What is your favorite phone apps?

[fromnowon]

When I search for an astronomy app on Apknite, I found Stellarium is useful for identifying planets, constellations. But after all, it's not free. So I'm curious about what everyone's favorite phone apps are related to Astronomy? Are there any must-haves?

[leon]

Absolutely Not, chuck the app away and just look up.

leon

[Wavytone]

As with Leon, to find the planets get you head out of the phone and look up - you should learn this as it’s very basic. Exceptions being Neptune (a modest telescope will do) and Pluto (you need a BIG telescope for that).

1. Sky Safari. Not free but worth it, imho.

2. For setting up the mount I use “Clinometer” (and calibrate it) to accurately level the tripod as I’m using an AZEQ6 in altaz mode - and levelling it precisely makes a huge difference to the accuracy of GOTOs.

[poider]

How does sky safari differ from star walk or Sky view or stellarium, are they all the same or do you get what you pay for and sky safari has more?
I think that sky view and stelarium are enough but am I missing some great features that I don't even know exist?

[CeratodusDuck]

My favourite phone app for astronomy is the GPS, so I know my exact coordinates when I am out Whoop-whoop. I use a good quality compass and a proper mechanical inclinometer for the rest.

As to all the other techno-crap, couldn't care less about them. As Leon says, look up. SkySafari was the biggest waste of money I have ever put on the phone. It works, it's clever, but I never use it. I learned from a young age the sky, and I am pretty confident finding my way around. I may forget names, but it's not the name that counts, it's what it is, what is near it...

[Tulloch]

Well, I like and use Sky Safari on my phone, sorry George :)

I like how you use the phone to point at points of light in the sky and it lets you know what star/planet it is. The GPS feature is useful for knowing where you are (yes, you can get that from other apps, but it's all in the one which is handy). I have the "Plus" version which can control my WiFi enabled scope remotely, it's also really handy for finding stars to use as markers when you are searching for other stars (eg G2V for calibration purposes).

Most of this stuff you can probably find on the PC version of Stellarium or other PC apps, but when I've got my computer setup for recording videos/photos, I like having a second screen available for checking stuff.

I've only started this recently, so any app that helps me find what I'm looking for is useful.

Andrew

[leon]

I understand that all this app and just point and be told what it is pointing at, but if you get some star charts and work the night sky you will remember where things really are.
Yep, I'm from the old school, but it is much more enjoyable than phone app's, IMHO.

Leon

[skysurfer]

I have Skysafari Pro on my Android phone, excellent app. Very accurate and nice sky atlas and works without internet connection. I have red foil so I can use it during observing.
Stellarium is also OK, but rather limited compared to Skysafari and Stellarium for the Mac / Windows / Linux.
And I tried Stellarium Plus but it (despite its higher price) even more limited than the basic version.


Another app (Android only) is Mobile Observatory Pro. Charts are not as good as Stellarium or SS Basic/Plus/Pro, but it has a kind of a diary of phenomena in the upcoming weeks, like the Australian 'Astronomy Yearbook 2020'.

[knightrider]

Stellarium and Mobile Observatory Pro.

Stellarium for finding DSO's if I have limited area of the sky to view. I never use the live view though. Just use it as a star chart and coordinates of objects.

Mobile Observatory is excellent for planning events ahead of time and setting reminders before they happen. I also use this for getting live coordinates for DSO's. It's nice to have a catalogue of pictures of the NGC, Caldwell etc catalogues also.

Tech or no tech, whatever you use if you use it enough you'll end up learning anyway. If you truly love the hobby then you'll learn regardless.

[Redshift13]

Sky Safari has a 'night' mode, so you shouldn't need red foil...

[jakob]

:thumbsup:


:thumbsup:

[Brent274]

SkyLive is a simple app but it’s accurate enough to show me when it will be a good night to shoot or view

[tango]

Only started using phone astro apps and found sky safari easiest to navigate with compass on.



Strange though, I downloaded the app free on my android phone and my friends had to pay for it on their iphones.

[ChrisV]

Yep a great app! There are (or were) free versions for both Android and iOS. Fancier ones with telescope controllers and bigger data base cost ...

[ChrisM]

I have SkySafari v6.7 on my phone and virtually never use it - mainly because I forget it's there so I defer to other resources.



Whilst doing some research and reading this thread, I took a closer look at the app and was impressed, for one, with the complete list of of Messier objects that included good thumbnail images and rise and set times. The same applies for the planets. Being virtually always available in my pocket, it could be a useful quick reference for what's up.

[nik_ozskyman]

i use the following:

Sky Map
Star Walk 2 Paid version
Telescope Calculator
Nightshift
and PolarFiner Pro

On my andriod Device.

[sizlo]

Don't forget weather app. I like Clear Outside which forecasts the cloud status and other nifty information.

[UBoat]

I’ve been using a home made PushTo App for my Star Adventurer based on a couple of accelerometers linked by Bluetooth to a mobile phone. Its the only star location App I know that will work on a Star Adventurer but I'd been keen to hear of others.