The new Pro version looks very promising and is shaping up to be a nice mobile imaging app.

I can see that you've been using the VizieR catalogue service for the built-in object catalogue. Is it possible to update it with more stars? The current one is fine for DSOs, but is quite lacking for stars especially double stars which is a major area of interest in visual. For example the well known double/multiple stars Algebra (gamma leo), eta Cassiopeiae, etc. cannot be found in the current goto database.

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Ihoujin post=70164 wrote: Here's a thought. If a mobile internet connection is available, implement online plate solving with astrometry.net.
 

marcocipriani01 wrote: You're right, I constrained the stars catalog quite a bit to speed up the catalog loading. I'm optimizing the process to allow for more stars in the next version.
The new ultra-dark mode in v1.4 fixes that. Just press the eye icon on the toolbar to make the app and the Sky Map red and dim.
As far as the plate solving is concerned, I didn't experience pointing issues last time. Unfortunately, Astroberry's INDI and KStars versions are not up-to-date. See this GitHub issue .

Downloaded 1.4 yesterday and tried it out last night. The Goto now works on both my phone and tablet (the UI is easier to operate on the smaller phone screen). I'm just nitpicking here but I wish the built-in star catalogs would be bigger as I couldn't find quite a few well known double stars. For example I was observing the doubles in Cassiopeia the only one I could find in the app was Eta Cas, the others such as Iota Cas and HD11092 weren't there. The new Polar Finder seems to work well. I didn't check the telescope position in the Sky Map due to its vivid colour and brightness which could destroy my dark adaptation.

While this new app now worked like a charm, I had a bit of trouble with plate solving in Ekos. I don't think Kstars/Ekos has been updated recently, but for some reason when I attempted plate solve to centre my targets, the solver would get the solution and telescope coordinates correct, then calculate the dRA and dDEC wrong sometimes. This would slew the mount to some completely incorrect place in the sky. I don't know if any of you guys have encountered something similar on the latest Astroberry.

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I'll test it again in a couple of days on my phone in case it is still the older version downloaded from Google Play.

The polar finder utility sounds interesting. I normally use the Polemaster on my HEQ5 for polar alignment when imaging. But this polar finder could come in handy when I do visual with the eFinder and iEXOS-100. Although PA doesn't need to be spot on for visual, but the more accurate the better for tracking. And doing PA with Ekos through VNC on a smaller screen is a pain.

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Thank you for the updated version of the app, Marco.

Goto in the latest version now works correctly on my tablet running Android 7 (I got it wrong in my last reply. It's 7 not .

However on my phone (OnePlus 3T running Android 9) it still quitted to home screen as soon as I tapped "Goto" or "Sync". The scope would also point to some random place.

Tested with both iEXOS-100 and telescope simulator.

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This new Android INDI client made by Marco Cipriani has great potentials.

I've just tried out the latest version from Google Play. The basic INDI telescope control and Skymap work pretty well, but the Goto/Sync function doesn't seem to work at all. Whenever I tapped on it, I would be back at the home screen of my phone. The app would still be running in the background and the telescope would be pointing at some random place.

I've been looking for a simple Android INDI client with Goto function to go along with my DIY eFinder based on Astroberry. The eFinder is for visual use and has a GPIO button that will initiate plate solve and centre the target in the eyepiece when being pressed. The potential candidates so far are Kstars Lite (no longer supported and very slow), SkySafari 6 Plus (cost money. I'd rather pay for StellarmateOS and its mobile app) and this. If the Goto can be fixed, it will be great.

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Hi Marco,

Thanks for the swift response.

To answer your questions:

1. My phone was running Android 9 (Pie) whereas my tablet which I also tested the app was on Android 8 (Oreo)
2. The telescope mount that I tested the app on was ES iEXOS-100 PMC8 and the built in INDI telescope simulator
3. indi_pmc8 for the ES mount
4. The objects I tried were Vega, Deneb and M31
5. The eFinder was running the INDI server through Ekos. I then connected Telescope.touch to the server. According to the INDI control panel the connection was successful and I could slew the mount manually with the telescope controls.

I've already tested it with the telescope simulator on its own (no ccd simulator or focuser simulator).

Hope the above information helps. And don't worry if it's going to take some time to fix this. I can fully understand that it's not possible for you to test the app on a wide variety of mounts on your own. You're already doing a big favour for the community.

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This app has great potentials.

I've just tried out the latest version from Google Play. The basic INDI telescope control and Skymap work pretty well, but the Goto/Sync function doesn't seem to work at all. Whenever I tapped on it, I would be back at the home screen of my phone. The app would still be running in the background and the telescope would be pointing at some random place.

I've been looking for a simple Android INDI client with Goto function to go along with my DIY eFinder based on Astroberry. The eFinder is for visual use and has a GPIO button that will initiate plate solve and centre the target in the eyepiece when being pressed. The potential candidates so far are Kstars Lite (no longer supported and very slow), SkySafari 6 Plus (cost money. I'd rather pay for StellarmateOS and its mobile app) and this. If the Goto can be fixed, it will be great.

Read More...