SkyHopy

Hop from the stars you know to the ones you don't.

SkyHopy is a quiet, dark-adapted trainer for beginner stargazers and new telescope owners. It teaches the two skills that apps usually do for you: finding things in the sky yourself, and setting up an equatorial mount properly.

STAR-HOPPING Plan a path from a bright anchor star to a faint target by tapping stars one by one. An amber line draws itself between them, with each hop's distance beside it. A field-of-view ring shows whether the next star fits in your binoculars, finder or eyepiece. When you arrive, SkyHopy scores your path: the number of hops, whether each one stayed in view, and whether every star is visible under your sky. Then it shows you a better path and explains it.

12 classic hops, from the Pointers to Polaris to the Hercules Cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Double Cluster and Omega Centauri

Hand-measure guides: a finger, three fingers, a fist and a spread hand, drawn to scale

A sky-darkness setting that shows why a hop that works in the countryside fails in the city

POLAR ALIGNMENT Turn the altitude and azimuth knobs on a 3D equatorial mount and bring its axis to the celestial pole. A drift trace shows how a star wanders in the eyepiece. The trace opens up when the mount is off and tightens to a point as you get it right.

See why the pole's altitude equals your latitude, and change your latitude to watch it follow

Learn Polaris's real offset from the pole, and the Southern Cross method for the southern sky

Try drift alignment, the technique experienced astrophotographers use

LEARN Lessons on finding north and south, measuring the sky with your hand, pointer stars, your first star-hop, why dark skies matter, why alignment matters, setting the altitude, and drift alignment.

MADE FOR THE EYEPIECE

Red night-vision mode turns the whole app deep red on black to protect your dark adaptation, with its own brightness control

A full sky for any date, time and place, with constellation lines and names you can turn off as you learn

A logbook records every target you find and every alignment you make

PRIVATE AND OFFLINE No account, no ads and no internet connection needed. Your location is optional: SkyHopy asks only when you tap "Use my location", rounds it to about 10 km, and keeps it on your device.

SAFETY Never point binoculars or a telescope at or near the Sun. SkyHopy is a training tool. Don't rely on it for observing safety.

Star data: Yale Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Edition.