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SkySafari 6 Pro | Star Catalog Is Duplicated (Answer: Current UCAC5 Catalog Doesn't Yet Cross-References With Other Catalogs - It Will Soon)

When using SkySafari 6 Pro (on a MacBook Pro running MacOS X 10.11.6), in some cases faint stars are shown twice (but at slightly different positions, a few arc-seconds), once with the TYCHO designation and once with the GAIA designation. This is very confusing since these are spurious double stars, not real double stars. Is there a way to disable one of these catalogs ?  In SkySafari 5 Pro the stars are shown correctly.  I did purchase the UCAC5 Extension database, which might be related to this problem.

Cheers,

Sergio

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13 comments

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    Keiron Smith

    Hi Sergio, 

    Please attach a screenshot showing example stars with this issue.

    Thanks!

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    Sergio,

    No need for a screen shot.  We know about this.

    The problem is that the current UCAC5 catalog doesn't have cross-references to other catalogs (like Tycho or GSC).  Thus we can't match the two "stars" up as being the same star.  They have recently released a new version if UCAC5 that does have the cross references.  We will incorporate this soon and the problem should go away.

     

  • 0
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    Sergio ILOVAISKY
    Hi Bill,
    Thanks for the reply. Looking forward to the fix.  
    However, the UCAC5 extension is apparently not the culprit as the fake double star bug is also present in the iOS version of SkySafari 6 Pro, for which I did not (yet) buy the extension. The stars affected also show up with Tycho and Gaia designations. 
    Cheers,
    Sergio
  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    Then please do attach two screen shots showing the fake double stars.  In each screen shot select one of the two doubles so I can see what stars they are.

  • 0
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    Sergio ILOVAISKY

    OK, here is a short list of the stars I have come across that show the bug :

    STI1987, STI1992, TYC3715-0348-1, TYC3715-0642-1, TYC4438-0663-1, TYC4438-0356-1, TYC4438-0561-1, TYC4438-0659-1, TYC4439-0754-1

    I enclose screen shots (iOS version) for the first four. In each case both designations are shown.





     

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    All of these screenshots show that one of the components is a GAIA star.  This is from the UCAC5 catalog.  You must have purchased this catalog.  Check the In-App Purchase settings and see if it says it is installed.

  • 0
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    Sergio ILOVAISKY

    Beats me. I did not purchase any add-on, as per screen shot. Is the UCAC5 extension pre-loaded in the app and then unlocked upon payment or does it have to be downloaded from the net ?

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    Beats me as well.  It certainly seems like you have the UCAC5 catalog.  There are no GAIA stars in the default database.  What happens if you tap "Restore Purchases"?

  • 0
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    Sergio ILOVAISKY

    It doesn't do anything when I tap "Restore Purchases".

    I got the iOS app first on June 22, then the MacOSX app on July 14, then I purchased the UCAC5 extension for the Mac, that was the sequence of events. Looking through my bills from Apple, I do not find a bill for the UCAC5 extension...

  • 0
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    Dean

    As a second data point for you...

    I certainly have not made any in-app purchases, however I see the same stars as Sergio.

    See attached image.

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    OK, I just talked with Tim who is the one that builds the database.  Apparently the default SS6 Pro database does have some GAIA stars in it.  He supplemented the Guide Star Catalog with them to give a uniform 15th mag cutoff over the whole sky.

    We will need to have an internal discussion about when we can try to solve the spurious double problem.  Stay tuned.

  • 0
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    Sergio ILOVAISKY

    I hope this will help you in finding a solution :

    Exactly the same type of bug (fake double stars) is present in Starry Night Pro (v.7.6.3), except that here the designations are TYC and USNO. I happened to find the bug by accident in SkySafari because it's the app I use most often. Enclosed are screen shots (for both apps) of the original "double-double" I found looking for something else.



  • 0
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    Sergio ILOVAISKY

    Hello again,

    I have just noticed on my iPad that the "fake double star" bug has gone away in the latest SkySafari Pro (v. 6.2.1) update. This is really good news.

    However, this same bug is common to both SkySafari Pro (7.6.3) and StarryNight Pro (6.1.0) on the Mac, as I pointed out in my last post of July.

    Hope that you will be coming out soon with a solution.

    Cheers,

    Sergio

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