The 8 Best Stargazing Apps

Stargazing apps aren’t each the same. Some are bloated, immoderate are brilliant, and immoderate are lone bully if you cognize precisely what you're looking for. Here's a rundown of the ones we deliberation are really worthy your time.

SkyView: Best for Beginners

If you conscionable privation to constituent your telephone astatine the nighttime entity and person it archer you what you’re looking at, SkyView is an fantabulous prime for beginners who privation to get down with the basics. By layering augmented world implicit a unrecorded camera view, it gives names, facts, and orbital paths arsenic you expanse your instrumentality crossed the stars.

SkyView shows each 88 constellations, arsenic good arsenic planets, satellites, the International Space Station, and a ton of different celestial objects—though you'll request the paid mentation to spot the afloat cosmic landscape. It’s a pocket-friendly app disposable connected iOS and Android and features heavy prima catalogs, entity tracking, and animated satellites. You tin besides fast-forward oregon rewind celestial movements by day and acceptable reminders for large events.

However, the free, lite version, besides disposable connected iOS and Android, delivers coagulated basics without ads and is good worthy a download. It isn’t bloated and doesn’t request a information connection, and yes—it works conscionable good from a mountaintop oregon adjacent retired astatine sea.

Stellarium Plus: Best for Realistic Star Maps

If it’s realism you seek, Stellarium Plus goes supra and beyond the cartoonish overlays of different stargazing apps. In fact, it mightiness beryllium arsenic adjacent arsenic your telephone gets to simulating the existent nighttime sky, close down to prima brightness and subtle shifts successful airy crossed dusk and dawn.

It is based connected the Gaia DR2 dataset and features a immense catalog of stars and millions much celestial objects. It mightiness instrumentality you a portion to get done them all, but it’s highly awesome each the same. Star maps are clean, sharp, and photorealistic, with options to toggle illustrations and gridlines depending connected however minimal you privation your sky.

The database is usable offline, too; useful if you’re stargazing determination with a anemic awesome and lively skies. You tin adjacent nexus the app to your scope via Wi-Fi oregon Bluetooth and power it straight done your device, though this is constricted connected iOS.

Furthermore, if you’re looking for elaborate readying tools oregon precocious entity data, Stellarium Mobile Plus tin consciousness a spot limited. It’s undoubtedly designed for exploring the entity visually alternatively than managing elaborate observations oregon logging sessions.

iOS users tin entree Stellarium Mobile for escaped and acquisition Stellarium Plus in-app for enhanced features. Stellarium Mobile is besides disposable for free connected Android, but Stellarium Plus is simply a abstracted app purchase.

SkySafari 7 Pro: Best for Serious Amateurs

This app isn’t 1 to clasp your manus and mildly usher you done the basics. It’s designed for superior stargazers who privation control, customization, and a monolithic database without each the fluff.

There is nary escaped version, and the afloat app tin get pricey if you don’t drawback a discount. But if you’ve moved beyond pointing your telephone astatine the entity and present attraction astir telescope integration, elaborate observing lists, and real-time simulation accuracy, this is the app for you.

Watered-down versions are besides disposable astatine little prices, but for anyone superior astir planning, observing, and controlling their setup, the afloat app is the mode to go.

With implicit 100 cardinal stars, 3 cardinal galaxies, and three-quarters of a cardinal star strategy objects built into the database, it gives superior amateurs the extent they need. And with filters galore to find precisely what you’re looking for, whether by magnitude, catalog, constellation, altitude, oregon immoderate else, you tin walk little clip tapping and much clip observing.

Telescope power is via Wi-Fi oregon Bluetooth and includes precocious features similar Celestron StarSense auto-align. You tin adjacent grounds sessions, sync with LiveSky unreality backups, and broadcast observations with SkyCast if that’s what you similar to do. The interface does person a spot of a learning curve, but it’s good worthy the clip and effort. SkySafari 7 Pro is disposable for iOS and Android.

Star Walk 2: Best for Real-Time Sky Tracking

While Star Walk 2 doesn’t reinvent real-time entity tracking, it does bash it beautifully. Move your phone, and the heavens travel successful cleanable sync. Tilt it, and the stars displacement with it. Transitions are creaseless and cleanable with overlays that consciousness connected. It’s quick, responsive, and amazingly polished, particularly if you’ve utilized different apps wherever tracking tin sometimes consciousness fractional a measurement behind.

The visuals are delightful, too, and the accusation panels springiness you conscionable capable discourse without overwhelming. You tin pat connected immoderate celestial entity for facts, trajectories, oregon adjacent trivia, and you tin fast-forward to upcoming events similar meteor showers oregon planetary alignments. It besides features time-lapse options and a “night mode” to sphere your imaginativeness successful the dark.

Star Walk 2 is disposable for escaped connected iOS and Android and has plentifulness to support you busy, but unlocking the afloat catalog — including satellites, heavy entity objects, and ad-free entree — requires in-app purchases.

PhotoPills: Best for Astrophotographers

If you’re superior astir shooting the Milky Way oregon person a tendency to clip shots of celestial objects to precise moments, PhotoPills is 1 of your champion options. Using the Planner tool, astrophotographers tin driblet pins, scroll done time, and visualize precisely however the entity volition enactment up successful their frame. You tin adjacent preview meteor showers oregon galactic halfway visibility if you don’t privation to basal successful a tract for hours connected extremity hoping the entity lines up the mode you imagine.

The Night AR presumption overlays the Milky Way connected apical of immoderate you’re pointing at, beryllium that trees, mountains, buildings, oregon immoderate other is successful the way. This allows you to constitute your changeable earlier thing is adjacent disposable successful the entity above. There are calculators for conscionable astir everything—star trails, spot stars, exposures, focal length—and the app doesn’t request a information connection, which is cardinal erstwhile you’re obscurity adjacent a decent signal.

It besides works for different types of photography, specified arsenic sunrises and golden and bluish hours, but it’s nighttime shooters who’ll compression the astir payment retired of it. It’s disposable for a one-time acquisition for $10.99 connected some iOS and Android, with nary subscription and nary tiers.

Night Sky: Best for Apple users

Apple users looking to crook ceilings into planetariums tin bash truthful with the iOS-only Night Sky app. It’s designed for beginners looking to explore, but it’s besides packed with capable extras to support the astir enthusiastic abstraction nerd happy.

The app is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and adjacent Apple Vision if you privation to crook your full tract of presumption into an interactive nighttime sky. Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and adjacent iPod Touch are besides supported, but without the AR overlay. So, erstwhile utilizing a compatible device, you tin conscionable constituent astatine the sky, oregon adjacent your surviving country ceiling, and the app layers constellations, planets, satellites, abstraction stations, and each sorts of different celestial objects implicit the surface utilizing slick AR.

The interface is intuitive and includes filters to assistance you chopped done airy contamination and clutter, portion the app’s 360-degree mode shows constellations beneath the skyline (or nether your floor). You tin usage Sky Tags to prevention your favorites oregon customize tours, and you’ll adjacent get alerts erstwhile the ISS is flying overhead.

Free users get plentifulness to support them busy, including AR overlays and entity entity tagging. You tin grounds your ain tours, drawback photos, and adjacent stargaze with friends successful existent time. It’s not perfect; immoderate AR features tin beryllium a spot janky, but for the aforesaid outgo arsenic a heavy breath, the basal app is beauteous generous successful what it delivers. However, an in-app subscription to Night Sky+ unlocks gems similar the Grand Orrery (a spinning star system), Planetary Portals, and entree to each 1.7 cardinal cataloged stars.

GoSkyWatch Planetarium for iPad: Best for iPad

People that usage iPads volition beryllium blessed to cognize determination is simply a escaped stargazing app specifically designed for their tablet. The GoSkyWatch Planetarium for iPad app turns your surface into a point-and-identify entity guide. There are nary buttons, nary menus, and nary net is required. Just tilt your iPad toward the stars, and it’ll amusement names, brightness, and distances for everything from planets and constellations to galaxies and deep-sky objects.

It’s designed for outdoor use, but it besides works indoors. Just constituent your iPad to wherever you privation to explore, whether overhead to place what is supra you oregon down astatine the crushed to spot what’s connected the different broadside of the world. You mightiness spot the satellite rising successful the eastbound portion Saturn sets successful the westbound oregon spot Alpha Centauri beneath the skyline arsenic it moves toward nightfall successful different portion of the world.

Features see satellite signifier calendars, sunrise and sunset times, a day prima search, Messier and Caldwell catalogs, and realistic Milky Way imagery. The app auto-calibrates its compass, supports touch-free navigation, and includes a afloat 180-degree view. It runs connected iPadOS 9.3 oregon aboriginal and includes banner ads. There are nary in-app purchases, but a abstracted paid version of the app is disposable with other features and nary ads, and this 1 is besides compatible with iPhone.

Sky Tonight: Best for Event Notifications

Stargazers keen connected downloading an app with fantabulous lawsuit notifications and readying tools should see the Sky Tonight app. It’s disposable for some iOS and Android and pulls everything you request to cognize astir the entity astatine nighttime into 1 place. It opens with a real-time entity representation based connected your location, and you tin cheque a afloat calendar of upcoming events, including conjunctions, occultations, meteor showers, and eclipses.

Notifications are tied to your determination and item the astir salient entity objects and events arsenic they happen. You tin pat immoderate point to get nonstop emergence and acceptable times, visibility details, and adjacent what benignant of cogwheel you’ll request for observing, beryllium that the bare eye, binoculars, oregon a telescope.

Additionally, the stargazing scale combines satellite phase, unreality cover, airy pollution, and sunset clip to foretell whether viewing conditions volition beryllium bully connected immoderate fixed night. You besides get a dedicated "Visible Tonight" list, though this and immoderate different features necessitate an in-app subscription.

---

Different apps bash antithetic things well. Some are large for planning, others for real-time viewing oregon photography. If you cognize what you need, whether it’s lawsuit alerts, scope control, oregon realistic maps, determination are plentifulness of choices that volition bash the occupation amended than you mightiness anticipate, and galore of them you don’t adjacent person to wage for.