Go Back   IceInSpace > Equipment > Mobile Astronomy Apps
Register FAQ Calendar Today's Posts Search

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread
  #1  
Old 15-04-2016, 09:41 PM
luka's Avatar
luka
Unregistered User

luka is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Perth, Australia
Posts: 1,164
Best Android apps

Hi

What are the best astronomy related android apps people are using?

Sky Safari is probably the one to mention first, especially Plus/Pro versions which can control telescope mounts.
I also use Mobile Observatory quite a lot and ISS detector.

What else is worth spending money on?

Luka
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 15-04-2016, 10:15 PM
Eden's Avatar
Eden (Brett)
Registered Rambler

Eden is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 399
SkEye

Last edited by Eden; 15-04-2016 at 10:44 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 15-04-2016, 10:22 PM
Somnium's Avatar
Somnium (Aidan)
Aidan

Somnium is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Sydney
Posts: 1,669
the best app on both android and iOS for astronomy that i have found is the mobile observatory. it is only available on android and is the only reason why i still keep using my android tablet. for me it is by far the best app on the market and i have used most of them.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....astroid&hl=en
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 16-04-2016, 12:59 PM
ZeroID's Avatar
ZeroID (Brent)
Lost in Space ....

ZeroID is offline
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Auckland, NZ
Posts: 4,949
SkyPortal (free) from Celestron. Got it on both the Tablet and the phone. Can even connect to Celestron Scopes if you're so inclined.
Mobile Observatory is good too.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 16-04-2016, 03:24 PM
ChrisV's Avatar
ChrisV (Chris)
Registered User

ChrisV is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Sydney
Posts: 1,738
+1 skyportal.
If a bit lazy. Just take my scope, mount and skyq (no handcontroller).
Then align and goto all from my phone.

Oh. And
smart tools
To level and south align the mount.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 16-04-2016, 04:01 PM
glend (Glen)
Registered User

glend is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,051
Sky Safari Pro is, imho, the best of the bunch, and i have tried a few. The ability to control the mount via wifi, align etc negates the need for ASCOM and PC attachment. Now if only they would integrate it with BYEOS and Metaguide i could retire the laptop.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 16-04-2016, 05:29 PM
astroron's Avatar
astroron (Ron)
Supernova Searcher

astroron is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Cambroon Queensland Australia
Posts: 9,315
I have just gone through all the free ones and low cost one on google,all are found wanting in some description for what I want in a planetarium.
Lack of galaxy catalogues "Stellarium" etc
They are alright for basic astronomy but not so good for deep sky stuff.

I am really looking for a good planetarium for my Laptop or desktop,but it looks like I will have to forkout big dollars.
Sky Safari pro looks like the way to go with an APP but what I read here on IIS is that it is not available for Android till July in the updated form.
Why do these companies treat Android users with complete disrespect
Not everyone uses Apple Iphone stuff.
Cheers
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 30-04-2016, 09:51 PM
StuTodd
Registered User

StuTodd is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 353
Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post
I have just gone through all the free ones and low cost one on google,all are found wanting in some description for what I want in a planetarium.
Lack of galaxy catalogues "Stellarium" etc
They are alright for basic astronomy but not so good for deep sky stuff.

I am really looking for a good planetarium for my Laptop or desktop,but it looks like I will have to forkout big dollars.
Sky Safari pro looks like the way to go with an APP but what I read here on IIS is that it is not available for Android till July in the updated form.
Why do these companies treat Android users with complete disrespect
Not everyone uses Apple Iphone stuff.
Cheers
Sky Safari Pro has thousands of galaxies down to low magnitudes in the current version?

Just picked out PGC 14403 in Doradus, mag 15.82. Cat numbers given as ESO 156-37 and ESO-LV 1560370..

Tend to all be NGC, PGC, IC but I found a 18th mag one without really trying too hard..

An excellent package for the tablet etc.

Stu
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 15-05-2016, 08:52 PM
astroron's Avatar
astroron (Ron)
Supernova Searcher

astroron is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Cambroon Queensland Australia
Posts: 9,315
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuTodd View Post
Sky Safari Pro has thousands of galaxies down to low magnitudes in the current version?

Just picked out PGC 14403 in Doradus, mag 15.82. Cat numbers given as ESO 156-37 and ESO-LV 1560370..

