astroplanner 2

[rider]

The new astroplanner is touted for release on Wednesday according to the blog.

I have been using the beta for some time now, and its B'dy good.

There has been a bit of a discount if you purchase before its released, so get in fast. - best 20 bucks Ive spent on astronomy.

[DavidTrap]

+1, although I'm having issues with it crashing when I'm controlling my scope through ASCOM using both it and Maxim. Maxim does the plate solving and resyncs the mount. Astroplanner drives it to the next object. Works some times, then falls over at other times. I haven't yet worked out the sequence behind the failure to send it as a bug report to the author. I've corresponded with him previously and he's tried to help sort out other issues.

Great piece of software with really useful graphics as to where objects are in the sky.

DT

[Merlin66]

+2
I've been using AstroPlanner V2 for the past year or so, and find that many/ all the niggles have disappeared.
I use it to prepare an observing list of spectroscopic interest and record the data. The interface with Carte du Ciel is great.
Paul has done an excellent job and offers first class support.
Highly recommended.

[troypiggo]

According to his posts in the mailing list, he's updated all the manuals too. Great stuff.

[peter_4059]

+3 - Astroplanner is all I use to drive the scope including the star alignment. Still get the occasional bug but nothing that causes any grief. V2 has been a long time in the making - Paul must be a very generous man.

[tonybarry]

+4 ... I have used v1.6 and now the betas for the past year or more, and it has been a great help in all kinds of situations.

One of the great features is the "Combinations" tab of the Resources window. Say you have an imager (DSIc or whatever). You put a f/6.3 reducer before it and strap it to a 8" SCT f/10. What arc-seconds per pixel? Astroplanner will let you know. Limiting magnitude? Field of view? You change to a DSLR. Easy to find the answer ...

Highly recommended.

Regards,
Tony Barry

[netwolf]

+5 been using it for a few years, has some cool features.
1. Best pairs will tell you what stars are the best to use for alignment, I used this a lot with my Meade lx90. Previously this was a separate program but it was then added to AP.
http://www.ilanga.com/bestpair/

2. As mentioned in last post the resource selection in v2 is awesome. Even has many popular prime lenses already listed. And if you email support they will add an equipment you have.

[Ric]

+6

Version 1.6 is a wonderful program

I'm about to order V2 on DVD. It will be the best $40 I'll spend in a long while.

[RobF]

Thanks for the heads-up guys. Had been meaning to purchase for ages, so got my act together last week. I don't think I EVER do any serious imaging without consulting V1 so expecting much more of the same great functionality now. Will be nice to hook it into the scope finally.

[tonybarry]

Rob, version 2 is much improved. The finder charts (field of view) work very well. The Resources window is also very good.

The best bit for me has been sorting deep sky objects, which allows you to work out when to set the camera to looking at which object. I have a list of all the galaxies / planetary nebs / globs with magnitudes less than 10. I can sort according to type, then altitude, and get a nice list of what's up, how far from the moon, etc.

Very good stuff.

Regards,
Tony Barry