tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post1146588252445414822..comments2024-02-01T22:02:44.435-08:00Comments on Loss of the Night citizen science project: How can we improve the app?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-61764164435896825262014-09-16T00:52:14.137-07:002014-09-16T00:52:14.137-07:00Thanks for the suggestion moleman! It's unfort...Thanks for the suggestion moleman! It's unfortunately too late to put it in the version that's currently in development, but I will add it to the wishlist for a future version. We have a new "settings" menu where you can toggle things like this, so it could just be an option there.Christopher Kybahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00637673286531458546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-7687936575254371022014-09-15T14:05:52.748-07:002014-09-15T14:05:52.748-07:00The area where I live has a strange magnetic field...The area where I live has a strange magnetic field, so that the internal compass on my phone does not work. This means that the app does not scroll the map as I move the phone around, which leaves me unable to figure out which star I'm suposed to be looking for. I have managed to make observations in other locations, which is why I believe that it is an environmental problem and that there isn't anything wrong with my phone.<br />Perhaps you can add an option to disregard the compass and allow the user to scroll the map manually?molemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01840689584639184216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-18979170488603330942014-01-24T12:16:30.197-08:002014-01-24T12:16:30.197-08:00Thanks for your comment dhubbell!
Regarding the l...Thanks for your comment dhubbell!<br /><br />Regarding the lock, please see my comment to Tepi above.<br /><br />Maybe we can add an option to adjust the size of the fonts for the star names, that might help you with identifying them. For now, when the stars are close together, you can use the zoom function (the + and - at the top of the search window) to zoom in and check which it is.<br /><br />We don't display the magnitude because it would likely lead to biased analyses. For example, if a user reports that they can see a star with mag 3.8 and then is asked if they can see a mag 3.5 star, if they're not sure they might decide to say "visible" rather than "unsure" or "not visible". It would also make it easier for vandals to create fake data. At the moment, it would be extremely difficult to generate self-consistent data that doesn't match what you actually see.<br /><br />I hope that as we acquire data, we will learn to reject stars that are ambiguous and focus on better stars. I wrote a bit about that here: http://lossofthenight.blogspot.de/2013/09/urban-astronomy-with-loss-of-night-app.html<br /><br />One example of a problem area is the Pleiades. Because we did the app testing in the spring, we didn't think to screen out all of the Pleiades stars. Of course if we ask for a star there, it would be very difficult to know which one we're asking for. All Pleiades stars will be removed in a future version.<br /><br />I'm sorry that the app was frustrating for you, and I really appreciate your taking the time to write in! Please try the zoom buttons, and see if they help. If that doesn't work, you can still contribute to understanding the night sky through the GLOBE at Night program, http://globeatnight.org/Christopher Kybahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00637673286531458546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-30426701551214989502014-01-24T10:49:08.816-08:002014-01-24T10:49:08.816-08:00Thanks for your comment Tepi!
When it's locke...Thanks for your comment Tepi!<br /><br />When it's locked on a star, if you hit the back button it will unlock and go back to the pointer. [I think we had planned on having it that shaking the phone would also unlock, but I guess we never put that in]. I hope that in a future version we can have a more complete tutorial with these kinds of tricks in it - I will add it to the list above. Thanks again!Christopher Kybahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00637673286531458546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-7105130342320361562014-01-24T08:20:50.291-08:002014-01-24T08:20:50.291-08:00Once a star is LOCKED, don't LOCK the circle, ...Once a star is LOCKED, don't LOCK the circle, some times we need to go back. Also, it would be nice if you could have the star name LARGER with the MAGNITUDE of the star. Some times it's too difficult to identify which star you want us to identify if there are more than a few stars in the area. Illustrating the Star Name and Magnitude allows people to understand more what you're trying to identify. Larger well know stars are easy pickings, but, since you want to measure the light pollution, you'll want to know if we can see fainter stars. I've used it a couple of times, but, I'm frustrated with the lack info about the star you want me to find.dhubbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01537569505888393715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-18843111496527069632014-01-24T07:41:41.059-08:002014-01-24T07:41:41.059-08:00Make the red circle change back to the circle and ...Make the red circle change back to the circle and pointer when the phone is moved. I am a very new stargazer and I want to know i am looking at the right star. Stars I am familiar with are easy (Orion's belt stars etc.) but stars that I am not familiar, i need to look at my phone and see what stars are around the one I am looking for, then back to the sky to try and find it. Thanks. Tepihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15283432260019289898noreply@blogger.com