AstroBuddy

AstroBuddy is an astrophotography aid. Its primary goal is to aid in the alignment of star tracking mounts for cameras.

It does this by "augmented reality", providing a simulated night sky with north and south celestial poles in a dynamic star map to which an target reticle can be aligned. It is simple and intuitive to use.

With your iPhone placed against the back surface of your mount, just orient your mount to align the simulated pole star with the target reticle in AstroBuddy's Polar Alignment Reticle view. (Typically, the back surface of the mount is as required, perpendicular to the pole as is the case with the Vixen Polarie and iOptron SkyTracker.)

When you are aligned within 0.5 degrees of the pole, the pole indicator will change from amber to green. This is approximately a 4x improvement over the built-in mechanical sights, and makes alignment extremely easy, especially in the southern hemisphere. (Note that pointing accuracy is dependant on proper calibration and the iPhone model.)

Controls:

- Swipe to select 1 of 4 views, Polar Alignment Reticle, Star Globe, 3D Star Map and the About AstroBuddy view.
- Pinch to zoom.
- In the Star Globe view, tap to select and de-select stars, and view their catalog information.
- In the Star Globe and 3D Star Map view, use a two finger pan to translate the viewing point.
- Double tap to return the display to the default FOV and Translation.

AstroBuddy attempts to keep the user interface as simple as possible to encourage its use. Some features are turned off in certain views to simplify the app's use and prevent inadvertent control - when in the alignment view for example, you cannot translate the view.

News:

AstroBuddy is an ongoing project that will receive updates to increase functionality. The next planned update includes providing observing conditions at your observation site.