34 replies to this topic

[Cey42]

My issue turned out that when I upgraded ASCOM it does not upgrade ASCOM Remote Server. I had to upgrade that separately and then all worked just great.

[Notdarkenough]

My specific obstacle is with the "custom horizon"; how to make the horizon image, and how to upload it. I have seen instructions 5 or 6 years ago, but nothing new, and nothing with SkySafari Pro 7. Anybody have advice or experience?

[nicknacknock]

My specific obstacle is with the "custom horizon"; how to make the horizon image, and how to upload it. I have seen instructions 5 or 6 years ago, but nothing new, and nothing with SkySafari Pro 7. Anybody have advice or experience?

Send me a PM.

[nicknacknock]

Have some free time, so here is a guide to Sky Safari panorama:

 

1. Use a camera handheld / on tripod or cellphone. Take photos standing at the spot you plan to set your gear on until you have 360 degrees covered.

 

2. Use any free planetarium app along with compass activated, to show you an AR image at the location you plan to drop the mount, and take a screenshot with the phone facing North, and with the horizon line showing, along with North. You will need this screenshot at #4 below.

 

3. Download Image Composite Editor (Microsoft ICE). No longer available from Microsoft, but you can find it on many software sites. Open it, select File/New Panorama, add your images and it will stitch all of them into a panorama.

 

4. Open your panorama in any image editor. Crop to make it even in terms of height and then you need to cut from the left side the part of the image which is to the left of North, and move it to the complete right side of the image, so that your panorama starts from the left at North, going clockwise towards East, South, West and finishing at North. How will you know where to chop? Use image from #2!

 

5. Once you do that, resize your image to 2,048 pixels wide. Then you use the image from #2 to see where your horizon is. Measure the height of your image and add to the canvas so that you have the horizon at precisely the middle of the image. Many options of doing this depending on what software you use, but in Photoshop I create a new white canvas of 2048 width x 1024 height, add a ruler to the middle (512 height) and add this image as a layer and move it up and down so that at the ruler level, my image is at the horizon level. Flatten and save.

 

6. One more step in your image editing software. Paint anything below the image as black because that is towards nadir and last time I checked, the Earth ain't transparent.

 

7. Your final saved image, either make the sky transparent by using tools in Photoshop or other editing software, or use this site and remove the sky. Congrats, that's your final image.

 

• To add to SkySafari iOS, save through the Files app into the SkySafari Pro folder (not in any subfolder, the main folder!)
• To add to SkySafair Android, you need to drop the image in Main Storage / Android / data / com.simulationcurriculum.skysafari7pro/Horizon Panoramas

 

Note: Bluestacks does not permit you to copy / paste across system folders, so drop the image first in the shared media folder in Windows, Go to Google Store and download a free file manager (I use File Manager+) and move it to the appropriate folder.

 

Additional note: To install SkySafari 7 in Bluestacks, you need to open Bluestacks and create a new instance of Android 11 Beta, and then you will be able to see SkySafair 7 as an available install in Google Store. 

 

---------------

 

If someone is having problems creating the panorama, I am stuck home with Covid and will be indoors with tons of free time for another 2 days before I can leave the house. Anybody send me their loose photos and the screenshot, I will make their panorama because, well, bored!!!!!!!!!!!

 

BTW, the exact same panorama can be used in Stellarium, albeit you need to create a specific .ini file. Easy peazy and also did that this week because I had too much time in my hands. So if you need help with that, lemme know.

 

Remember, I will be a free bird in hopefully 56 hours and then I am straight out the door, so the offer lasts only till then   

[deSitter]

Isn't Starry Night the Windows version? Why would you expect them to duplicate effort?

 

-drl

[BrentKnight]

I dont believe they are investing any time in updating Starry Night. SkySafari for Android works great in Bluestacks...

[deSitter]

I dont believe they are investing any time in updating Starry Night. SkySafari for Android works great in Bluestacks...

I gave up on SN long ago when I discovered Stellarium (maybe 20 years by now). But it did work for running a scope and the bland star backgrounds of the early versions was a plus IMO. I was shocked to discover how much I liked SS6 Pro. Mainly because you can make a clinical looking display that is easy to see at night, really close in ethos to a star chart. It also talks to my serial-BT adapters for wireless control.

 

Seems like one could write a plug-in for Stellarium that SS Pro could communicate with, so you'd get a 2nd interface to the program. Having to run it in an Android emulator seems extreme.

 

-drl

[gmiller123456]

Isn't Starry Night the Windows version? Why would you expect them to duplicate effort?

 

-drl

Starry Night is nothing like Sky Safari.  If you like one, there's no reason to think you'd like the other.  Yea, they do a lot of the same things, as with any planetarium software, but how you interact with them is very different.

[deSitter]

Starry Night is nothing like Sky Safari.  If you like one, there's no reason to think you'd like the other.  Yea, they do a lot of the same things, as with any planetarium software, but how you interact with them is very different.

Yes I agree - in fact I discovered this by accident almost - I had to have a phone app telescope control and I deliberately picked the oldest supported version, assuming it would be completely debugged and useful and not crammed with features I don't need. Not only was it livable, I loved it, and I don't like much phone software. It is very obviously meant to run on a phone-like device, an actual phone or small tablet. I don't know why you would want to run it on a PC screen.

 

-drl

[Jipibi92]

I am not sure we are talking about the same problem. I can already use skysafari on a mobile device to control a mount that is connected to a Windows machine.

I want to run skysafari on windows.

Hello amitshesh,

I am also using Skysafari 7, but on a IOS iphone device. 

And I want also control my Push-To mount, not yet connected to my Windows 10 portable.

How can I do? 

(I am new to ASCOM  & Alpaca stuff)

Is your solution adaptable to my case?

Thanks for your help.