ACP Planner & TheSky HD on the iPad

[John Kasianowicz]

Is anyone using TheSky HD on an iPad in conjunction with ACP planner? If so, what has been your experience?

[Robert Capon]

John-

Im using the SkyHD on an iPad with ACP. It's a lot of fun, and is easy to use. But I don't think it links to ACP Planner (that I'm aware of). Rather, it links to the forms on the ACP web user interface.

It works like this. You use SkyHD to find an object. In the information window for each object, there are buttons to do things, like Frame or Center an object. There is also a button that says "ACP". When you click on the button, it brings up the ACP web user interface with a message: "Selected coordinated for M13 are available from The Sky."

At that point,when you open any form in the ACP web user interface there's a link that says "Get coordinates from the Sky." If you click that link, the coordinates populate into the form. It even works on the Scheduler forms.

Very handy and fun, and I still use it for little (one-off) projects.

I confess, though, that I don't use the Planner very much anymore now that I'm using Scheduler. Plans are built by combining what to observe and when. Scheduler enables you to load hundreds of plans at once (literally imported by a spreadsheet) and determines when objects are imaged, and Scheduler figures out "when" to observe. So Planner is a beginner tool, but writing plans is using ACP the hard way. (But it's the way everyone starts, including me.) Using Scheduler is much simpler. But it does require that your observatory is set up with a startup and shutdown script to run on its own.

Best,

Rob

[John Kasianowicz]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the clarification. It was exactly what I needed.

Based on what Bob mentioned in the TheSky HD iOS video, I wash't sure what precisely was running on the iPad in the background to communicate with ACP on the observatory PC (IIRC, it didn't have a standard browser look to it).

I have Sky Safari Pro on my iPad1 and iPhone6 (fun) and was wondering whether it was worth upgrading to,the iPad Air in order to get TheSky HD. Based on your reply, it doesn't sound like it's a must-do upgrade.


Best,
John

[Robert Capon]

Hi John-

I think the ACP-SkyHD link is a fun little toy. Not a reason to upgrade the iPad.

I bought the new iPad because the iPad is the primary device for operating my observatory using the ACP web interface, and directly into the observatory computer over a VNC link. So it's the device where I do all my image processing, and I like the retina display.

I also have SkySafari Pro, as well as SkyHD. I like them both. I would get SkyHD whenever you upgrade your iPad. But I wouldn't buy an iPad just for SkyHD.

A much better investment for the same money would be to purchase ACP Scheduler! Scheduler isn't a toy, it's a workhorse!

Best,

Rob

[Bob Denny]

Will TheSky HD not run on the iPad 1?

[Robert Capon]

Bob-

SkyHD requires iOS 7, and I don't believe the original iPad supports that operating system.

Best,

Rob

[Bob Denny]

Oohhh OK. There are zillions of iPad 2/32Gb for $200 or so on eBay. The iPad 2 runs iOS 8.1 just fine and it seems plenty fast and pretty to me. I have one.

[John Kasianowicz]

Oohhh OK. There are zillions of iPad 2/32Gb for $200 or so on eBay. The iPad 2 runs iOS 8.1 just fine and it seems plenty fast and pretty to me. I have one.

That's an option. That said, I'm kind of getting used to an iPad Air I use for work. Nice display, and it's pretty light. Perhaps I'll bite the bullet, but tablets are low on my priority list. Right now I'm focused on what I need to get my system automated and running with ACP!

[Ken Tydeck]

I like being able to custom frame an object in TheSky HD, send the coordinates directly to my ACP web page. Rename the coordinates to something I like and filling out how I want ACP or ACPS to capture the images and load it.. Thanks for showing me that at the Tucson show Bob!! Pinpoint is so accurate at placing objects dead center sometimes I like a more custom creatively framed image..
Regards,
Ken

[Bob Denny]

That's the idea!! They are going to improve the center selection in the next release. You hopefully won't have to eyeball it by dragging that plus around.