FinderCam with Plate Solving

M31 is located using FinderCam and shot by Daniel Mendell

This app is used for finding objects in the night sky with a telescope, binoculars and the naked eye. The latest demo video was recorded on March 19, 2023 at https://youtu.be/md9LDchUuzU. In this video, I use FinderCam to find some bright stars and M42 Orion Nebula instantly. It shows the plate solving alignments that lead the user accurately to the target.

How does it works?

1. Open the app and point your device camera at the night sky.

2. Tap Solve button in the app.

3. It will identify 3 stars in the camera image.

Working Conditions:

1. Works in city with blocked sky view.

2. Works with partial cloudy sky.

3. Works during full or new moon.

4. Works with city light pollution.

Advance use with telescope:

1. You will need a suitable holder to fix your phone to your telescope or binoculars for alignment.

2. The app contains a star map and large catalogs of celestial objects. The star map will automatically adjust to your location and time.

3. The view through the scope or bino can be aligned with the star map.

4. Tapping the Solve button displays 3 star names for plate-solving alignment giving their az-alt positions.

5. After alignment, other objects can be searched and their location is shown by a green guiding line for moving the scope.

Benefits:

- More stars than with the naked eye can be seen. It uses image processing to make more stars visible.

- It saves you many frustrating hours finding your deep sky objects.

- Attach your phone to your telescope or binocs and it can lead you to 110 Messier deep sky objects accurately, as well as to planets and bright stars,

- It works in heavily light polluted cities and partial cloudy night.

Requirements:

- For most telescopes, you need a basic phone holder or home-made holder with 45 degree mirror. If you are using a binocular, you will need a L mount.

- You may need a mount with slow motion control like a Dobsonian telescope or slow motion tripod. The app requires you to move a crosshair to the target.

- Requires iOS 14 and above.

Tips:

- Draw a user defined area for solving by tap hold the screen and drag to draw a rectangle. Tap hold and release to remove the user define rectangle.