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Quick navigation: Planetdroid
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| Astrophoto | Scheiner
| Atmosphere | Geosat4Android
| Perseids | GPS-Tacho
Hello, on this
page you find my latest Android apps for download.
These programs are available in the
Android
market, but you can also download them from this website and
install them manually.
In this case you
need an Apk_Installer
(see QR-Code in the right) or the Astro File
Explorer. On your phone you have to allow
installation of
applications from non-Market sources. Activate in your phone's menu in
"Settings", "Applications" the check box "unknown sources", otherwise
you will not be able to install my applications!
Some of my apps will save certain files in a new created directory "sdcard/.com.strickling" (EclipseDroid, PlanetDroid, GeoSat4Android, AstroFoto Calculator)
Astronomy
ephemeris app for
calculating high precision ephemeris and positions of Sun, Moon and the
Planets for amateur astronomers and planetary observers. Finds rise,
culmination and set times, begin of seasons, lunar phases and planetary
aspects.
Supports GPS localization.
New: Since version
3.0 PlanetDroid comes with a visibility diagram. You see the elevation
above the horizon of your selected body (white line) of the current
night and the elevation of the sun (dark yellow line), as well as the
twilight times. The horizontal black line ist the horizon, the vertical
red line your selected time.
Since version 3.3 it is possible to save locations offline. The file
containing the locations is sdcard/.com.strickling/location.txt. It can
be edited with any test editor. To start the editor, simply click menu
in the location selection form.
Since version 3.4.0 you can jump to a date listed in the season time
table, lunar phase table or aspect table directly on touching a date.
Planetdroid calculates the following items (select
or deselect different items in
the menu). Here you find links to Wikipedia-articles for the exact
definition of the terms:
- time of rise, set and culmination (when an object will reach its
highest point above the horizon),
- azimuth of rise
and set (where the object will rise or set)
- equatorial
right ascension and declination, which is the position in the sky,
for comparing positions with a star map (reference system is the
celestial equator).
- ecliptical
coordinates and distance in astronomic units (reference system is
the Earth's orbitals plane)
- azimut and elevation
(reference system is the local horizon of the observer)
- equation of
time, apparent solar
time (a
sundial will show this time), hour angle,
elongation (angular distance of a planet from the sun) and sidereal time
(the right ascension RA, wich is now culminating)
- apparent diameter (how large will the object appear in the
telescope), apparent
magnitude (how bright will the object appear),
- for the Sun and the planets: physical ephemeris, indicating on which
part
of the planet you are looking, eg. for comparing or creating maps from
your drawings or photos:
central meridian (CM), latitude of the earth (B0, whether
you are looking more on the equator or on the poles), position angle
of the axis (P0)
CM and B0 are giving the planetographic coordinates of the
center of the planet disc as seen from earth.
- libration for
the moon (which part of the moon is facing to the observer,
corresponding to CM and B0 for planets)
- Civil, nautical and
astronomic twilight times (the Sun is 6°, 12° and 18° below the
horizon)
- begin of the seasons, lunar phases, and lunar age (days since
new moon)
- times of opposition
(usually best visibility period for the planets),
conjunction
(planet behind the Sun, usually invisible) and greatest elongation
for planets
The data output is similar to my AstroWin.
Thanks to Mark Huss for his AstroLib containing the VSOP-routines and to the translators Nenad Trajkovic (Serbian), Alfredo Caronia (Italian) and Alexej Pace (Maltese)!
Languages: German,English and Serbian. For the
Serbian version see the Serbian
AM page.
If you like to translate PlanetDroid into other languages, don't
hesitate and send
an email to me (
dr.strickling <at> gmx.de ), it is quite easy!
Download PlanetDroid.apk
(appr. 380 kB). Also available in the Android
Market.
System requirements: Android 1.6 or higher
SourceCodes: PlanetDroid,
AstroUtils, and
my modified AstroLib-1.1.5
based on version 1.1.4 by
Mark Huss
Astronomic app,
computing local circumstances for solar eclipses. Displays the contact
times and custom defined events, can make acoustic announcements and
can take snapshots at user defined times, using the phone's camera.
GPS and network localization supported.
Release
your digital camera or other electrically triggerable devices with your
phone!
This small app uses the phone's built-in flash LED
to release external electronic devices. It requires phones, which
provide a torch mode for their camera flash. For the light sensor I use
the cheap photo transistor L-932P3C (eg.
Conrad-article # 154500, price 0.42 Euro), which can
trigger the most digital cameras without further circuits. I tested it
with my Canon EOS 450D and my old analog Pentax Z1.
