JK 31

Thanks for the reply, I was just curious as much as anything. I do visual only which involves a lot of star hopping from double to double and SS6 more than suits my needs. I record a brief note for each observation and the following day visit the Observation Group Picker to see where the previous night had taken me. Now if SS7 allowed me to make an Observed List from the previous night in the same way that you can make a planned Observation List, this would be just perfect and I wouldn’t mind paying the SS7 full price. Anyway, rambling aside SkySafari for me is brilliant.

That’s kind. One example is; beside 17 Cyg SkySaf shows an 8.5 Mag B star at 3.2” Separation. This B star designated HD 186858 should be shown approximately 800” below next to the true HD186858. Confirming this with Stelle Doppie the star that’s in the incorrect position is the G star of the 17 Cyg system. A more simple example would be the well known one where the Mizar B star is shown on the chart with a 0.8” Separation instead of 14.7” as observed and recorded by Stelle Doppie.

I have been using SkySafari 6 Pro for a couple of years now mainly for double star observing. I was advised on this forum at the start that the SkySafari Starchart had many minor errors and I have found this to be true. Although finding these minor errors and checking against other sources has added much interest I was wondering if SkySafari have been correcting these errors along the way and made improvements to the Skychart within version 7. With a more accurate Starchart I would love to go through the errors that I have recorded in order to be able to check the accuracy of my own records. Does anyone know if SkySafari 7 has an updated Skychart?

Thanks Stu for the information regarding SkySafari updating process and also the tip about changing the date to identify the changes to Separation distance and the angle of the minor double star. You’ve set me off looking for all the doubles with known and identified orbits that are shown in SkySafari. There are quite a few when you start zooming in to look. Brill.

One further thought on SkySafari. Can someone clarify whether the data required to update a double stars separation for example is embedded within the App at the time of downloading or does the App get updated through the WiFi?

Thank you for your reply Zermelo, I now fully understand the situation regarding the separation of doubles that you explain so well, especially after looking at the stelledoppie web site, where you can often find the history of a double stars relative movements over the years. I have found this web site fascinating. Thanks also for the clarification regarding the direction of the companion star. I need to work this through a bit but I think I have it.

Thanks for your reply Jiggy I now understand that the SkySafari Skychart and the Objects info. data on the left of the screen are constantly up to date although the text on the right side of the screen is not. This would explain the occasional minor variations between the data and the text. Thanks also for the clarification between the SkySafari Plus & Pro versions

Fairly new to looking at double stars and found SkySafari Plus great for identifying possibilities but a couple of things are confusing me when trying to work out where the fainter double should be. If anyone could help with these points it would be most appreciated. 1. Because some doubles are orbiting each other I assume the position of the fainter star would change over time. My queries on this is how up to date is SkySafari Plus, Object Info, which sometimes provides photos and layout information of the double. Also, how up to date is the SkySafari Starchart which sometimes shows the position of the fainter double and do these two sources of information tie up? 2. Secondly I refer to the Object info. which gives the Separation reading and an angle in degrees. My query on this is; does the angle give a clue to where I should find the fainter double, because it doesn’t seem to tally with the SkySafari Starchart or what I am seeing (I mostly use an erect prism). Also, how accurate is this angle, given that the position of the fainter double must change over time? 3. Would an upgrade to SkySafari Pro help with this, is the Object info in SkySafari Pro much more up to date? Hope this makes sense.