9 replies to this topic

[REC]

Happy New Year all!

 

I recently bought Sky Safari 5+ and have been playing around with it to get familiar with it. So far it's a pretty darn good program. Lately I noticed that I was getting push notes alerting me as to what satellites and ISS where coming over my area. They would give me the coordinates in degrees, but didn't bother looking them as it seemed confusing. Then I got another notice last night about an Iridium satellite passing by. This time I clicked on something and then all of a sudden, the night sky came up and a + showed up as the moving sattelite. Oh, I said, that's cool and if it had been clear I would have gone out and see if I could indeed watch it come across the sky. Then, after a while following it, the + got real bright and I'm assuming that was the flare. That, I thought was really cool as I have been having problems before trying to find them and maybe even tacking a picture of one.

 

So my questions are, is this the way it's supposed to work, showing me the position in the sky and moving AND show the flare at the exact time?

 

When I get the push notice, what do a click on to show the sky and the satellites position?

 

I also have Satellite Sky Safari for a while and never used it as it seemed too confusing to me. Does that App do more on the satellites then SS5 and if so, should I be using that App more than the SS5 App for predicting when they will fly overhead and for the Iridium ones, show it track against the sky and flare at the peak?

 

Lot's to learn on these powerful programs and next I have to figure out how to use the SkFi box that connects to my scope. Tried it briefly the other night and could not get it to work. I'm going to try to set it up today inside, don't think I need to be out futtzing in the darke to do the set up, right?

[btschumy]

REC,

 

Glad you are enjoying the SkySafari 5.

 

 

So my questions are, is this the way it's supposed to work, showing me the position in the sky and moving AND show the flare at the exact time?

 

Yes, basically.  We have notifications of planet risings and satellite events.  When you tap the notification (or slide to view in some cases), I show you the current sky, centered on the object of interest.  If it is the ISS rising, you should see the ISS selected and on the horizon, climbing higher in the sky.

 

You can always get more information about the event by tapping Info in the toolbar.  In the Object Info you can get the exact time of the (say) flare and the Alt/Azm that it will occur at.

 

 

When I get the push notice, what do a click on to show the sky and the satellites position?

 

Generally you tap (or sometimes slide the notification itself.  If the notification has gone away before you could react to it, you can swipe down from the top of the screen to see all your notifications.  Taping on one will "load" it.

 

 

I also have Satellite Sky Safari for a while and never used it as it seemed too confusing to me. Does that App do more on the satellites then SS5 and if so, should I be using that App more than the SS5 App for predicting when they will fly overhead and for the Iridium ones, show it track against the sky and flare at the peak?

 

Satellite Safari is focused exclusively on satellites (note that this app is still owned by Southern Stars, it was not sold to Simulation Curriculum).  It will show more satellites as well as showing the view from orbit and show the ground track of the satellite.  It is complementary to SkySafari.   The original version did not show Iridium flares, but I believe the current one does.  Satellite safari also does not have automatic notifications of events, although you can ask to be notified of specific events.

 

 

Lot's to learn on these powerful programs and next I have to figure out how to use the SkFi box that connects to my scope. Tried it briefly the other night and could not get it to work. I'm going to try to set it up today inside, don't think I need to be out futtzing in the darke to do the set up, right?

 

You should definitely try it indoors first.  Depending on the mount you do need to do a fake star alignment before connecting via SkyFi.  Most mounts will not respond to external commands until they've been star aligned.

[REC]

Thanks for your input Bill. I was thinking about just setting up the WiFi connection indoors so when I get out at night it's all ready to go AFTER the scope alignment. I'll give it a try and let you know what happens.

 

-Bob

 

BTW, I see that Meade is selling their version of the SkyFi, looks like they bought it from Simulation Cirriculm? They have it on display at the CES show this week.

[btschumy]

Yes, Meade is showing off our new SkyFi 3.  It will be available around mid February.  It will work with both iOS and Android.  No longer uses Ad Hoc networking.

[REC]

Bill, I just bought yours, is it #2 then? What is the main difference between the current one and the 3 coming out. If just Android, if not, what will the new one do that the current one does?

[btschumy]

We are not prepared to announce the features of SkyFi 3 at this time.  The current version of SkyFi is still an excellent choice for iOS.  The main impetus for the new version was to have something that would work for all devices.  In addition, the chip set that SkyFi 2 was based on is no longer being made, necessitating a redesign.

[REC]

Ah, I hear you about the chip set change!

[AstroChessPilot]

New Question, anybody know what the meaning of the symbols [+] [-] after the satellite names are?

[btschumy]

The [-] means the satellite is non-functioning or defunct.  You will also see some with [S] which means it is a spare.

[AstroChessPilot]

Thanks a bunch.