FAQs

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Getting Started

No. But the app will function much better if you do. Without permission, the initial default telescope location will be set to a mid US location. You can change this to your own location manually, and can choose options other than "GPS" when creating new locations.
On first opening, the app is populating the database with more than 4000 deep space targets, as well as many years of ephemeris data for planets and the moon. This process will generally take a few seconds, and is never repeated-- unless the initial import is interrupted. Ap openings thereafter are rapid.
Current targets and events will appear in this section after they are added to the planner.
Yes. SkyPlanner Pro subscribers can change the weightings of object types in the rankings by adjusting the sliders on the Settings page, prioritizing preferred target types, and de-prioritizing (or excluding) non-preferred types.
Non-subscribers can filter targets types on the Best of the Night or New To You pages to eliminate non-preferred target types.
This is the SkyPlanner Weather Bar! It represents the cloud cover from sunset (left side) to sunrise (right side) for the current night. It changes to reflect the currently predicted hourly cloud cover. You may notice it updating throughout the day or night. Greater predicted cloud percentages for a given hour are shown as increasing opacity to the gray color overlying the clear sky.
This usually means your telescope location has an incorrect geographical location associated with it. Make sure that you have authorized location access for the app, or have correctly manually set the location for each included telescope location. Also, if you have obstructions (trees, buildings, etc), either adjust the uniform horizon to a higher altitude, or trace a custom horizon.
On the Home screen, rotate the phone to landscape orientation. The screen will now show detailed moon rise, set, and illumination data. The times for twilights tonight and tomorrow are displayed below the moon data. To the right are detailed sky conditions, including cloud cover, transparency, and seeing. If available for your location, a text based forecast is presented, along with a precipitation warning if configured in Settings. Note: SkyPlanner uses the top included location for all weather data. You can drag the locations to reorder them as needed.

Telescope Locations

Tap on the reticule either in the SkyPlanner logo or at the top of the Settings page.
There are 4 options for setting the geographic location of a telescope-- all accessed via the tabs at the top of the Add Location page. GPS used the phone's current location, City allows for a city/state/country search. Observatory allows for the selection from a list of numerous well known remote observatory sites. Manual allows for the direct input of latitude and longitude.
On either the Add Location page or an already existing location's detail page, you can change the altitude of the uniform horizon. To create a custom traced horizon, from an existing location's detail page, click Update Horizon Profile.
Click Update Custom Horizon from any location's detail page. A live view will launch. Rotate the phone. First see if the zenith above the location is open or obstructed (this is important for the visibility logic function correctly). Select the option Open or Obstructed. Slowly trace the junction between sky and obstructions (trees/buildings) that define either the 360 degree horizon, or a window of visibility in the canopy (if the zenith is obstructed). Use the shutter button to drop points along this line every 10-20 degrees. As you near the starting point, you will see a green Complete button. Pressing this closes the circle and finishes the capture process.
A 360 degree horizon is open at the zenith, no matter how small the traced circle is. A visibility window is obstructed at the zenith, now matter how large the opening is. Think of a visibility window as a gap in the tree canopy off to one side. For most telescope locations, the 360 degree horizon option is the correct ones. But there may be some locations on your property where a window exists that allows imaging of otherwise obstructed targets. The window option can also be useful for planetary imaging, where a long visibility time is less important.
Yes. Many users have locations both at home as well as other places they image, whether traveling or housed in a remote observatory. In general, though, you should only have "include" checked on telescope in one geographic location. The visibility logic will run, but may give some unusual results, when telescope locations from very different geographic locations are included in the analysis. So if you have, for example 5 different potential setup areas at home, and a telescope in a remote observatory, either have just the remote location included, or all the home locations included, but not both.
Simply press and hold on a location, then drag to the desired place on the list. Remember that the weather data is ties to the top included location. Also, if "location time" is selected in the settings, the top included location will define the displayed times. This is important if your remote observatory is in a different time zone.

