r/telescope

Hi everyone,

I’d like to share a project I’ve been working on for nearly two years.

I developed PushToSky, a free telescope control system that uses the sensors in a smartphone to help point a manual telescope toward a selected object.

The idea was to create an affordable alternative to Go-To systems, especially for Dobsonian and other manual alt-azimuth telescopes.

It currently runs on:

Android
Windows
Linux

The basic idea is simple: the phone knows its orientation, the software knows the selected astronomical object, and it guides you toward the target.

I originally developed it for my own use, but after nearly two years of development I decided to make it freely available.

The Android version is relatively easy to set up. The desktop versions require a little more installation, but they provide the same functionality.

You can see how the phone is mounted here:

https://pushtosky.com/usage.html

And here is the project:

https://pushtosky.com/index.html

I’d be very interested in hearing from people who use manual Dobsonians or other alt-az mounts.

What do you think? Would a system like this be useful for your telescope?

Clear skies!

IC1369

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I spent nearly two years developing a free Push-To system for manual alt-az telescopes