48 replies to this topic

[sojourneyer]

Some people have indicated that they are having problems sorting through 900 odd posts on the Starsense Explorer to find what they are looking for. 

 

Thus this new Topic for ease of review on a specific subject relating to the SSE.

Thanks all

[GilATM]

OK, I'll start this off.    I used it on my 12.5" homebuilt dob over three nights last new moon.   I used my own mount for the phone - as I wanted to have something less bulky and lighter.   I used a Samsung 10e phone.   It took some getting used to, but just when I was ready to give up, it would bring me where I was wanting to go.   Looks like a keeper.   My thoughts on how I will use it next time:

 

1.  I will bring a tablet to run Skysafari 6 pro.  I typically run it on my phone to pic objects and plan my next star hop.   I found that having my phone attached to the scope made this awkward - and at least on my Android, if I changed aps, the Starsense Explorer ap seemed to lose it's place and I had to realign.   By having the tablet separate, I can more comfortably use Skysafari and leave the Starsense ap running uninterrupted on the scope.

 

2.  I will bring a Bluetooth keyboard to enter objects into the Starsense ap (on my phone) rather than trying to type at an odd angle.   This may not be worth the trouble, but I'm going to give it a try.    I was surprised how many objects would show up on the Starsense Explore search - I found a couple of carbon stars and a couple of planetary nebulas by their NGC numbers by using the search.   It does not have the entire NGC library - but seems to have many (200+?), and using Skysafari to get the catalog number works well.

 

3.  I will only zoom in with my fingers when doing the alignment (which works well), not at any other time.  It seems to mess up the Starsense ap to zoom in when it is in search and find mode.

 

4.  I will continue to star hop in my old style, and let Starsense E. be just another finder aid.   It seemed to work best to just swing the telescope where I knew the next object would be before bothering with following the chevrons pointing the way in the ap.   

 

Anyway, I'm happy with it, I was thinking I might switch to an encoder based system, but didn't want a bunch of wires and such.   I wouldn't mind paying to have a fuller database - or be able to run it off of Skysafari, but this is fine.

 

Gil

Edited by GilATM, 22 June 2021 - 12:25 AM.

[sojourneyer]

Great information Gil. Thank you

A friend wants to also put the tracker on his Dob.

Do you have any photos to show how you have done this?

Much appreciated

 

Thank you

[GilATM]

Great information Gil. Thank you

A friend wants to also put the tracker on his Dob.

Do you have any photos to show how you have done this?

Much appreciated

 

Thank you

OK, I'll try to get a better picture in the next few days, here is one from my trip - I just taped it on before I committed to drill some holes.   It uses parts of an eyepiece cell phone holder I received as a gift a few years ago.   The mirror is a surplus shed first surface mirror I had bought for another project some time back.   The aluminum holding it all together is a threshold strip I folded back on itself.

 

I think this is the aluminum threshold I used:

https://www.lowes.co...-Screws/3120773

 

I think this is the same adapter - I just used the part that holds the phone.

https://www.amazon.c...e/dp/B01K7M0JEM

 

Now I realize this is the experience thread and I just did diy equipment.   Oh well, such is the complexity of internet forum content control!

: )

gil

Attached Thumbnails

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[sojourneyer]

thanks so much  Gil. I hope you can get some photos in the daylight. I no longer have the eyes of barn owl...never did...lol

 

That is one nice thing about the dob or a reflector, You can drill holes into the OTA and not really compromise anything.  With a refractor or Mak, then a different story.

[GilATM]

some pics

 

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[rileychas]

Doesn’t it need a mirror for the phone camera to see the sky?

[jamestheviewer]

Doesn’t it need a mirror for the phone camera to see the sky?

In the top pic it is the thick, angled thing in the pic going bottom left to upper right and seemingly hot-glued to the rhomboidal frame.

 

In the bottom pic it is below the SAMSUNG word and is reflecting what look to be wires and something blue, below the camera.

[sojourneyer]

it kind of looks like the mirror is in a little tray or pan that Gil made

[GilATM]

Yes, the mirror is the thick, squarish item with beveled corners.   It is secured with a construction grade high temp hot glue that I've used before - I would not use regular hobby hot glue as it would fail.   (Neither would I have used hot glue if the mirror had been thin or made of plate glass.)   If I had not been in a hurry to set it up for a dark sky trip I would have used 100% silicone caulking. 

 

Also be sure to clean the mirror and the metal with acetone to remove any oils before caulking, and lightly sand the aluminum immediately before caulking to remove surface oxidation.  

 

There is no tray, just the bent "threshold" aluminum, the mirror, the cell-phone holder, two machine screws for the holder, the 1/4 inch plywood support, and two screws to attach to the telescope.

 

Gil

Edited by GilATM, 28 June 2021 - 01:18 PM.

[sojourneyer]

Thanks so much Gil... I am sure several people will appreciate your sharing with all.

My tracker is still on my 102  SSE

[dbird]

Tried out my SSE tonight for the first time. Seems to work pretty well, but there's one peculiar response.

 

After going to the target and locating it on the phone app, it drifts. this is the image on the phone in the app. And, it's not the normal rotation of the celestial sphere - much too fast for that. Eventually the drift stops or resets after several iterations of plate solving.

 

My question is: Is this normal?

[carver2011]

Hello Gil

Thank you for sharing your great post. I know Celestron has dedicated scopes using the Starsense. I was told to use the Starsense app, a purchase number was needed. I see that many people are making homemade holders for there phone. Where can I get the app that will work with my iPhone, and what is a source for the mirror flat you used?

 Fine job you did on your holder.

