Planispheres, Star Atlases, and Apps, Oh My!

[John]

11 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

Just tried the turn the display red on my iphone, works a treat. Have you also set a short cut to it? You can then tripple tap the home button and it instantly turns on.

It even works when your phone is off. Tripple tap and the phone wakes up in red mode so you do not loose tour nigjt vision while you unlock your phone

Red light has to be very, very dim if it's not going to affect dark adapted eyes to some extent.

 

[Chefgage]

I also have the brightness turned right down

[Yearofthegoat]

I was bought Collins Night Sky & Starfinder (Dunlop & Tirion) a couple of Christmases ago and that came with a small planisphere. I'd left it in the pocket at the back of the book until recently when I was ill and started reading (again) the astro books I had (also Making Every Photon Count, Turn Left At Orion). Then I realised (doh!) that I could use the planisphere to very quickly see what was around in the sky each night without the need for phone apps or laptops.

So now it's in my eyepiece case but I also use it to help plan what to view and to pre-select alignment stars for GoTo (speeds things up and prevents me trying to find stars that aren't visible at that time of year - yes that's you, Sirius ).

The Collins Night Sky book is good and well organised, but - like Turn Left At Orion - not really something to have out at the scope, so have just ordered the Sky and Telescope atlas - thanks for the advice!

[tony210]

Virtual planetariums are good but I still use a planisphere to orientate myself month on month and get an idea of what is on view- Tony

[Dave In Vermont]

Time for my shameless pitch of Stellarium. Free of charge, and one of the developers is a member here - Alex Wolf. Here is my 'Cut & Paste' and two screenshots - oneshowing approx. what it looks like first switched-on, and my own, more advanced, copy:

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On this link is the main page for downloading Stellarium. Choose which version is correct for your computer. Here you go:

http://www.stellarium.org/
 
As for instructions, a full copy of them is bundled with the program that you download. But if you need another copy for some reason, these can be downloaded here:
 
https://sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/files/Stellarium-user-guide/0.15.0-1/stellarium_user_guide-0.15.0-1.pdf/download

This program is quite large, so download when you have a few minutes. I'll leave you with a screenshot of mine, and also one of the screen approximating - roughly - of how it looks when you begin. Please know that I am an experienced user. I do this to help you understand the immense range & versatility of this amazing software-program.

 

 

Click images for full-size.

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Enjoy!

Dave

[Stu]

6 hours ago, John said:

Red light has to be very, very dim if it's not going to affect dark adapted eyes to some extent.

 

John, it is actually possible to reduce the brightness on the iPhones to a very low level these days, to a level which I think is comparable with a red light torch. You can make the whole thing red, including the home screen and reduce the white point to a low level.

I observed with my phone at SGL10 and was still seeing very faint galaxies with no problem.

[John]

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

John, it is actually possible to reduce the brightness on the iPhones to a very low level these days, to a level which I think is comparable with a red light torch. You can make the whole thing red, including the home screen and reduce the white point to a low level.

I observed with my phone at SGL10 and was still seeing very faint galaxies with no problem.

Thats good to know Stu

When I was last at a SGL star party under dark skies there were quite a few folks (not you of course) who clearly had not found that feature

 

[Stu]

5 minutes ago, John said:

Thats good to know Stu

When I was last at a SGL star party under dark skies there were quite a few folks (not you of course) who clearly had not found that feature

 

Funny , or not really!!

I guess it's a bit like those 2 million candle power red light torches......

Attached screen grabs of how to do it....

In Settings, General, Accessibility, Display Accomodations you have options to select colour filters and reduced white point.

You can also set up a short cut which allows you to triple click the main button which brings up a menu allowing you to instantly select which options you want.

[John]

I guess the next step would be to switch to "voice only". You whisper into the completely dark phone what you want to look at and then the phone quietly says "left a bit, right a bit, up a bit, thats it !"

 

 

[baggywrinkle]

I use the S&T Pocket Atlas and planisphere a lot. Unlike phone apps the planisphere does not ruin your night vision......and it does not run out of battery.

[Paul73]

Sky Safari Pro all the way for me too! It is either massively detailed or massively simple depending on your needs.

Most mobile screens are a bit small so need to be too bright (even in red mode). I use an iPad with a dimmed screen, which doesn't really impact on the night vision.

Paul

[Racey]

3 hours ago, baggywrinkle said:

Unlike phone apps the planisphere does not ruin your night vision......and it does not run out of battery.

That needn't be the case if @Stu's great tips about red screen tinting and white point dimming are followed and either the battery is fully charged before venturing out, or a power pack for the phone is to hand...

There really is a solution to every problem ?

[baggywrinkle]

Flat earther me...Planispheres rule

[Buzzard75]

I bought the Sky & Telescope atlas and looked through it the other night to try and figure it out. Still not quite clear on some of the labeling for when each group of charts is supposed to be used. Especially right now when I don't believe there is a chart labeled for early May in the evenings. I guess I'm just supposed to use the April chart or the mid-May/June chart or a combination thereof. I think I have a rough idea for how to orient the book based on the hour markings around the outside of the charts though. It's been kind of cloudy and rainy the last couple days so I haven't been able to actually go outside and use it. I pulled up an app on my phone and tried to navigate the app as if it were my telescope to locate galaxies, nebulas, and other DSO's that aren't labeled in the app without zooming in first. It's good practice and I think I've got a good handle on it.

I think I'm going to get a planisphere as well. There are so many out there. Does anyone have any recommendations for one of the northern hemisphere?

[usernut]

I use skyview app on my android phone and stellarium and Cartes du ciel on laptop.

 

[Macrob1]

A planisphere and Stellarium PC and android tablet version for me. I just installed the android version of Sky Safari and after a quick play I must say I prefer Stellarium at this stage. I need to look at the settings in Sky Safari to see if I can get it to display Messier, NGC, IC objects etc. which Stellarium can do. The added attraction of Stellarium, especially to someone with Scottish heritage is that it's FREE!