Custom objects using J2000.0 coordinates

jpp_seestars50

It would be so much easier if we could enter J2000.0 coordinates for our custom objects. I’m sure the SeeStar can then calculate the JNOW coordinates from it.

starnet59

jpp_seestars50 ZWO doesn't respond to small requests like these, simple things that would be trivial to implement with just a few lines of code. They sometime acknowledge the request but nothing ever happens. They have a plan for major features, which take months to implement and they never change the plan or fix issues. Look for example at the Mosaic feature. It was requested and promised for almost a year now. We finally got it after almost nine months and it is completely useless.

I have stopped asking for fixes or new features, it is a waste of time.

Support@Seestar

You can manually enter the coordinates in this way, which are JNOW coordinates

jpp_seestars50

Support@Seestar yes I know we can enter coordinates using Jnow epoch but it would be much easier if we had the option to enter J2000 epoch coordinates for custom objects since those are the coordinates typically published in object catalogs.

Gulyas K

starnet59 My old friend, the fact you always mention how easy or trivial to implement something into a software perfectly shows that you have nothing to do with software developement. I have no doubt that you are perfectly skilled in your own profession, but not at all in software development. Just don't try to teach the fish how to swim. No offense.

Support@Seestar

starnet59 I understand that you want Seestar to better meet your needs, but implementing these features requires discussions across multiple departments. Development also takes time, and there are many requests to consider.

Jon_street

I submitted a support ticket on their website and submitted 3 requests for change and was responded to within 24 hours. I don’t know if they will implement the changes or not but we will see

marvindj

Gulyas K Agreed. Its rather ridiculous to make those "its easy" statements. Its getting quite tiresome.....add to that is whether a monetary profit can be made from "the easy" changes......

starnet59

Gulyas K You are correct, I am a retired hardware design engineer with 40 years of experience, so I cannot claim to have software development experience. If you need help with your FPGAs, I am your man. Which is probably why I am impressed by the S50 and so disappointed by the SeeStar app. In the job I just retired from, the customer was king. If they asked us to bend backwards, we would ask how far. Not your usual sedate software development flow.

Some of the things I am asking for seem really easy to do, some not so much. I don't know, get a co-op student and let them try to solve such small requests. If the solution works, incorporate it into the main code branch. If it doesn't, no harm done. ZWO seems to have a very rigid and slow software development. It looks like it's driven by engineering and that's not right. I know, because I am an engineer. ZWO needs to hire a competent inbound marketing person and have them drive the entire process.

I am no spring chicken and I cannot wait years for requests to go through a glacial software development process. I waited for 9 months for a mosaic feature and we finally got it, it is next to useless. Maybe you still have most of your life ahead of you, I don't.

starnet59

Well, let us know when your requests for changes get implemented.

starnet59

If you want to gain market share you will have to do better than that. Just saying...

Support@Seestar

starnet59
We are hiring, but it's not that easy to find the right person.

marvindj

starnet59 Wow. Very childish.

Support@Seestar

jpp_seestars50 Okay, I will pass your suggestion along. It's a great idea!

jpp_seestars50

Thank You!

sthscan

jNow and j2000 are not the same coordinate format?

I've been using j2000 coords for manually inputting comets that aren't in the S50 comet database.

jpp_seestars50

sthscan the format is the same but the values will be slightly different due to the precession of the Earth’s poles. The change in coordinate values from 25 years ago (J2000) to now (J2025) for custom objects may make enough of a difference that your object won’t be centered in your image. I use SkySafari to find Jnow coordinates (currently showing as J2025) for inputting my custom object coordinates but it would be so much simpler to use J2000 as you’ve been doing since that’s the usual epoch you’ll see in most catalogs or online sources of coordinates for things like comets. Hoping ZWO implements my suggestion so you can pick which epoch your coordinates are tied to. Hope that helps!

starnet59

sthscan Like the names imply, they are two different things. Jnow are RA/Dec coordinates based on the current position of the Earth's axis, J2000 coordinates are based on where the North Pole was 25 years ago. Both are useful, Jnow for precisely pointing to a target right now, J2000 as a common reference for images of the same object taken at different times. There is a difference of about 8 arc minutes between the two right now.

Support@Seestar

jpp_seestars50 I have provided feedback, but it's uncertain whether we will receive a response.

jpp_seestars50

Support@Seestar understood these are just suggestions to make the Seestar app easier to use. Thank you for passing them along to development. 😁

Support@Seestar

jpp_seestars50
Message received, with a smile!