small.  Don't expect to see the wonderful detail you see on the internet!  Nevertheless, seeing the planets with your own eyes is always worthwhile - and the first sighting of Saturn will be a Wow! moment.

Checkout the thread below to get an idea what you're likely to actually see through your scope.

Here are a couple of examples of what I could see last summer with a similar scope taken on my Samsung phone.

Clear skies

Mark

This forum has an excellent thread to set expectations of what you can see with different types of scope:

18 hours ago, ApathyAngel86 said:

but I've been slightly underwhelmed by the inability to see anything else.

Don't be underwhelemed by what you can't see, celebrate what you can see!   If you've seen that Venus is a crescent then you have seen something which 99% of the population are entirely unaware of.  Swing South from Venus you'll find stars in he constellations of Gemini, Cancer & Leo.  You should be able to make out the Beehhive Cluster in Cancer even with your scope and under light polluted skies - it will be faint but visible.

Get yourself a good (free) planetarium program - Stellarium is great (you can download it for virtually any platform from here https://stellarium.org/ , or use the online version here, https://stellarium-web.org/)

Don't be disheartened, make the most of what you have.  

Clear skies & keep well

Mark

Pipnina

Here's a copy of the manual for reference.

Keep well

Mark

Synscan_V4_Hand_Control_Manual_SSHCV4-F-161208V1-EN.pdf

So what's the answer in case anyone else is searching for it? 🔍  I'd certainly be interested to know and have a link to those manuals if they're online.

Thanks & keep well

Mark

Nat Geo is no longer available on NowTV but is available on TalkTalk Ch317

There will be more nefarious ways of watching 

In space, there is no up or down!!! 🔁

Merlin

You need to rotate the phone clamp so that your camera lens is on the centre-line of the adapter (see green lines).

It's fiddly and requires a lot of adjustments up-down-left-right to get the camera lens in the best position.  Just keep at it.

Mark

My guess is that the 2 things (Cloud Cover and Seeing) are calculated independently.  If the clouds were not there the seeing would be excellent!

A prime example of S*d's Law in action!

Mark

This from Wikipedia:

"Although marketed as a converged platform, and as with Windows Phone 8, using a Windows NT-based kernel, Windows 10 Mobile still cannot run Win32 desktop applications, but is compatible with software designed for Windows Phone 8."

So the chances are you'll not be able to run Polemaster

Mark

Not an app but a website

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/seeing/sheldon_united-kingdom_2638071

Set your own location obviously!

Mark

58 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

If you choose stars that are close together, I think any error in your centering will be greatly amplified the further away you get from your alignment stars.

Yes absolutely.  But if you want to, for example, GoTo an object which is barely visible or invisible in the eyepiece then choosing alignment stars which are close together and close to your target does (in my limited experience) give the best results.    If you then move to another target, you will need to re-align close to that one.

3 minutes ago, Star Struck said:

Rules for choosing alignment stars:

The 'rules' are recommendations intended to allow your GoTo system to get you  close to #any# target.  Rules notwithstanding, choosing close stars really helps for one specific target. 

11 hours ago, Tim said:

but the way to get pinpoint precision when I had a SW mount was to do a 3 star alignment using a triangle that encompassed the area of sky interest.

+1 for this course of action.  Even a 2 star alignment on stars close the the object of interest gives me a huge increase in goto accuracy.

You can check when the Starlink constellations will be visible here:

https://findstarlink.com/#52.5,North,1.83,West;3

Use the 'Change Location' option to correct for your location.  

Mark

That's really sad.  She was a great ambassador for the science.

Mark