Trevor, Ive gotten a ton of inspiration and guidance from you these last few years. The app didn't appear to update and the only thing I gave it was time, but when the menu icons actually appear and you can configure the settings the app is great and works wonderfully. I used all 62 x 240-second exposures in my final image. I enjoy the simple setup and dead simple software to polar align the mount however, Ive now lost some of the portability of this mount. Where should I put the Polaris when doing polar alignment? Thanks. Achieving an accurate polar alignment is relatively easy with the SkyGuider Pro. We'd love to hear from you! The equipment used in this example a Sky-Watcher HEQ5 German equatorial mount. APT Darkness Clock (APT DC) is a free app without ads, that calculates the suitable time for deep sky astrophotography or observing in selected night and location. As for the ipolar, I saw a mention in one advertisement that bipolar could be used when one cannot see the pole star. Many german equatorial mounts have a bubble level built-in. So I have to remove the sheets, adjust and put it back. Copyright 2023 AppAdvice LLC. The overall accuracy of the algorithm has reached sub 0.1 arc-seconds now.The app now using a 10 minute marker reticle, the same reticle used in the polar scope of iOptron(R) telescope mount since 2014.A must have for iOptron(R) SkyGuider Pro, iOptron(R) SkyTracker Pro, SkyGuider and SkyTracker users!Also very helpful for any iOptron(R) telescope mount owners. Let me know what do you think. This article assumes you would do the it the same way although you can connect to it via Ascom as well if you needed to so I suggest you check out the IOptron installation guide if you want to do it this way but I have not found this necessary. Step 2 - Dark Frame This app is targeted for amateur astronomers and astrophotographers that use a telescope with a German Equatorial you can get the calculated result to align your mount with a small error. I am not sure when should I stop rotating. Hi all, as a complete beginner, who is gradually getting some kit together, the question of which Polar Alignment App I should get for my Android phone is exercising my mind. The iOptron iPolar Polar Alignment Software. The reticle can be illuminated in a range when rotating (I would say several degrees of difference can still make it lit). Your email address will not be published. By On the reticle the Polar star (and the Octant for the Southern hemisphere) is engraved and should be positioned over the real Polaris by turning it. Trevor, Great video again !!! Accurate Polaris / Oct position calculation, including atmospheric refraction, stellar aberration, nutation. Updated Review: Menu button started appearing magically. This is why I prefer to use a PoleMaster with a customized adapter in front of it. From what Ive researched it looks like you can do all that on the SkyTracker Pro even though 5lbs is outside the specs on the payload without the counterweight. As you can imagine, I had mixed feelings about disrupting this proven configuration to upgrade it with the iPolar device. Thanks. My one regret is that I havent given it a proper test drive yet. It will display the correct position of Polaris in relation to the North celestial pole. Hit the connect button and the IPolar camera should connect to your laptop - the usb driver should auto download and install the first time you use it but might be a good idea to do this before being away from the internet, just in case! For more video tutorials and astrophotography tips, please subscribe to AstroBackyard on YouTube. No matter how good you are at manually aligning the mount through the polar scope with your eyes, I think its safe to say a camera has got you beat. So, if the SkyGuider Pro is your main deep-sky imaging rig, the iPolar is a no-brainer, especially if youve had trouble with polar alignment in the past. High resolution, accurate data. The process of removing the stock illuminated polar finder scope inside the iOptron SkyGuider Pro. This will be great info for me too as I progress especially about Polaris needing to be off centre for photography. Its a rather simple process for German equatorial mount (GEM)owners. Long story short, here are my questions: 1. It Nightshift is the ideal free night sky app for the experienced amateur astronomer as well as the casual stargazer. Running, cycling, gym, walking, dancing Choose your favorite activity from 100+ sport profiles and start reaching your Light Pollution Map allows you to easily locate dark sites where the sky will not be affected by light pollution, allowing the best observance, star gazing, and photography of the night sky! Otherwise, youll have to rotate the tripod and possibly re-level. If I travel to South Texas, say the Texas Star Party (29 degrees), I need the low latitude version. For those that set up and tear down their equipment each night like me, youll quickly become a master in polar alignment through experience. - When the moon will rise and set ? Although, as mentioned you will need to hook up a computer to the Polemaster this little camera is worth its weight in gold. - Does my mount level? Because if the pole star and the other stars around it are obscured by trees, it would seem like it would not work. Equatorial platform polar alignment help! The version of the iPolar I have came with an adapter to externally mount the device to the SkyGuider Pro. Privacy Policy | I guess I will stick with the stock mount. For proper use of this site, you need to enable javascript in your browser! The app uses the best algorithm to calculate the position of Pole Star: The algorithm calculates 3D space motion of the Pole Star itself, precession, temperature and barometric pressure corrected atmospheric refraction, nutation, parallax, aberration, and etc.). Check out those round stars! This is a demo of the daytime polar alignment routine. or to your computer?, to take the black photo and to take the 4 star photo. OPT offers the SkyGuider Pro and iPolar camera as a Package. The iOptron iPolar was developed because of a demand for polar alignment accuracy. I can't get it to use GPS, though. The first thing youll need to do is take a single dark frame for camera calibration purposes, which I did by covering the RA axis with my hand. Troubleshooting/FAQThe Map doesn't move/points Hey, get outdoors with your friends and enjoy star gazing! GPS update was made shorted for quicker refresh. With camera & ball-head my equipment tops out at 5lbs. I dont mind the extra time for set up. Thanks for your reviews. EQ5 Pro - Polar alignment & Scope aligment out. It displays Polaris' hour angle, local, sidereal and UTC time and GPS coordinates. My biggest problem with my SkyGuider Pro is the alt-azi mount it came with. Can I use PS align pro to point at an object an ask the app to identify the object? To get closer to your objects, fit a longer, heavier lens. . If you want the ad-free version, please visit Planetica is the perfect app to see at a glance which planets will be visible in the sky for every time and location. Seeing as how this mount was designed for portability and simplicity, its an upgrade that may not make sense for you. Cube-II/CubePro with 8408 Hand Controller, 8401 Hand Controller Star Catalogs Reloading, 8408 Hand Controller CEM25 Catalog Data Upgrade, iPolar Electronic Polarscope Software (Windows). So ASIAIR is a smart WiFi controller. Your email address will not be published. Then upgrade to the Pro version. Can the ioptron ipolar also be used for guiding? Thank you for an outstanding website. There is only a $50 difference. Its free and you can use it wherever you can take your android device, travel, outdoors, hiking and more.. Using the iPolar also requires you to replace . An uneven tripod will result in an inaccurate position of your mount in relation to the altitude scale. Quality tutorial/review. Celestron telescope mounts are equipped with a feature called All-Star Polar Alignment. Accurate polar alignment is essential for all types of long exposure astrophotography from wide-angle nightscapes, to high magnification deep-space imaging. Hi! There's also a "Wiki Align" section, useful for beginners - which details a . It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. You will then simply mimic this location by adjusting in your telescope mount. I have sometimes shone a green laser through the polar alignment scope to see if it hits Polaris. There are IOS and Android apps that tell you where to position Polaris on the iOptron reticule. This is Canons latest astrophotography camera, and it has some seriously impressive specs (like a full-frame 30.3 MP astro-modified sensor). Step 6. I dont know if I just need to spend more time fiddling with that or upgrade to what you just shared, so I can enjoy more DSO AP with that simple setup. I want to buy one and be done rather than wish Id upgraded later. 