     Ed

[sojourneyer]

Tried out my SSE tonight for the first time. Seems to work pretty well, but there's one peculiar response.

 

After going to the target and locating it on the phone app, it drifts. this is the image on the phone in the app. And, it's not the normal rotation of the celestial sphere - much too fast for that. Eventually the drift stops or resets after several iterations of plate solving.

 

My question is: Is this normal?

I had not noticed that. I only experience the settling time for a view of the object.  When I seek an object using my cellphone I start out with a 25 mm EP and then graduate up for higher mags.  That way it is easier to get the object in view. The first 2-3  objects I view I also use the red dot to make sure the tracker is online

[sojourneyer]

Hello Gil

Thank you for sharing your great post. I know Celestron has dedicated scopes using the Starsense. I was told to use the Starsense app, a purchase number was needed. I see that many people are making homemade holders for there phone. Where can I get the app that will work with my iPhone, and what is a source for the mirror flat you used?

 Fine job you did on your holder.

     Ed

You can not purchase the starsense tracking code from Celestron .  It would have to be purchased from someone who already purchased a SS scope.  And the seller can end up a big time loser in that type of transaction as the purchaser could then sell the

tracking code to someone else., etc. The code can only be  used 5 times and the likelihood is that one could lose or break their cell phone or just want to purchase a new cell phone. Then they would not be able to obtain a tracking code.

[GilATM]

Yes, buy a scope, preferably one you might use! As far as mirrors, these looks promising (the smallest one shown looks about right.)
Search on "Xesscare 5Pcs Dental Mirror Pofessional Intraoral Mirror" in amazon. I couldn't paste in the url, is this new here or my own ineptitude?

[sojourneyer]

Yes, buy a scope, preferably one you might use! As far as mirrors, these looks promising (the smallest one shown looks about right.)
Search on "Xesscare 5Pcs Dental Mirror Pofessional Intraoral Mirror" in amazon. I couldn't paste in the url, is this new here or my own ineptitude?

Gil. nice lab...

Say would  you mind posting some photos of  your set up?.

thanks

[carver2011]

You can not purchase the starsense tracking code from Celestron .  It would have to be purchased from someone who already purchased a SS scope.  And the seller can end up a big time loser in that type of transaction as the purchaser could then sell the

tracking code to someone else., etc. The code can only be  used 5 times and the likelihood is that one could lose or break their cell phone or just want to purchase a new cell phone. Then they would not be able to obtain a tracking code.

With the large numbers on posts on forums building units to use on their scope, I thought there might be an app or software available online. In no way would I want to infringe on Celestron's copyrights. Hopefully someday Celestron will sell the StarSense phone units separately. Thank you for your reply. 
   Ed

[GilATM]

Gil. nice lab...

Say would  you mind posting some photos of  your set up?.

thanks

What would you want other than what I have above?

 

(I probably won't have it set up again until next new moon.)

Gil

[sojourneyer]

Your pooch.. Just joking. I forgot that you had posted photos.. my bad.. sorry

[ThomasM]

I bougth a 70 mm refractor with StarSense already last year but only now I could tried out. The sky was probably not sufficiently dark, quite often I got the message that the sensors lost its orientation, but what puzzle me, already after half an our or so the smart phone ( Samsung Galaxy A5)  battery was drained, it happened twice. Is this a general problom, very high power consumption of the app?

 

Thomas

[sojourneyer]

I bougth a 70 mm refractor with StarSense already last year but only now I could tried out. The sky was probably not sufficiently dark, quite often I got the message that the sensors lost its orientation, but what puzzle me, already after half an our or so the smart phone ( Samsung Galaxy A5)  battery was drained, it happened twice. Is this a general problom, very high power consumption of the app?

 

Thomas

Thomas, that is a major requirement for go to systems to work. You need dark skies and in particular with the Starsense.  I run into that quite often. That Galaxy is  a marginal phone for the tracking. I had an old Galaxy s4 but it was not acceptable. 

 

As to battery drainage. You are totally correct with that.  Very high consumption of power on the phone.  I actually was very surprised.  I was using my new phone with it and it drained the phone down to under 50% very quickly. Normally it takes 2-3 days for my phone to get down to that low a percentage.

 

One suggestion for  you is to dim the brightness on your phone when using it. 

[ThomasM]

Thomas, that is a major requirement for go to systems to work. You need dark skies and in particular with the Starsense.  I run into that quite often. That Galaxy is  a marginal phone for the tracking. I had an old Galaxy s4 but it was not acceptable. 

 

As to battery drainage. You are totally correct with that.  Very high consumption of power on the phone.  I actually was very surprised.  I was using my new phone with it and it drained the phone down to under 50% very quickly. Normally it takes 2-3 days for my phone to get down to that low a percentage.

 

One suggestion for  you is to dim the brightness on your phone when using it. 

Thank you very much for your helpful comment, dimming the brightness will help. Then, I am thinking to using a power bank supporting my smartphone.USB Li-Ion Power banks are available with 20.000 mAh and larger, this is almost ten times the capacity of the smartphone battery. While that work? Is it just sufficient to connect a smartphone with a powerbank?

[sojourneyer]

I do not know anything about power bank support; however you must remember that the phone rests on the starsense finder base. How would you position the power bank? You have a galaxy S5.. last of the removable battery cell phones which I loved.  Do you have a second battery?  You can get them on Amazon.  I have two spares for my S4.

I would just carry the extra battery as a backup.

[ThomasM]

I was thinking to connect a 20.000 mAh power bank via an 1 m long USB charging cable, so the smartphone will be continously charged during using the StarSense App, but I have no idea whether that will work.

 

Thomas