Stars Blinker vs OnStep Controller

Stars Blinker is aimed to anyone takes Deep-Sky pictures. The app allows to compare two images of the same area taken at different times, with the same or different instruments. Changes, are highlighted by the blinking of any object (star, asteroid, etc.) that only appears in one of the images or has changed position or brightness between a shot and the next. After shooting pictures of stars clusters, nebulae, galaxies and so on, often you would check if there are changes compared to the “normal" appearance of the photographed area. To do it, usually you have to search for a picture (or map) of the same area and check brightness and location of each object. Unless you have a blink comparator that, alternating the vision of two shots obtained at different times, allows to detect and highlight changes or transient phenomena (comets, variable stars, novae and supernovae, asteroids etc.). In the comparator, the sample image and the reference are shown alternately after being aligned with each other. If an object is present in only one of the pictures, it blinks and can be easily found and marked. Instead, if an object has changed position between two shots, during the animation it bounces back and forth, showing the path traveled. With Stars Blinker you can: - load pictures from the local Photo Gallery or from your iCloud; - easily align the two images: just mark the same three stars on each picture and press a button: the sample image is rotated, resized and moved to overlap the reference picture; - use images made with different instruments (I.e. comparing your picture with snapshots taken from online maps and catalogues); - manually refine alignment; - adjust blinking time interval; - invert colors to compare picture in negative; - zoom and pan the animation to frame a specific area or to examine in detail the images; - subtract Reference image from Sample to emphasize any changes; - insert a mark to highlight the position of a Transient; - add labels to report subject, date and time of shooting etc.; - save animations as short movies in your local Photo Gallery.

OnStep Controller Take full control of your OnStep telescope mount from your iPhone. OnStep Controller is a clean, dark-mode companion app for amateur astronomers — connecting over WiFi (OnStep or OnStepX) or Bluetooth Low Energy (OnStepX with the BLE plugin required) to give you everything you need from setup to the final star. Connect and Configure Connect to your mount over your local WiFi network or via Bluetooth Low Energy. Send your GPS coordinates and current time directly to the mount for accurate alignment, and verify that the mount's site data matches your device before you start observing. Interactive Sky Chart Browse a live star chart showing hundreds of named stars and Messier deep-sky objects projected for your exact location and time. Pan and zoom freely, then tap any object to see its details and issue a GoTo command. Horizon, overhead, and meridian flip limits are drawn directly on the chart so you always know what your mount can reach. Visual Star Alignment Begin a 1- to 9-star alignment from the Setup tab and get guided through the process on the sky chart. Pick your alignment stars visually, slew to each one, then fine-tune with the on-screen directional pad and accept. Full Mount Control Move the mount in any direction at four slew rates — Guide, Center, Find, and Slew. Toggle tracking on and off, switch between Sidereal, Lunar, and Solar tracking rates, park and unpark, and find home — all from a single screen with live RA, Dec, Alt, and Az readouts. GoTo from a Catalog Search a built-in catalog of stars, open clusters, globular clusters, nebulae, galaxies, and planetary nebulae. Filter to objects currently above the horizon and slew to any target with a single tap. Or enter coordinates manually for objects not in the catalog. Designed for the Dark The entire app runs in forced dark mode with a deep red accent color chosen to protect your night vision at the eyepiece. Requires an OnStep or OnStepX telescope mount controller. WiFi works with both; Bluetooth requires OnStepX with the BLE plugin installed. iOS does not support Classic Bluetooth.