Pauls Space Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Hi Has anyone had any problems with the star sense app not being accurate in a not so dark area ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwatcher2001 Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Welcome aboard SGL Paul. Good to have you with us. I've not seen that problem here. There can be a bit of a learning curve and messing around getting it going to start with (getting the right settings, aligning the camera with the tube etc), but after that I've never had any trouble. In fact I'm surprised how well it works and aligns itself in twilight. I'm using using the SkySafari app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjaxed Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Hi and welcome to SGL, as long as you have access to a reasonable area of sky you shouldn’t have any problem. Sometimes people forget take the lens cap off the camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauls Space Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 Hi Thank you all for the warm welcome and help with the StarSense issue I look forward to our conversations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauls Space Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 12 hours ago, Starwatcher2001 said: Welcome aboard SGL Paul. Good to have you with us. I've not seen that problem here. There can be a bit of a learning curve and messing around getting it going to start with (getting the right settings, aligning the camera with the tube etc), but after that I've never had any trouble. In fact I'm surprised how well it works and aligns itself in twilight. I'm using using the SkySafari app. Hi Starwatcher thank you for your time my StarSense is manually powered it’s the app that uses your smartphones camera Its the smartphone camera and app that I’m having trouble with as it won’t see objects in a not so dark sky cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointedstick Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Yes, I've had that problem with mine. I find that it's most accurate on a dark, clear night. The brighter and cloudier it is, the more the app struggles to get its bearings--much like myself lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwatcher2001 Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Ah sorry Paul, my mistake. Celestron stupidly have two entirely different products called "StarSense" - StarSense Autoalign which uses a camera to align the telescope, and StarSense Explorer - the app that you use. You did mention "app" in your post and I totally missed that bit. https://www.celestron.com/products/starsense-autoalign https://www.celestron.com/collections/starsense-explorer-smartphone-app-enabled-telescopes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjaxed Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 I missed the app also, sorry I can’t help as mine is the auto align. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauls Space Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 2 hours ago, Starwatcher2001 said: Ah sorry Paul, my mistake. Celestron stupidly have two entirely different products called "StarSense" - StarSense Autoalign which uses a camera to align the telescope, and StarSense Explorer - the app that you use. You did mention "app" in your post and I totally missed that bit. https://www.celestron.com/products/starsense-autoalign https://www.celestron.com/collections/starsense-explorer-smartphone-app-enabled-telescopes Ah ok sorry my mistake it’s the explorer app although the camera app sounds good unfortunately I’ve got the manual one one a 6” Schmitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Lister Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 I have Starsense camera and software built-in to my Celestron SkyProdigy mount. The camera is a 640 x 480 pixel device, similar to a basic webcam, and needs fairly dark skies to "see" enough stars to perform its plate solving. If it cannot "see" several tens of stars, it tries another section of sky, but eventually gives up. I also have the Skywatcher Skymax mount. The Synscan software requires the user to select alignment stars, and manually centre them in the eyepiece. I recon that I can perform a "Brightest Star" 2-star alignment, using bright stars such as Vega, Altair or Capella, a good 45 minutes before it is dark enough for Starsense to work. On a dark night, the Starsense system gets me aligned a couple of minutes faster than I can achieve with the Synscan system. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis D Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 7 hours ago, Geoff Lister said: The camera is a 640 x 480 pixel device, similar to a basic webcam, and needs fairly dark skies to "see" enough stars to perform its plate solving. So, if you're way north in the summer, you can forget about this technology working during the "night". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Lister Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 7 hours ago, Louis D said: So, if you're way north in the summer, you can forget about this technology working during the "night". The version of Starsense fitted in the SkyProdigy has 6 possible settings to help the alignment. "Hazy/Urban" seems to be the default. "Full Moon" is probably the best for northern summer. The others are "Suburban", "Dark", "Windy" - to ignore blurred stars, and "Custom" - it may be possible to adjust the settings to get alignment under semi-dark conditions. I have also found that, if the camera is not finding quite enough stars, it is worth doing a power down, rotate by about 20 degrees azimuth, power up and start again. If this fails, or you have obstructed views, there is a manual alignment option so you can point the 'scope towards a few areas of sky with a reasonable number of visible (through a low magnification eyepiece) stars. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis D Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 8 hours ago, Geoff Lister said: you have obstructed views, there is a manual alignment option That's my situation since my trees matured. I have a sliver of sky about 20 degrees wide to the south and overhead that are clear. The rest is either partially or completely obscured. Two star aligning my DSCs is a real chore because of this. I'm lucky if I can see one bright star at any given time. That's why I really like SkEye since it requires no initial alignment. I then refine alignment on objects that are visible. It's been helpful in getting my bearings when I can't see an entire constellation or group of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now