Tracing out your local horizon for Cartes du Ciel or Stellarium with your phone!

[turbo_pascale (Rob)]

Hi everyone,

I ran in to a problem of imaging in to the trees around my observing site, so there is a way to "draw" your local horizon in CdC and Stellarium (both use the same method).

I'd tried it before, but it was way too rough and error prone (and tedious).
I used a Theodolite app on my phone to automatically take a whole bunch of data points and just visually trace out the obstructions.

Now I can work out when I can start (and stop) imaging on a night for a particular target, and have a bit of confidence with my planning.

If you're interested in this, I have a tutorial on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/L2POt_xYA_g

Hope someone may find this useful!

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Hi Rob,

Interesting information, thankyou for posting...

Question; are you using the 'Theodolite App' for IOS or did you find an equivalent app for Android?

I note the Theodolite app is only available for IOS users & I am trying to figure out an Android app that has the same functionality so that I can map my own backyard tree line...

Cheers

[turbo_pascale (Rob)]

Originally Posted by Outcast

Question; are you using the 'Theodolite App' for IOS or did you find an equivalent app for Android?

Sorry! I don't have an Android device, but I'm sure there's got to be an equivalent.

For what it's worth, the iOS version is free (you can get extra features for paid extras), but they aren't required for this effort. Maybe it would just be easier to "phone a friend" who has an iPhone, and then get them to shoot you the email?

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Wife has an iphone, might borrow it... have to see what ios version she has...

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Not finding the free version...

Can only find the $12.99 version...

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I noticed same thing when I looked today. It was probably free right up to the point when Rob found something useful to use it for

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Originally Posted by peter_4059

I noticed same thing when I looked today. It was probably free right up to the point when Rob found something useful to use it for

LOL...

[turbo_pascale (Rob)]

Damn - that's annoying. Sorry!!

https://apps.apple.com/au/app/theodolite/id339393884

I note that a new version was released yesterday. Maybe the pricing changed?

I am certain in was free - I don't think I would have spent $12.99 on this - I would have at least tried to find another one that is similar.

I may have downloaded this app a very long time ago (I mean like 8 years ago), so maybe that's why it just upgraded me for free. I didn't pay that much attention!

Normally I don't spend money on apps unless I know I'm going to use them a lot. This one falls in to the "interesting", but I'll only use it a few times bucket.

I have to say though, it is pretty cool looking and can do quite a bit of interesting stuff, way more than I'll ever use!