Using the planner

The planner serves as a place to display all the objects you want to shoot. The placement logic of the planner is complex. It considers whether an target's nightly integration time is increasing or decreasing, the angular distance to the moon and moon illumination, the magnitude of the target, other objects in the planner, among other factors. It then attempts to place each object on the best night to shoot it. That said, astrophotographers know that weather intervenes. So the best way to use the planner is to look not only at the current day, but really the whole month. Generally, a target in the planner is a good target for the entire month.
Note that because of the placement logic, when a new target is added to the planner, targets in the planner may be moved around. This DOES NOT happen for events though. Events (things like occultations, transits, etc.) are always locked to the date assigned to them, for obvious reasons.
The planner is especially useful when you discover an object or event that isn't well positioned until many months in the future. Drop it in the planner, and when you get to that time in the year, your reminder will be there.
From any object's detail page, click "Add to Planner" below the photo. On the resulting screen, drag the green (start) and red (end) lines to define the period you wish to place the target in your planner. Frequently these will be placed correctly by default, as SkyPlanner attempts to define the period of best yearly visibility given your included locations.
NOTE: Frequently the red line may be to the left of the green line. This may seem counterintuitive, but makes sense considering the cosmos doesn't care about our year breaks. When the red line is to the left of the green line, that means that the end date is actually on that day in the FOLLOWING year (you can see this in the date readout below the chart).
Click Add to SkyPlanner to save your selections and close the window.
Use the Strikethough for Season if you want to mark that you have completed the target for the year, but want to keep it in the planner for recordkeeping. Use Include in Future Years if you would like the target to repeat the following year, using the same start/end dates.
Note that events and planets are treated a bit different, and are covered in separate FAQ'a.
Planets, and especially the inner planets, are handled a bit differently than deep space objects. For the outer planets select and drag the start and end lines as desired, as with deep space objects. The date of opposition is listed for reference. You may have to use the arrows above the chart to navigate years if the opposition is near the start or end of a year.
For the inner planets, the individual start and end dates aren't moved directly. Instead, use the slider below the chart to select a number of days before and after greatest elongation. Note: when there are multiple elongations in a year (especially common with Mercury), the planet will appear in the planner for all elongations that year.
From the main Planner page, Click the yellow (+) and select "Add Custom Event". Give the event a name (eg., "ISS Lunar Transit 20:03), a single date or date range, add any needed notes, and save by clicking "Add to SkyPlanner". Saved events, including past ones, are also visible and accessible on the favorites page.
The planner logic considers many factors when placing targets, including what other targets are in the planner. This means that when a target is added, previously included targets may shift dates. This is expected behavior. NOTE: Custom events will not move. These are locked to the date defined by the user when it was created.
This functionality is not implemented at this time.
Sometimes the planner has to reload to show your newest addition. If an added target isn't showing, either toggle the month forward one and then back, or navigate to another app screen and back to the planner, and your new item should show up.
From any object's detail page, click on the yellow "In SkyPlanner" button. On the resulting screen, click Remove from SkyPlanner. In some cases, you may have to toggle the planner month, or navigate to another screen and back, for the target to disappear from the planner screen.
From any object's detail page, click on the yellow "In SkyPlanner" button. On the resulting screen, adjust the date range lines as desired. Click Update Entry.In some cases, you may have to toggle the planner month, or navigate to another screen and back, for the the date range to be recognized in the planner display.

Settings

Click on the reticule either in the logo of the home page or at the top of the settings page.
Select a location from the locations page. Scroll t the bottom and selects Add/Update Custom Horizon. Check to see if the zenith (directly overhead) is open or obstructed and click the appropriate button. Place the center crosshairs at the top of the tree/building line in any direction, and click the shutter buttom to drop the first point. Rotate the phone around the tree line or other obstructions, clicking the shutter button every 10-20 degrees. When you get near the starting position, click complete.
On the Best of the Night Page, New to You page, or any object detail page, simply click on the date to change it to another date. Click Tonight to return to the current night.
From any object detail page, click Add to Sky Planner. The app will select a good range by default. Drag the green start and red end line to djust the range. Note that frequently the red (end) line may be to the left of the green (start) line. This is because the end time is in the next year. You can click the boxes to include the same range in future years, and you can click to place a strikethrough of the object for the remainder of the season once you are done shooting it for the year.
From the search page, click the yellow (+) button. On the resulting page, fill in the object name and/or number, RA/Dec, and object type. Other details, if known, will improve ranking listing of the object. A custom image can be added to any custom object (Sky Planner Pro is NOT required to add a picture to a custom created object).
This feature requires Sky Planner Pro. Subscribers can simply click on an object photo on any object detail page and select any photo from their photos app. The object photo can be reverted to the default at any time.
Catalogs sometimes disagree on object sizes, brightness, and sometimes even exact position of large objects (eg., the center of a nebula). That said, if you spot what you believe to be a serious error, you can email us at errors@optickstudios.com.
Item description

Micelaneous

Click on the reticule either in the logo of the home page or at the top of the settings page.
Select a location from the locations page. Scroll t the bottom and selects Add/Update Custom Horizon. Check to see if the zenith (directly overhead) is open or obstructed and click the appropriate button. Place the center crosshairs at the top of the tree/building line in any direction, and click the shutter buttom to drop the first point. Rotate the phone around the tree line or other obstructions, clicking the shutter button every 10-20 degrees. When you get near the starting position, click complete.
On the Best of the Night Page, New to You page, or any object detail page, simply click on the date to change it to another date. Click Tonight to return to the current night.
From any object detail page, click Add to Sky Planner. The app will select a good range by default. Drag the green start and red end line to djust the range. Note that frequently the red (end) line may be to the left of the green (start) line. This is because the end time is in the next year. You can click the boxes to include the same range in future years, and you can click to place a strikethrough of the object for the remainder of the season once you are done shooting it for the year.
From the search page, click the yellow (+) button. On the resulting page, fill in the object name and/or number, RA/Dec, and object type. Other details, if known, will improve ranking listing of the object. A custom image can be added to any custom object (Sky Planner Pro is NOT required to add a picture to a custom created object).
This feature requires Sky Planner Pro. Subscribers can simply click on an object photo on any object detail page and select any photo from their photos app. The object photo can be reverted to the default at any time.
Catalogs sometimes disagree on object sizes, brightness, and sometimes even exact position of large objects (eg., the center of a nebula). That said, if you spot what you believe to be a serious error, you can email us at errors@optickstudios.com.
Item description

FAQs

Search the FAQ’s:

Top Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

Telescope Locations

Using the planner

Settings

Micelaneous

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