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When I bought my first manual telescope (a used 18” Obsession) I lucked out….. it was a clear night the next night! Then I went outside with it and spent 45 minutes trying to find my first DSO. Pointing the tiny tiny view into the big sky accurately was a lot harder than I thought. So after a 3 hour session I had seen 4 objects! Then it was cloudy for 3 weeks straight. And I live in Arizona! I thought then it would be great to have a tool to help people learn how to hop from star to star while comfy inside, or during the day or on those cloudy nights! 7 years later and I finally have it working and up for both IOS and Android. I have a standard version which is Free. I hope it can help people avoid the frustration I had. I have a Pro version too, which adds some neat features and helps me offset the cost of putting these apps up in the stores. night mode you can enter your own telescope info and eyepieces so the view in the app matches your view a light pollution setting which will make the star field closer to your viewing area there are 2 extra hops in the app (more to come when I get time!) a progress chart to show which hops you have and haven’t done there is a custom hop page where you can enter any hop you want to practice (planets, comets, supernova, asteroid, whatever you want) IOS: Standard: Standard IOS Pro: Pro IOS Android: Standard: Standard Android Pro: Pro Android Admins: I tried to put this in the correct place. If I didn’t either delete it or move it where it belongs and let me know.

I'm seeing a strange issue when trying to connect to my HEQ5 mount using the Synscan Pro App running under Windows 11 and an EQDIR cable direct to the mount. All drivers etc are installed. (The reason I want to use the app is because it provides better tracking of the ISS using Skytrack that is possible with EQMOD.) If I power everything on, run the app and then hit "connect" I get a failure message, and this is repeatable. However, if I connect to the mount first using EQMOD from, say, CdC (which never fails) and then disconnect, the app will always connect. I'm not sure that it's always been like this, so it may be something to do with the sequence of powering on, connecting, etc, but if so I haven't managed to discover what. The only other thing to mention is that the USB connection goes via a USB hub (I don't have enough USB ports to avoid this), but as I said, it works first time every time with EQMOD. Obviously the workround I've mentioned is pretty simple to do, but it's a nuisance to have to do it every time. Has anyone else experienced this and found a solution, please?

I recently decided to give the SynScan app a try on my new Orion XT10g. Now using the hand controller I was familiar with the "Brightest Star" and "Two-Star" alignments methods, indeed I always use the Two-Star method. With the app however I see that the Two-Star has been replaced with the level north two star. What is that? And since there's no manual for the app, what precisely does level north mean? I'm guessing that you level the OTA and point north but with what precision? Any idea why that replaces the Two-Star method from the hand controller? OK, so fine. I did the Level North alignment. I noticed that as it goes to each of the two stars and stops, while waiting for you to center the star, a couple of the directional buttons are flashing. What's interesting is that the ones flashing are not the ones for the direction that the scope needs to move to center the star. Again, what's up with this? Finally, after aligning and doing a Goto (reasonably accurate), once it arrives at the target again, one of the directional buttons is flashing and there's a message above the object name that says that I'm to center it. Huh? Can someone help me make sense of all this. And, is there a manual for this app ?? Thanks.

Hi all, as a complete beginner, who is gradually getting some kit together, the question of which Polar Alignment App I should get for my Android phone is exercising my mind. Looking at the android play store there seems to be a myriad to choose from, which do members recommend & why?

Hi, Very pleased with my first ever attempt at imaging M31. Photo taken with my Orion ED80 Refractor, and Canon 450D DSLR at ISO 1600. Only scraping the surface "exposure wise", I know, with 48 Lights (composed of mainly 60 sec subs, with some 30 sec subs thrown in as well). 7 Darks, 20 Flats ,20 Bias Image processed from start to finish with Astro Pixel Processor (APP), of which I have just started a 30 day free trial. I am VERY impressed with APP, after experiencing lots of frustration with DSS and GIMP. Excited of what may be possible , when I begin to expose for longer periods of time., which I intend to do as a gain more experience. Regards to all Steve

This project is a real prospect now so I would appreciate opinions on if it stands a chance of success, particularly with regard to combining the subs from each scope and camera configuration for a single image. Scope and camera no. 1: Esprit 150 and G2-8300 taking luminance Scope and camera no. 2: Altair 102 mm Apo and Atik 314 OSC taking RGB. All mounted piggy back on a Mesu 200, guiding with a separate 60mm scope and camera. Targets will be principally galaxies. Assuming all the mechanical and imaging issues are sorted (how’s that for a sweeping assumption?) and even though the FOVs and arcsec/pixel resolutions are different, I think APP could put the subs together, I have successfully combined subs taken with both cameras on the Altair using this software. I do like the idea of significantly increasing the imaging time on a single target, the scopes are going on the same mount anyway so worth a try? Any views on a better camera choice than the Atik?

Hello fellow astronomers! I'm an amateur astrophotographer and a student and I made a Polar Alignment app for Android for German equatorial mounts. I kept the UI very simple and easy to use. If you would like to share some feedback, that would be very helpful. Cheers and clear skies!

