Cannot find a clear answer if celectial coordinates and the telrad is included in the SkySafari base version of if I need a higher version like 'plus' or 'pro'.
I read an interesting article where the author was using your software on how to polar align during daylight in getting ready for the upcoming eclipse. I want to be ready without fumbling around and missing the show. His article seemed pretty straight forward.
Reference here: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/daylight-polar-alignment/
Thanks for your time and possible advise;
Jim/ WB9GCV
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13 comments
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Bill Tschumy Jim,
You need Plus or Pro for both celestial (equatorial) coords and telrad circles.
Bill
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Jmjeffery Thanks for the information Bill. I think I'll probably go with the Plus version.
Thanks again,
Jim/ WB9GCV
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Rlpeebles I have the Pro and I don't know how to set it up per the article. Can someone pleas help?
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Bill Tschumy To display the chart in celestial coordinates, go to "Settings > Coordinates" and chose Equatorial. To turn on Tetrad circles, go to "Settings > Telescope Display" and turn them on.
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Bill Tschumy If you need more info, please tell me exactly what you are trying to do and what platform you are running the app on.
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Rlpeebles This short article can explain almost exactly what I am trying to do,, i.e. shoot the total eclipse Monday with my iopton viewer using the Pro app to track the eclipse. But first I have to be able to find Polaris in the daytime, per the article. I bought the app and the tracker solely for this purpose. I know as much about the heavens as I do about being a brain surgeon. So if you could explain it knowing what I know it would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/daylight-polar-alignment/
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Rlpeebles When you say platform do you mean what I'm attaching my camera to? IOptron Sky tracker Pro
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Bill Tschumy No, mean are you running SkySafari on iOS, Mac or Android?
I will see if I can find time to read the article and respond to it. However I'd appreciate it if some other users could help RIpeebles out.
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Bill Tschumy Ok, I see what they want you to do. As I said previously you can turn the grid on by going to "Settings > Coordinates" and chose Equatorial.
To turn on Tetrad circles, go to "Settings > Telescope Display" and turn them on. You will also have to turn on "Show even when not connected to scope" to have the visible when not connected to a scope. They will stay centered on the screen.
Finally you will need to tap the "Compass" button in the toolbar to turn on the compass feature. Note that taping the screen will turn it off again.
This might get you a rough polar alignment. The problem is the digital compasses in smart phones are just not that accurate. Expect 3-5 degrees of accuracy. Having the phone near metal in the mount will cause further problems.
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Rlpeebles If you still need to know, it's IOS.
The mount is made of plastic as well as my camera. The tripod is carbon fiber, the ballhead is stainless steel and aluminum. The phone will be attached to the tracker. Thanks for all your help.
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Rlpeebles Bill, you are the only one who has responded and I thank you. One more question: In the video, http://bit.ly/2vVi7gi, the speaker is talking about setting it to the south pole to get the north pole guidance. If you have a chance to review the video again, is that something I should do also. I don't know what a wedge is. I'm planning on attaching the phone to the tracker.
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Bill Tschumy He refers to the south celestial pole because you attach the phone to the front of the scope or lens. The back of the phone is looking in the opposite direction from the scope on the mount. So if you want to have the scope pointing at the north celestial pole, you want the south celestial pole centered on the screen as you look at it. You can turn on a SCP marker in the Grids & Reference settings.
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Rlpeebles Yesterday I did an eclipse rehearsal setting the phone on the tracker, both facing north with the app on Polaris. It worked beautifully, in fact holding the sun in my camera view for as much as an hour. I almost feel like I did something wrong but got the desired effect. I did a Polaris search and then hit Center which seemed to lock Polaris in the center of the Telrad. Since you didn't mention that, I wasn't sure that was right but it seemed to work.
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