AstroAid Hack 3.5.1 + Redeem Codes

This is a good application for framing objects in both visual and photographic observations. While this is very helpful, there are three problems that keep it from getting five stars (no pun intended). First, the night mode is bad. It eliminates contrast in the FoV and menus, keeping you from seeing anything. Second, it is very out of date. It lacks the newer brands such as Explore Scientific and you can use up all of the custom items very quickly. Finally, the worst, almost ALL images are severely cropped, even famous ones like the Double Cluster, Lagoon Nebula, And-dromeda (pun intended) Galaxy. If you use a wide-field telescope and eyepiece or camera, most of the field is black. With the eyepiece, changing the AFoV changes the magnification, too. If the producers update this application, it would be nice to have planets at opposition and a slider for their rotation and an exposure simulator for imaging. The longer the exposure and faster F-Ratio, the brighter the image would be.

You start by selecting all the gear you own - eyepieces, cameras, telescopes, optical aids (Barlow or focal reducers), etc. (Tip: swipe left on an item in the list to reveal the "Owned" option). Then you can select individual items for your current setup and see what a particular target will look like in your visual field of view, or on your camera's sensor. It also displays a lot of useful information in the corners of the image such as field of view values, or arc-seconds per pixel for imagers. In the System Data section, it provide you a much richer list of information for how the specific set of gear you've selected will perform as a system.

I've been using this since version 1. When I first got it, I thought it was interesting, but not sure how often I'd use it. I was surprised to find how frequently I refer to it. In fact, it is my most used app after SkySafari. If I could only have 2 astronomy apps, it would by SkySafari and AstroAid. I often look at it to see what effect a Barlow or focal reducer will have on the field of view for imaging. And when I'm planning an imaging session, I have several scopes to choose from and use AstroAid to determine which will best frame the image and what the pixel scale will be. I use it for similar purposes when doing visual observing, to plan which scope and eyepieces to use for the night.

An excellent app that everyone should have in their toolbox!

While there are some things I would like to see added that previous reviewers have already mentioned, I give this app 5 stars because there is no other app available that does exactly what this one does. It is very useful to select the best eyepiece or imaging device to be used for your telescope to view any object you would like to see. Also, it allows you to determine what objects are in position to view at the time and at your location, by just scrolling through the list. There are seven catalogs of objects that you can search through to do this. It brings up a picture of each of these objects so that you can see what it looks like in the field of view of your telescope/eyepiece/optical aid/ or imager. Also, it gives you a report of the system data with all the optical information for the selected equipment you are using.

I love the idea behind this. Not only should this be giving you an idea of what to expect when viewing, but also an idea of how different eyepieces would work with your telescope. A minor complaint is that the pictures used should be large enough to fill the FOV with all the eyepieces. My main complaint, however, is that a change in apparent FOV cannot be distinguished from a change in the power of the eyepiece. Changing the display to reflect a change to the apparent FOV instead of shrinking the image within a fixed apparent FOV is needed to make this simulator realistic.

I'm fairly new to telescopes and telescope viewing/photography. This is a great app to let's you get an understanding of what you might see given the equipment you specify.

I saw a complaint that this app didn't represent what the user saw in his eyepiece. Well, depending on your scope or viewing conditions objects may not be as visible - that is to be expected. This app isn't meant to show exactly what the object will "look" like but rather how, given the correct exposure, the object frames up in your final image. I've looked in my scope and didn't see a darn thing, but after a 3 minute exposure - there it was.

Anyway, I highly recommend this app. Allows you to plan your viewing night, and know what to expect, before you're standing out in the dark.

This could be a perfect app for planning astrophotography, but the images it uses are far too small to be of much help with any low magnification telescope setup. Full frame image circle scopes like the Takahashi FSQ, or a William Optics Red Cat 51 are woefully under supported in terms of showing you what the image would look like with a full frame sensor. Also, the list of available imaging sensors is extremely out of date, with all of the latest Canon and ZWO sensors missing. Sure, you can manually add your own sensor data, but it would be good to have an updated list in the app. On the plus side, the summary for each set-up in terms of resolution limits is very useful for determining whether a given target can be successfully imaged under any given set of seeing conditions.

I have been using this app for sometime now to get an idea of what I want to image with a given setup, and even as an aid to decide what new equipment to buy.

I find it incredibly useful and easy to use. However I find that there are a few things that could make it better.

I understand the reason for cropping the images to limit storage space needed but it would be nice to have the option to download un-cropped images (on a image by image basis would be great) for modern devices with larger storage.

Updated equipment list and the ability to add unlimited custom entries.

And a big one for me would be solar system images of the Sun (maybe with various views like Ha and white light) the Moon and planets. I am learning Solar imaging and would like a better idea on what combos give what FOV for full disk or sunspot views.

All in all the app is very useful and I would recommend it to anyone.

Paul, you are the Babe Ruth of astro app developers. You've definitely hit another one out of the park with AstroAid. I really liked the first version but was stunned when you brought out version 2. Seldom have I seen such a major improvement when going from a v1 app to the v2. What a great app and it is especially stunning on my iPad. AstroAid coupled with the programs I can download from AP to SkySafari has really made observing easy and more fun. You keep surprising us with astro goodies.
Thank you very much.

Where have you been all my life. This is exactly what I needed. Great app for planning a night's viewing. Even better for showing newcomers what the view of the object should look like. I might have missed it, but the only possible things I might like added are the ability to exchange north/south. Planets would be nice, but not really necessary.

I find AstroAid extremely useful And effective at public star parties. I can quickly select the scope-eyepiece combo I'm using, then the object in view, and a realistic image of the object pops up, along with the magnification and field of view. These are the most common questions I get. I can show that image to newbies, and tell them this is what you should be seeing. I love it!!