Cheap Push-To for your Dobsonian with Polar Scope Align Pro

September 6, 2020 // by ecuador

Version 5.1 of Polar Scope Align Pro came out recently with a new feature designed for manual mounts (mainly with Dobsonians in mind, but also for manual alt/az or EQ): Attach your phone parallel to your mount, select a target and Polar Scope Align Pro will help you push your manual mount towards the target. Because phone compasses are very sensitive to local magnetic fields (like those produced by metal mounts, telescope tubes), the app offers a “Hop To” function, where you first find a bright star and center it so that the app can calibrate to get to the desired object with good accuracy. Rob Pettengill helped me develop the feature, testing it with his Questar and Dobsonian, so it is worth reading his report on using the feature, with ideas about mounting it etc. Here is the app mounted on his Questar:

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One thought on “Cheap Push-To for your Dobsonian with Polar Scope Align Pro

  1. Kusuru says:

    Just discovered this feature while looking for a polar alignment app. Will definitely buy yours. I am currently using a SW 80 ED refractor on a manually operated alt-az mount. The push to feature should greatly increase the pleasure of my star gazing.

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