10 chart . Any idea if it exist for Mac OS? The iOptron SkyGuider pro includes a built-in polar scope, and you should be able to achieve an accurate polar alignment by eyeballing it. They were mainly implemented because people would distrust the app since it gave different results than older apps, so I went "all the way" in order to exactly match US Naval Observatory published transit times, or software like Cartes du Ciel, so that it is easy to see Polar Scope Align is the correct one. If you have found this review helpful, please let me know in the comments. You may be able to crouch down and see Polaris through the polar scope reticule at this point. Automatic Time/Location. I noticed the weight changes my polar alignment so I started doing it with my counterweight attached but before the scope and camera. Enjoy your videos. In the meantime since more people asked I did check the current status of the iOptron app and it doesn't look good And a quick tip: To ensure your 12:00 position is spot-on, center Polaris on the center-line and then adjust your latitude up and down. Looking at the android play store there seems to be a myriad to choose from, which do members recommend & why? Apart from the most reliable app for polar alignment (with or without a polar scope), PS Align pro has become the astronomer's swiss-army knife with all the tools added over the years. These compact little mounts can rotate along with the night sky for long-exposure astrophotography, but they must be polar aligned accurately to work properly. - what is the Polar Clock is a lightweight, easy-to-use app, designed to help with the setup of an equatorial mount. You add performance at the cost of more set-up time. SharpCap can help you align the RA axis of your telescope mount with the NCP by comparing images. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. I rather not have to pay for an app but if the iOptron app is more precise, $2 isn't going to kill me. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. I found an old Contax that has the same threads but find myself at a loss as how to put it all together. Being as minimal as possible on gear/weight for trekking is important. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Once the plate solve has succeeded, you should see a red cross, and a red dot on the screen. The app needs to be purchased separately at an extra cost, but alignment is a breeze once installed. After using iPolar and a Windows PC/laptop to do the polar alignment successfully, do we simply unplug the usb cable and not need the laptop anymore? Use this app to program the SkymemoT for astrophotography and time-lapse photography. Slew mode for quicker framing of celestial images without knocking the camera out of alignment. The nice part about the PoleMaster is, you dont need to kneel down or contort your body to look through the polar finder scope, or worry about entering the time and date to the handset. If yes how? This means that youll be able to capture longer exposures without the worry of tracking errors. There's an entry in the app FAQ about accuracy that might be of interest. Note: This app is a companion for the Polar Loop, Polar Loop 2, Polar Loop Crystal, Polar A300, Polar A360, Polar M200, Polar Polar Beat is the ultimate free sports and fitness tracker app from the pioneer of wearable sports technology. Once you know this it's fairly easy to align your scope without an app at all. During shooting? We use cookies on our website, in accordance with our. Your job is to align these two indicators with each other by making adjustments to the alt-az adjustments knobs on the mount wedge. Please make sure you have an ASI 3.0 camera and your android devices supports OTG. Now, go back to the Altitude adjustment bolts to raise or lower the mount further. A precise polar alignment can provide you with many benefits when it comes to astrophotography, including better autoguiding accuracy. Trevor, Nice review . Hi Trevor There have never been so many choices available, with each one offering their own advantages and disadvantages. Related Post: The best astronomy and stargazing apps for your mobile phone. so its not possible to Dither with SkyGuider Pro + iPolar? eVscope, new android stacking app, a bit of a curve ahead. Polar Scope Align Pro - Scope alignment & astro tools $2.99 App Genre: Utilities Latest Version: 6.2 Released: 04/03/15 Updated 31/10/21 Ratings: 4.96 Downloads: 108 Polar Scope Align Pro is a utility app developed by Dimitrios Kechagias and available on the iOS App Store and Android Play Store. So many utilities you never knew you needed. Thanks for the additional information. In this video we go through the simple steps involved in setting up and using iOptron's iPolar digital polar scope. Join StellarMate to your home WiFi network. Settings: The polar alignment was really dialed-in, but a 40-minute exposure is a but much. For Polar alignment you don't really need an app, however, there's an app for Android called 'Calibration' which will clibrte your phone's accelerometer then give you a compass so you can see where 'north' is. Even a careful polar alignment routine that is slightly off will begin to negatively affect your images after about 2-minutes. This is an app to show the position of the Pole Star (Polaris in Northern Hemisphere, or Sigma Octantis in Southern Hemisphere) in the polar scope of all the iOptron(R) telescope/camera mounts. At no extra cost to yourself I receive a small commission. PolarAligner