Phone as finder

[AstroStokie]

Hope this is in the right section!

Has anyone tried using their phone and a star map type app as a finder? Thought about using one of those iPhone eyepiece camera holders mounted somewhere on the scope and using that to point in roughly the right direction. Just wondered if it’s been done and how useful it was. 

Cheers. 

[SIDO]

I tried this with the Skeye app and even made a bracket with an extention and Vixen foot for mounting the phone ahead of the telescopes radial magnetic field or the area of a metal cylinder where the magnetic field is least this for an 8" dob required mounting the phone about ten inches ahead of the telescope tube itself and then additional couterweight opposite that extention. Although I did get clear of the scopes field and was able to point by phone so to speak its accuracy was less than expected but good enough to locate larger brighter targets though to an experienced observer no real advantage, setting circles, goto or installing an encoding system are much better systems and I would suggest these first.

I admit though it was fully fun to try and fun should always be worked in some way somehow. I do use the android version of Stellarium and also have it on my Windows laptops and would suggest this over and above the Skeye app.

                  Best of Luck ?                                        

                               Freddie...

[AstroStokie]

Thanks for that...Hadn’t even considered magnetic fields and the likes! Will have a rethink...or just bend my back and use the spotter scope! 

 

[Stu]

1 minute ago, AstroStokie said:

Thanks for that...Hadn’t even considered magnetic fields and the likes! Will have a rethink...or just bend my back and use the spotter scope! 

 

As Freddie says, whilst it can be made to work to a degree, the accuracy is generally not good enough to get a target in the eyepiece.

Have you thought about a right angled finder to save your back?

[pregulla]

I use SkySafari to get the coordinates and then angle gauge + setting circles to point the scope when I don't feel like star hopping. The accuracy is good enough to put an object within 1.3 degree field of ES68 24mm eyepiece in 8" dob. I tried using my phone's compass at first but found setting circles to be more consistent and accurate.

Though after replacing my straight through finder with RDF and RACI finder I use it much less 

[AstroStokie]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

As Freddie says, whilst it can be made to work to a degree, the accuracy is generally not good enough to get a target in the eyepiece.

Have you thought about a right angled finder to save your back?

Oh, there’s nothing wrong with it...I’m just lazy ?