Get the Most Out of Your Stargazing Experience With These Apps
Looking up at a sky free of light pollution to witness something like an annular eclipse is one thing , but sometimes you need to reconcile your stargazing plans with finer details. You may have bought a telescope thinking it would be easy to use, but it may not have let you see Jupiter’s surface in dramatic detail because, in truth, you really don’t know how to operate this damn thing. …
Fortunately, there are many applications designed to make it easier to view space. If you are serious about some of the more striking visual events unfolding in the night sky this month, you may want to consult one of them, if only to improve your stargazing experience and perhaps learn a thing or two. in progress. …
Best Stargazing Apps
Some apps are used to observe and plan your experience as you technically need to know where to look in a large, spreading sky. According to astronomer photographer Chris Westphal, the Stellarium, StarMap 3D + and AstroAid apps are especially good for this purpose.
- Stellarium: Available for iOS and Android , it helps explain what you actually see when you look up with helpful diagrams and written summaries. It works by pointing your phone at the sky, which sounds simple enough.
- StarMap 3D +: This app does what its name suggests and helps you find stars, constellations, and other visual delights. Location data for “50 artificial satellites, including the International Space Station (ISS) and the Hubble Space Telescope” is also available. However, this is only available for the iO S.
- AstroAid: This app helps you understand what you should theoretically see when looking through a telescope, with many visualizations that attach to different lenses. It is best suited for astrophotographers as it “contains an extensive list of renowned suppliers of telescopes, camera lenses, eyepieces, imaging devices and optical aids.” Available for iOS users only.
Westphal talks about these three applications: “The first two are planisphere -style applications that are useful for planning when looking at objects of interest, and the latter approximates how objects should fit into an eyepiece / telescope or camera / telescope combination.”
Other Stargazing Apps
- NASA: Humanity is indebted to NASA for a variety of reasons, but if you want to bolster your astronomical acumen, I would suggest the space agency app. The NASA app will inform rather than provide an actionable roadmap to the stars, but using it will give you a better understanding of what you are seeing when you finally see it. Available for iOS and Android .
- SkyView : helps you understand what you are looking at by looking at burning balloons of gas millions of miles away, and SkyView is here to help you. Point your phone up at the sky and the app does the hard work for you, again explaining exactly what you see when you tilt your head back. Available for iOS and Android .
- StarWalk 2: an augmented reality app that lets you view stars in their past, present and future iterations? This is what StarWalk 2 promises. It’s a more comprehensive side, which is not bad at all, as it promises a real-time “map of the stars” as well as a time machine function that could take you back to heaven a long time ago. … Available for iOS and Android .
There are other apps out there if you’re really interested in exploring all of the options. However, going outside in an area free from light pollution is often enough to see space in all its beauty. This often does not require an application.