Pro (Astro Tool) The graphic above portrays an example of the PolarFinder app screen, next to the view through the Sky-Watcher HEQ-5 polar scope. As long as you are not near the equator you can set the expected temperature / atmospheric pressure by clicking the Default Atmospheric settings button. The same process applies when using a small star tracker to take wide-angle nightscapes using a camera and lens. It doesn't have exactly that function. Polar Scope Align Pro is an excellent app to get the position of Polaris. For polar alignment, iOptron sells their app for $1.99 but I have downloaded a free app (there are some ads at the bottom) called the Polar Scope Align. Sky Map is a hand-held planetarium for your Android device. Lastly if one was just shooting with a DSLR and camera lens oh, would you also recommend a ball head attachment to the Skyguider pro? You have previously reviewed ZWOs ASIAir but you may not know that this device will soon have Polar Alignment built in using the main imaging scope/lens and camera. In my latest adventures in the backyard, Ive set up the iOptron SkyGuider Pro once more, but this time Ive added a rather simple device that makes a critical step of the astrophotography acquisition stage process easier, and more precise. Before you converted did you do a polar alignment with your gear hanging on it ? The iPolar installation process was interesting. Use a free planetarium software such as Stellarium to help you learn the night sky and its constellations from your location on Earth. Connect the IOptron IPolar to your laptop first so it power up (USB2) and then run the IOptron software exe file. Im in Dallas at 32 degrees. Also it will work with Parallels Desktop for Mac & Windows 7, 8.2 or 10. - Where is the polar viewfinder of my EQ6? Nightshift helps you find perfect nights for stargazing, assists you in observing your favourite planets, meteor showers and deep-sky a simple portable mount for travel purposes like iOptron SkyTracker, AstroTrac or StarAdventurer. The app is free, no contributions or ads and I have several upgrades already in the queue. All of the telescope mounts on the list above include a polar alignment scope (depending on the version you order), with the exception of the Celestron CGEM. Mobile Observatory Free is the perfect tool for anybody interested in the sky's wonders, from the occasional sky gazer to the passionate amateur astronomer. How to Polar Align Easily in PHD2 Drift Align. Use the two outer stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper to help you locate Polaris. You just need to make sure that the mount does NOT move (eg. Meanwhile, alignment is via a precision polarscope with an impressive eight brightness levels, as well as a smartphone app (iOptron Polar Scope for iOS (opens in new tab) and Polar Finder for Android (opens in new tab)). PolarisView is a useful utility to assist you while you align your GEM or equatorial mount for your telescope for your An app for Astronomy and Astrophotography enthusiasts. A polar scope makes aligning the polar axis of this mount with the North celestial pole much easier. With the M1 chip and Mac OS Big Sur v11.6 when double clicking on the app I get the message "Cannot use iOptron iPolar". MacOS v1.1 and Windows V2.1 share a common new plate solving engine so are worth having. It provides in one screen all the information needed to do this task.It also provides a polar angle with two different reticles. $2.99 in the App Store What is it about? sink into the grass, gets knocked by your foot) after completing the polar alignment! Its this level of accuracy that users of the SkyGuider Pro have been asking for. When loaded up, use the polar clock utility to show where Polaris needs to be in your polar scope (you need to put your location into the app). Also what is the great advantage to using the Williams Optics wedge? Hi, I have used this with my iOptron Sky Guider Pro and my AVX mounPS t many times. Since we are not connecting via Ascom, these have to be entered manually. Calculation of parameters and characteristics of telescopes using different eyepieces and visualization. So yes using an app is a good idea to show where abouts Polaris needs to be on the clock face. Its very easy to do it and also cheap. It can also help an equatorial mount user do polar alignment with the polar scope. Would you recommend it? Excellent option for the lightweight traveller as needs no extra gear or electronics at all! Here is a look at the image I was able to capture using the iPolar for polar alignment on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro: Results using the iPolar for polar alignment of the iOptron SkyGuider Pro. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.
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