My Open-Source Project - AstroHopper - setting circles with a smart phone

[Artik]

About 1 and a half years ago I bought my first scope - AstroMaster 102AZ, the owner of the store suggested me to take 80mm with StarSense Explorer but I was very sceptical. Very quickly I realised that I have real troubles finding DSOs. 

Of course I could find with ease Orion Nebula and Pleiades - since I can see them with naked eye. Than I found M41 with ease with star hopping, After several attempts I found Double cluster and that was it. I was really stuck. Living in Bortle 8 area and having back than poor access to dark areas I was quite hopeless. 

However being algorithm engineer I thought, how hard can plate solving be? I accessed camera from JavaScript to discover that web API does not give enough control over the camera and images I get don't have any useful signal... But I also learned that I can access motion sensors with ease and actually track the motion of the phone with ease. So I asked myself - do I need plate solving?

This is how AstroHopper was born. I created a small web app that does a simple thing - allows to align on some object you can see with ease and guide you to the target you want to hop to using motion sensors (gyro and gravity). To my surprise it worked very well. With some help from the community with testing and debugging the app, it become real thing. In my local community at stargazing parties I see 1/2 of dob users navigate with this app. 

It isn't perfect and has lots of things to improve - but being open-source I hope more developers will join the project.

Project page: https://github.com/artyom-beilis/skyhopper  (license GPL)

Actual app: https://artyom-beilis.github.io/astrohopper.html

I hope you can find it useful 

Artyom (artik) Beilis

[Artik]

Updates: I released today a new version 1.0.7

• Fixed a bug that prevented watch list to be scrolled if non-code name was used, i.e. "Veil Nebula" instead of "NGC6960"
• Multiple manual improvements thanks to contribution by @FredOz

 

[starhiker]

It looks brilliant. I am going to try it in my next clear sky night.

[ddave1404]

Excellent application. I am going to use this as I am too on Bortle 8 area.

[rojay]

I've been trying Astrohopper this evening, and found it works very well for me. With a single fix on Altair, I could "push to" M11, Albireo, M27, and M57. All of the objects were in a low- power field of view first time. 

Thanks for sharing this app!

[rojay]

Hi, quick question: does the search function work for stars by catalogue number? I see it works for proper names, are their other options? Thanks.

[Artik]

5 hours ago, rojay said:

Hi, quick question: does the search function work for stars by catalogue number? I see it works for proper names, are their other options? Thanks.

Yes you can search for example M31 or Andromeda, you can search ngc451 and "Owl Cluster"

Just prepend with M for messier or NGC for NGC catalog

Edited December 21, 2023 by Artik

[rojay]

Thanks. It's great for DSOs, but I was wondering particularly about stars: I see you can search for names like Polaris, but is there a way to do e.g. Beta Lyr or an HD number etc?

[Artik]

28 minutes ago, rojay said:

Thanks. It's great for DSOs, but I was wondering particularly about stars: I see you can search for names like Polaris, but is there a way to do e.g. Beta Lyr or an HD number etc?

No only named stars I have in DB. I try to keep DB small to make it easily downloadable.

If you want specific objects not in the catalog you can just add them as user objects.

[rojay]

Makes sense, thanks Artik.

[RobinH]

Hi Artik,

is it possible to use astrohopper with the phone upright? I want to use it on my binoculars which are on a parallelogram mount. Its difficult to mount a phone flat while keeping it easy to view and press the screen.

thanks

Robin

[Artik]

16 hours ago, RobinH said:

is it possible to use astrohopper with the phone upright?

Not yet, also it is technically possible to add such a feature.

The biggest concern in such a case is accuracy. The current placement provides most optimal accuracy. 

[RobinH]

thank you for replying so quickly.

To keep the best accuracy I will continue trying to mount the phone flat in line with the binoculars. It will be possible just needs a bit of experimenting to get the best position and balance.

Thank you for making your project available to everyone. 

Robin

[LondonNeil]

I just found a youtube about astro hopper, it looks great and I look forward to trying it out!  Thanks for sharing your work!