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Star Hop Trainer App


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When I bought my first manual telescope (a used 18” Obsession) I lucked out….. it was a clear night the next night!   Then I went outside with it and spent 45 minutes trying to find my first DSO.    Pointing the tiny tiny view into the big sky accurately was a lot harder than I thought.   So after a 3 hour session I had seen 4 objects!

 

Then it was cloudy for 3 weeks straight.    And I live in Arizona!

 

I thought then it would be great to have a tool to help people learn how to hop from star to star while comfy inside, or during the day or on those cloudy nights!  7 years later and I finally have it working and up for both IOS and Android.

 

I have a standard version which is Free.   I hope it can help people avoid the frustration I had.

 

I have a Pro version too, which adds some neat features and helps me offset the cost of putting these apps up in the stores.

  • night mode
  • you can enter your own telescope info and eyepieces so the view in the app matches your view
  • a light pollution setting which will make the star field closer to your viewing area
  • there are 2 extra hops in the app (more to come when I get time!)
  • a progress chart to show which hops you have and haven’t done
  • there is a custom hop page where you can enter any hop you want to practice (planets, comets, supernova, asteroid, whatever you want)

 

IOS:

Standard: Standard IOS

Pro: Pro IOS

 

Android:

Standard: Standard Android

Pro: Pro Android

 

 

Admins: I tried to put this in the correct place.   If I didn’t either delete it or move it where it belongs and let me know.

Simulator Screen Shot - iPhone 14 Plus - 2022-12-23 at 10.57.52.png

Edited by Kevin B W
added screenshot
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  • 2 weeks later...

Pro Version 1.2.0 is up for android and is awaiting approval for IOS so should be up "soon", maybe tonight, hopefully tomorrow at the latest.

decimal places for eyepieces fixed (i.e. 8.8mm)

9 new hops added for the PRO version.
M3
M20
M31
M33
M51
M65
M83
M90
M101

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  • 2 weeks later...

Working on the next version.   Any requests from users?

 

I'm including a dark mode for people who prefer that look and feel even for the free version.   The night mode will still be there too.

 

Per a suggestion I'm making the back button go back to the hop selection page as you most likely want to go do a different hop rather than some other option off the homepage.
 

Also adding/fixing some loading indicators (like when the map is rendering and eyepieces are changing) so you know the app is doing something.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Version 1.3.5 Pro is now live
 

Fix bug in custom eyepieces where it would sometimes not load them and use defaults

 

Fixed hop path covering stars

 

Reworked hop selection to show more detail and added a search feature as well.   Preparing to add more hops in a future release, so this will support that better.

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  • 1 month later...

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