Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

  • Hopper’s built-in camera allows Cedar to pinpoint your telescope’s position to better than 1 arcminute. For comparison, the full moon is about 30 arcminutes across.

  • Yes. As an rule of thumb, if you can see bright constellations such as Orion or the Big Dipper, Hopper can see enough stars to figure out where your telescope is pointed.

  • If your telescope is pointed towards the moon, Hopper won’t work because of the moon’s glare. But if you’re looking at parts of the sky away from the moon, even if the moon is very bright, Hopper will work just fine.

  • Hopper does not have a built-in battery. Instead, Hopper has a USB-C socket and can be used with any compatible power bank.

  • Hopper draws less than 400mA or about 2 watts. With the large power bank sold by CS Astro, Hopper will work for around 25 hours on a full charge; with the small power bank, Hopper will work for around 12 hours.

  • Hopper has no weather sealing. Please be sure to take Hopper inside or cover it with a waterproof bag if it rains.

  • Mild dew conditions (condensation due to objects becoming colder than the night air) should not harm Hopper. If Hopper stops working after awhile, check to see if Hopper’s lens has dewed over. This is unlikely because Hopper gives off a couple of watts of heat in normal operation and so the lens will usually be warm enough to avoid dewing.

Compatibility Questions

  • Hopper works with any type and size of telescope. Small refractors, large reflectors, Dobs, equatorials, anything.

  • Hopper does not integrate with a telescope’s GoTo system. Instead, Cedar Aim displays instructions on where the telescope needs to move, and you use your GoTo telescope’s hand controller to make those movements.

    Clear Skies Astro is researching development of a future Hopper product that would interface with GoTo telescopes, but there is no timeline.

  • Yes, there is a Cedar Aim app for both Android and Apple iOS. Search in the app store for “Cedar Aim”.

  • You do need an internet connection for the initial installation of the Cedar Aim app on your phone or tablet.

    After this, when you’re using Cedar Aim on Hopper’s built-in WiFi, you do not need an internet connection.

Usage Questions

  • Hopper’s case incorporates a standard Synta/Vixen 32mm dovetail “foot”. Many telescopes have a finder scope that uses the Synta/Vixen dovetail socket; simply replace the finder scope with Hopper.

    If your telescope does not have a standard finder scope mounting socket, you can add the Adjustable Mounting Pad to your Hopper purchase.

  • Yes, keep it. The Telrad or red-dot finder is useful when initially aligning Hopper to your telescope.

    But you don’t need to keep your finder scope, because with Hopper you’ll never need to use the finder scope again.

  • No, Hopper’s camera is pre-focused at the factory for stars in the sky.

    The Cedar Aim app setup includes a step that allows you to adjust the camera focus, but under normal circumstances you can just skip this.

  • You align Hopper and your telescope to make sure that Hopper’s idea of where it is pointed is the same as where your telescope is actually pointed.

    You do this by pointing your telescope at a bright star or planet, perhaps using your Telrad or red-dot finder. You then tap on Cedar Aim’s display of the corresponding bright star or planet, and Cedar Aim memorizes the relative alignment of Hopper and your telescope.

    You only need to do this once, at the beginning of your observing session.

  • Yes. Instead of pointing your telescope at a bright star or planet, you point it at some prominent object in the distance such as the top of a tree or light pole.

    Then, in Cedar Aim’s alignment step, you select the “daytime” option and then tap on the part of the image (i.e. tree top or light pole) where your telescope is pointed.

    This is just a rough alignment, sufficient to help point your telescope at the bright star or planet you want to use for the night-time alignment step.

  • The Cedar Sky catalog currently has over 13,000 objects from the Messier and NGC/IC deep sky catalogs and the IAU named star catalog. Also the nine planets.

    CS Astro will augment these catalogs as time goes on. In the meantime, Hopper also works with Sky Safari, which has 32,000 deep sky objects plus over 7000 asteroids and comets.

  • Hopper is intended primarily for visual astronomy, where you look through your telescope at the sky, and Hopper helps you aim your telescope.

    You can also use Hopper when doing astrophotography, to help you aim your camera mount at the object you wish to capture with your camera.

  • Yes. You can attach multiple phones and/or tablets to the same Hopper, in which case all devices will show the same Cedar Aim UI and update together.

    When using Sky Safari with Cedar Aim it is convenient to devote one device (e.g. your tablet) to Sky Safari and the other device (e.g. your phone) to Cedar Aim. This way when you select an object in Sky Safari you don’t need to switch apps to get Cedar Aim’s push-to instructions.

Practical Questions

  • The Cedar Aim app is updated by the usual Android and iOS app store mechanisms.

    Updating the software on the Hopper’s processor is done by the Cedar Aim app. When your mobile device is connected to the Internet, Cedar Aim checks the CS Astro cloud server for an update and downloads it to your mobile device. The next time you connect your mobile device to Hopper, you use the “check for update” menu item in Cedar Aim to initiate updating Hopper’s processor.

    Details here.

  • We designed Hopper to be simple to use especially for first-time users.

    As you become comfortable using Hopper you can explore additional features and options by accessing Cedar Aim’s on-screen menu.

    Advanced astronomers with large telescopes might find Hopper’s built-in features to be inadequate to their specialized needs. Such users can use Sky Safari with Hopper to access Sky Safari’s rich catalogs and additional capabilities such as observation planning and logging, while continuing to benefit from Hopper’s pointing accuracy.

  • CS Astro will occasionally update the Cedar Sky object database as part of Hopper software updates.

    There is currently no mechanism for you to add your own entries to the sky object database.

Purchase/Support Questions

  • Hopper itself incorporates a camera, lens, hinged cap, and processor with WiFi access point. It comes fully assembled with the camera pre-focused for the night sky.

    Hopper does not include a battery; you power it via USB-C using a portable power bank.

    You also need to ensure that Hopper fits your telescope’s finder bracket. If your telescope does not have a finder bracket, you can purchase one that adapts your Hopper to any telescope.

  • You may return Hopper for any reason within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

    Hopper defects or malfunctions that occur within one year of purchase will be repaired or replaced (at CS Astro’s discretion) at no cost to you.

  • We have a thriving user community on our Discord and on Cloudy Nights. You can also email support@cs-astro.com with your questions.

  • Once you have purchased Hopper, you always have full functionality. There are no subscription fees or any other recurring costs.

  • From time to time CS Astro updates the Cedar software that runs in your Hopper, to fix bugs and to add new features.

    Right now Hopper and Cedar are still in active development and so updates are relatively frequent, several per year. As time goes on we expect updates to become less frequent.

  • Yes. Hopper will continue to work with the web app version of Cedar Aim, though future updates would not be available.

Other questions? Join our Discord or Cloudy Nights topic or send email to support@cs-astro.com.

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