Tend to all be NGC, PGC, IC but I found a 18th mag one without really trying too hard..

An excellent package for the tablet etc.

Stu
Is this on an Android tablet or Ipad.?
I may as well wait till the Android version of pro comes out,rather than buying the older version.
I have SkySafari 4 Plus, which will give me faint galaxies,but not the stars accompanying them in the field.
I would really like a good planetarium for my Lap Top that has stars down to 18mag or so, but they are big dollars.
All the free programs are rather limited.

Cheers
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 16-05-2016, 12:23 AM
StuTodd
Registered User

StuTodd is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 353
HiRon,
It is on a cheap Android tablet and runs brilliantly.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 16-05-2016, 12:37 AM
StuTodd
Registered User

StuTodd is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 353
Also, I use C2A and point it to the UCAC4 catalogue I have in a folder on my laptop.

I have attached a screen of the program showing PGC 3077442 in a small field surrounded by 15 to 16th mag stars. C2A is free to download and all the colours, fonts etc are customisable. I guess it all depends on what star catalogues you need it to display.

Click image for larger version

Name:	Capture.PNG
Views:	70
Size:	58.0 KB
ID:	199328
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 17-05-2016, 01:53 AM
pmrid's Avatar
pmrid (Peter)
Ageing badly.

pmrid is offline
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Cloudy, light-polluted Bribie Is.
Posts: 3,678
Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post

I am really looking for a good planetarium for my Laptop or desktop,but it looks like I will have to forkout big dollars. :sadeyes
Ron, I have been using ECU Pro (stands for Earth-centered Universe) (from Canada I think) for a simple user interface and Guide 9 for real deep sky stuff. Neither is expensive.

Peter
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 17-05-2016, 03:04 AM
skysurfer's Avatar
skysurfer
Dark sky rules !

skysurfer is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: 52N 6E (EU)
Posts: 1,152
Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post
Lack of galaxy catalogues "Stellarium" etc
They are alright for basic astronomy but not so good for deep sky stuff.

I am really looking for a good planetarium for my Laptop or desktop,but it looks like I will have to forkout big dollars.
Download Genymotion (www.genymotion.com), it is free (you have to register once) and there is an x86 Android emulator on OSX, Linux or Windows on it which runs Skysafari. And it runs fast !

Skysafari is an excellent app, I have it on my cellphone Xperia Z Ultra which I use in red screen mode as a pocket sky atlas during observing sessions.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 03-07-2016, 04:34 AM
sutekh (M)
Registered User

sutekh is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: East Coast, U.S.A.
Posts: 48
The C/C++ source code for any Linux app can be compiled on Android by using BusyBox and BostBrew Basil:

http://geeknizer.com/install-run-lin...ns-on-android/

Because FreePascal can also be set up on the Android, you should be able to compile and run the source code for
Cartes du Ciel
on Android. (Installation on your laptop would obviously be easier!)

- The default PGC2009 installation has 50% more galaxies than C2A's PGC2003

- The add-on USNO-A2.0 catalogue (about 6 GB unzipped) has stars to mag 19

- Like C2A, you can include your own catalogues and are not restricted to
the usual NGC/IC/Abell/Sharpless catalogues. You can go as deep as the
catalogues that you can find at Vizier.

-- sutekh

Last edited by sutekh; 03-07-2016 at 05:46 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 02-08-2016, 11:09 PM
Stonius's Avatar
Stonius (Markus)
Registered User

Stonius is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 1,495
Quote:
Originally Posted by foulkner View Post
Squared Digital Marketing specialises in website design and development, social media marketing, brand identity and email marketing.,,,,,,,,,,
'You do marketing? FANTASTIC you're hired, now what can you do for my company?'

'Umm, I was thinking of just, you know, randomly spamming internet forums with irrelevant and somewhat annoying ads'

'We're gonna be RICH!'

...?
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 12-08-2016, 08:49 AM
Shano592's Avatar
Shano592 (Shane)
#6363

Shano592 is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Central Coast NSW
Posts: 1,244
Good to see they finally released Sky Safari 5 for Android.

At $25.99, the Pro version is currently priced really well. In comparison, the v4 Pro is $52.99, so maybe it is an introductory price.

Seems to be a slick piece of software, possibly even more than v4.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 12:42 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement