Is that bright star actually Jupiter? Where is the Big Dipper? Get answers to these questions with our guide to the best star apps for iPhone or Android devices.
If you grew up with a telescope and an amateur astronomy hobby, you can pick a few stars here and there. But the rest of us could rely on a little help – and luckily your smartphone is up to the task. Whether you have an iPhone or Android in your pocket, there are plenty of star apps to choose from.
Tips for stargazing with a smartphone
Lower your brightness the first time you take your mobile device out. This way, if you need to look at your phone after looking at the stars, you won’t be blinded instantly. If you’re having trouble making your iPhone dim enough, be sure to check out our guide on how to make your iPhone’s backlight even dim.
Avoid using anything larger than an iPad Mini if you’re an Apple user, or a smaller Samsung Galaxy Tab S if you’re using Android. Holding even a small device above your head for a long time can wear out your arms; After all, you don’t want to drop an iPad Pro on your face.
If your night vision is already poor, be sure to plug in an app with a built-in red or night mode. Because it’s slower, red light is thought to have less of an effect on your night vision. depletes your eyes’ rhodopsin cache.
Top star apps have a few things in common
Most really good apps share one key feature: augmented reality or AR. Augmented reality is the type of image you get by mixing electronic images and/or data with the real world – in other words, using technology. increase your reality.
In the case of star apps, that means you can raise your phone to the sky with the camera facing the stars and the screen facing you. You’ll see the screen move as well as you move your phone – in fact, it will stay in sync with the real sky extension you’re pointing at. The stars will appear on your phone as they appear “behind”, only your phone can draw and label constellations (some apps even put this constellation’s classic art on top). In addition to naming stars, some apps also track planets and moons, known comets and asteroids – if we’ve mapped it across the sky, your app can find it just by nodding over your head.
night sky
Night Sky was one of the first star apps I downloaded to my phone and remains one of the apps I use the most. First of all, it’s cheap – just 99 cents and only in-app purchases seem cheap, you can talk about the best places to go for monthly/quarterly/yearly subscriptions to a community-curated section of the app. . It has one big feature we mentioned above – star tracking where you can lie in the real night sky with your phone and an outstretched arm – but it also includes one of my favourites: the red night mode.
Sky Map
Sky Map was a Google product, but instead of just stopping the company open sourced the codebase and donated the program. As a result, you can participate in the development of the application or just sit back and enjoy free access to a high-quality space application. even the developer group maintains a Twitter presence You can interact with This free planetarium can often seem a little too tense as you scan the sky – if that bothers you, be sure to research the settings you can turn off.
Star Walk 2
Star Walk 2 is a great little app that shines best on big screens like Apple’s iPad or Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S. While the phone versions of the app make it easy to watch in the sky, it’s the tablet version that really shows its worth. You can explore constellations with gorgeous full-screen illustrations, and also use the space app as a primitive encyclopedia, searching for planets, structures, and other alien terms. Like The Night Sky, a special red-only night mode can save your eyes during long night viewing sessions, and a dedicated AR mode lets you blend your camera’s input with the app’s rendering for a truly immersive experience.
Star Map 2
When we say that Starmap 2 is the pro version, we mean it. Probably unique among the star apps on the App Store, this app was developed in partnership with users and professionals in the field of astronomy; All in all, it’s one of the most comprehensive and versatile stargazing apps we’ve ever seen. In addition to star tracking, you can download complicated maps – they have almost every detail you could want for our solar system and beyond, and even use the Wi-Fi capabilities of your iOS device (sorry, Android users) to control your giant, Wi-Fi-enabled smart telescope. . An Apple Watch app lets you access some types of information while your iPad is on a coffee table or table.
Luminos
It’s easy to think of Luminos as a consumer version of Starmap 2. It gives a detailed and informative feel like Starmap; There are versions of the app for iPhone, iPad, and even Apple Watch. It feels more educational, more accessible; However, Luminos still has enough data and numbers that you can get lost for hours. One of their claims to fame is the “largest” catalog of celestial objects you’ll find on any mobile device – they use the (gold standard) US Naval Observatory’s CCD Astrograph Catalogue, which includes more than 113 million individual stars and the most. recent locations. If you want to explore space and learn a little while doing it, Luminos is a great tool to use and well worth the hefty (compared to other space apps) price point.