Hey-ho So then, just as i thought the DSO season was well and truly over for me until late August/early September, as it turned out last Saturday night (May 5th) was mostly clear, so i set about trying to finish the NAN image i had captured in Ha a while back (see thread below): So all i needed was some OIII. It's obviously not the ideal time of year to capture this i know, as it's so low on the horizon, but beggar's can't be choosers so i tried my best to make the most of the small amount of astro dark time available and just make the best of it. In the end i managed 9 subs, two of which were sub-standard due to passing clouds, but as is my want these days i still asked APP to stack them (using the Quality setting) and it didn't seem to affect things. So in total this is: Ha: 7 x 480s, 6 x 1200, 13 x 1200 (a little over 7 Hrs) OIII: 9 x 1200s (3 Hrs) RGB (with IDAS-D1 filter): 20 x 60s The usual Flats & Bias, stacked in APP and processed in PS. Gear used: Nikon D5300 (modded); SW 80ED (510mm FL); HEQ5-Pro; SGPro and PHD2. The RGB subs were used solely for the stars. I still need to get better at merging them with the NB channels, i'm not as good as i'd like to be at controlling them. Although in this instance, i did mask the stretching of them, and it definitely helped, but i need to practice this to get better at it. I think the fact that the RGB stack (even at just 20 mins) contained some nebulosity didn't help things. When it's just stars and nothing else, it's so much simpler to combine them. So this is just a Version 1 for now (i'll try an sSHO next). I used Ha for Red, OIII for Blue, and used one of Carboni's Actions to synthesize the Green channel. Then went round and round in circles trying to find a colour balance to my liking (on my rubbish monitor!) so i'd love to hear what you guys think. Too dark? Too much saturation? (i tend to do that, lol). I also couldn't decide on orientation, so have included two different ones. Which do you guys prefer? All C&C welcome. Don't hold back! I'm always looking for ways to improve. Clear skies!

I have been playing around with a new program called AstroPixel Processor. So far I have been reasonably impressed with it. Up to now, I have been using PixInsight for calibrating, registering and stacking subframes. However, I am seriously thinking moving over to APP for this. There are also tools for stretching the final linear image. At the moment, I think these are not as convincing as the calibration -> stacking routines. Nevertheless, they are certainly usable and they are quick. I recently posted an image of an Ha stack of the Pelican Nebula. This was processed using my usual combination of PI and PS. It can be seen here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/295500-pelican-in-ha-first-real-test-of-dual-rig/ I decided to reprocess using just* APP. This took a fraction of the time of the previous method. It is a combination of 16 x 1200s frames shot though 3nm and 5nm Ha filters (8 of each): * - I didn't know how to slightly rotate and crop in APP so the crop was done in PI. I have since found out how to rotate and crop in APP ..... I think I'll stick to PI or PS!

This is a brilliant app but could someone check it please every time switch it on says my GPS is off and to restart when gps is switched on. My gps is on.

I have been thinking for a while the best way to attach my smartphone to my Dob to make it easier to find objects in the night sky. I have used printed skymaps before but I sometimes just prefer to use the skyeye app. First I ordered a cheap plastic case from eBay. This was for my old Samsung S3 that I no longer use. I also recently added a Telrad so was able to borrow some parts from the original finderscope (I am using the small bracket that attaches to the OTA). Next I cut down a cheap plastic shelf bracket that I bought from IKEA (50p) and this slipped into the finderscope bracket nicely. Glue gun was then used to attach an old furniture foot bracket to the phone case and I widened the hole in the bracket to accept the thicker thread. 15mm nut tightened it all together. I deliberately attached the phone in a manner that I could rotate it into portrait or landscape mode to suit. It is also far enough down the tube that I won't knock it with my head when using the Telrad. I have only used sticky pads at the moment to attach to the OTA until I am happy with the position, then a few nuts and bolts will finish the installation. Total cost (excluding phone) is about £3. Looking forward to seeing how it works now. Hopefully this helps anyone else thinking along the same lines. Regards, Mark

Hi, We will be moving house soon (hopefully) and I have been given permission to put up an obsy at the new address. I was thinking of buying one but thought that building one might be better for my needs. Not having built a shed before; does anyone know of a design program or app for building sheds. It's silly things like not knowing what size timber to use for the supporting framework or how far apart the uprights need to be etc. Any information would be most helpful; and then roll on winter!

Most of the astrophotography I have been doing to date has been in my back garden which conveniently faces north and I can attache my DSLR to my laptop via a 5m usb cable - which means my laptop is nice and safe in the warm/dry kitchen. As the targets I am interested are moving and seem better accessible from the fron of the house, I need to change things around a bit. Because the house is in the way I need to be a fair distance from it to see Polaris to align it all and won't be able to run a cable into the house - so I need something a bit more portable to control the camera as I take my subs. (There is a small field in front of the house by the way, I'm not standing in the road). I have seen some apps for controlling DSLRs via a mobile, but I believe that these are only suitable for better cameras that have a wi-fi function. I am not going to be able to use them with my Canon 1100d? Am I right in this thinking or does anyone use a mobile app to control their 1100d? Failing that, then I presume the best option is to set it all up out the front of the house and use an Intervalometer to control the imagin run? And then sit in the car to keep warm and watch for "dodgy" characters interfering with my equipment! Not that I have had any clear skies for about 15 years....... Cheers Mark