Please take care,
not to switch on the Camera LED for too long times, as this will reduce
its durability!
 |
A
smartphone with a camera flashlight. Left: Flash released, Right: Cable adapter containing the photo transistor over the LED. Below: Circuit sketch  |
 |
 |
Language: English
New:
CameraTimer is now supporting shorts with the integrated camera of the
phone. You can now optionally edit the path of photos and edit
parameters.
The parameters are loaded one by one with the Camera.Parameters.Set
method into the camera. Read the android
documentation for further details. A sample file of the
camera settings on my desire can be downloaded here (from my HTC
Desire®).
Example: picture-size=640x480;iso=100;flash-mode=off;focus-mode=infinity;
Since version 0.9.10 automatic geotagging is
supported, if GPS or network localization is active.
Available in the android market or download from my website: CameraTimer.apk (70 kB).
A small app for astro photographers for calculation
of image filed sizes for certain combinations of camera and lens.
You can also calculate the maximal exposure time for shots without
guiding and calculate the length of star trails.
Note: The results are calculated for non-distorting
lenses at the image center. Wide angle lenses near the margin or
fisheye lenses have different values not computed by this app.
It has a custom editable camera list. After
installation and first execution of this app the list is saved on your
SD card under sdcard/.com.strickling/astrocameras.txt. It can be edited
with any text editor. On the next start of the app the customized list
will be loaded.
Language: English and German
Installation from the Android Market direct download from my website: AstrofotoCalc.apk
This app helps you to align your parallactic
telescope mount toward the celestial pole, using the numeric Scheiner
method given by Dr. M.
Knülle, 2000.
Make a quick measurement, calculate the correction value and adjust
your mount sufficient for long-time photographic exposures!
For the alignment measure the drift of a star with a
scaled eyepiece in arbitrary units during a certain time and correct
your mount according to the calculation.
Start with the meridian adjustment, observing a star near the meridian
in the south with a minimal elevation of about 45 deg. For obtaining
the declination, place your phone flat on the telescope tube, pointing
its top side to the star. Then align the polar elevation, observing a
rising star in the east or a setting star in the west. For correction,
select a star near the meridian in the south.
For more info see leq.one-arcsec.org
or my website (German
language).
Language: English
Installation from the Android Market or direct download from my website Scheiner.apk
Small
app for calculation the apparent position of geostationary satellites.
It assumes circular orbit with inclination 0°. For visual observers
and
photographers.
Language: English
A small app for
calculating the standard atmosphere. Get temperature,
pressure, density, vapor pressure etc, depending on altitude and
speed.
The precision is good for educational use, please do not use for aviation! Language: English
Please deinstall the old version 1.0 (it has no menu) before installing a newer one (with menu). Otherwise the app will be twice on your device.
Download Atmosphere.apk
(19 kB) or the android
market.
A
small app for the recording of visual meteor observations. It has large
red buttons not spoiling the dark sky adaptation of your eyes. The data
are stored on the SD card (Path: sdcard\Perseids.log ). You can analyze
the log with a spreadsheet software, e.g. Excel or Open Office.
New: Selection of shower possible and input comments, full screen mode.
Please deinstall the old version 1.0 (it has no menu) before installing a newer one (with menu). Otherwise the app will be twice on your device.
Download Perseids.apk (32 kB) here or from the android market.
A small GPS based speedometer app, displaying speed,
GPS-time, coordinates, altitude, bearing with a compass, and address if
data connection available.
Selectable speed out format: m/s, km/h, mph, kt.
The background color changes at common speed limits:
50 km/h, 70 km/h, 80 km/h, 100 km/h, 120 km/h.
This table can be customized, edit file
/sdcard/.com.strickling/GPSTacho.txt.
New: Trip statistics with maximal speed, duration,
odometer, average total speed, average speed when moving, moving time,
ascend and descend sum.
New: Get averaged coordinates to reduce GPS error and get high
precision coordinates, eg. for placing geocaches.
You can save location as GPX file on your sd-card.
Download GPS-Tacho.apk (190 kB) here or from the android market.
This app is listed as a cool app by Telefon.de
:-))
© Dr. Wolfgang Strickling, Drususstr. 15, 45721 Haltern am See / Germany. Tel: +0049 / 23 64 / 16 76 91
Back to Wolfgangs Homepage (in German)
Other interesting astronomy apps:
last Update 2012-02-05
The original URL of this page is http://www.strickling.net/android_engl.htm