COMET C/2022 E3 (ZTF) NOW ON DATABASE OF STARSENSE EXPLORER TELESCOPE APP.

[paulastro]

This comet which is forecast to become as bright as 5th mag has been on SkySafari's database for a little while, and has very recently been added to that of the StarSense Explorer Telescope App. On the latter, search for C/2022 and it will come up amongst a list of comets.  

 

http://aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by paulastro

[wookie1965]

2 hours ago, paulastro said:

This comet which is forecast to become as bright as 5th mag has been on SkySafari's database for a little while, and has very recently been added to that of the StarSense Explorer Telescope App. On the latter, search for C/2022 and it will come up amongst a list of comets.  

 

http://aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html

 

Is this on automatically or do you have to do something like with stellarium.

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, wookie1965 said:

Is this on automatically or do you have to do something like with stellarium.

As far as I know, Celestron do regular updates to the database

[wookie1965]

Well mixed results tonight despite aligning on deneb with a 6mm eyepiece x200 the app got everything wrong went to M42 nowhere near tried using the red dot finder its useless especially wearing glasses. I'm going to have to get a Telrad riser. 

Got to see Mars and Jupiter by finding them myself. 

I got Mars in the scope and tried alignment this is what I got. 

It must of been the moon that's all I can think of. 

[paulastro]

 

Out of interest, why did you realign it if it was working OK in your previous session?

When you aligned it, at the final stage when you aligned the crosshair on the screen with the star, Deneb, that was in the telescope field of view are you sure it was Deneb on the screen?  It's not impossible to mistakenly align with the wrong star on the screen. Ive done it myself and it results in a constant pointing error in the distance you are out when you then try and locate an object.

I hate to say this, but the Starsense App didn't 'get it all wrong'.  I soon found this out when I had mine,  if it wasn't locating objects it was my fault, not the app.  If you follow the alignment procedure, it will locate objects correctly, accurately and quickly.

I enerally don't like RDFs, and use a 30mm optical finder  on the rare occassion I need one.  I also wear glasses.

The app you use is the same one we all use, and there's no reason why it should not work for you, so I can't see it being the moonlight being responsible. As I said in my testing of this, I was quite astonished how well it worked in very bright moonlight.

If your phone is an old one, or not compatable it may not work as well as it should.  You can check online via Celestro'ns website if you're not sure.

If you can't sort it, you're welcome to pm me if you wish.  I can talk a lot faster than I can type on my phone. 🙂  I can always pm my number to you.

Regards, Paul

 

 

[Astro_Dad]

I generally found alignment during the day on a distant stationary object provided excellent accuracy, and only occasionally needed to be fine tuned or checked. The plate solving worked well in bright moonlight and in much less than perfect darkness (even in Summer with only a few naked eye stars visible). 
Have you tried aligning in daylight again?
 

[Astro_Dad]

On 07/12/2022 at 19:26, paulastro said:

As far as I know, Celestron do regular updates to the database

The most significant app version update (since the original launch of the DX 130 AZ in 2020) was when they released  the 8” and 10” Dobsonians- more objects were included to help take advantage of the larger apertures. This was when they introduced the “More Deep Sky Objects” section. Some duplication of other sections but overall nicely expanded. The update potential is almost unlimited - it will be very interesting to see how far they take it in time. 

[paulastro]

3 hours ago, Astro_Dad said:

The most significant app version update (since the original launch of the DX 130 AZ in 2020) was when they released  the 8” and 10” Dobsonians- more objects were included to help take advantage of the larger apertures. This was when they introduced the “More Deep Sky Objects” section. Some duplication of other sections but overall nicely expanded. The update potential is almost unlimited - it will be very interesting to see how far they take it in time. 

 Thanks Andrew, I was only referring to data updates for new newly discovered objects,  or changes to orbitary date for already known objects - rather than new versions of the app.

Intetestingly, the fact that there has only been one new version, because of the dobsonians launch, shows how much trouble Celestron went to in ensuring the original app worked as well as it does.  The fact that  it worked so well when the original 'beginner' StarSense Explorer scopes were launched is very impressive in my view. In terms of its functionality, I don't think Celestron could have done any better.

As you say Andrew, it will be interesting to see how Celestron support and develop the system going into the future.

[Cagliostro78]

Hi, after finding this comet on starsense app, in the last few days I cannot find it anymore. I cannot find any C/2022 objects, tryng C/2021 it works. Any ideas?

[cotterless45]

Just been out with 15x 70 bins , easy catch , very big and bright . Couldn’t get it in small bins , clear skies , Nick. Well worth getting up for !

[trh1]

On 16/01/2023 at 13:37, Cagliostro78 said:

Hi, after finding this comet on starsense app, in the last few days I cannot find it anymore. I cannot find any C/2022 objects, tryng C/2021 it works. Any ideas?

Same here. I’m thinking I could delete and reinstall the app, but I don’t want to burn another install code. Does anyone know how soon we should expect the next database update? Also, I thought the app itself works offline (no cellular when I  successfully tracked C/2022 E3 (ZTF) from the desert last weekend) so how did the C/2022 entries disappear if there was no app update this week? Or was there?

[Cagliostro78]

Today it works on starsense app too! 🤔🎉

[SuburbanMak]

SynScan Pro for Skywatcher mounts was accurate last night.

Great views from my South Downs spot (SQM 21.04, Bortle 4).