You'll want to have one best stargazing apps on your phone whenever there's a big astronomical event occurring. Whether it's meteor showers, lunar eclipses or full moons, these apps can let you get the most of any celestial event.
But really, anytime is the right time to turn to a great stargazing app, especially if you want to learn more about the wonders of the night sky. Whether it's looking up the constellations on a mobile star app or turning to some other astronomical aid, the best stargazing apps put a planetarium in your palm. And things are only getting more sophisticated thanks to augmented reality, which can superimpose information on the night sky or recreate the stars above when you're stuck indoors.
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Our sister site Space.com has extensive coverage of the stars, space exploration and similar topics. But for a look at some of the best stargazing apps you can find for your phone, here’s what we’ve discovered on our app store explorations.
The best stargazing apps for Android and iOS
1. Night Sky
Night Sky on iOS is a gorgeous app that takes full advantage of Apple's push for AR apps to deliver a really nice-looking augmented reality sky map.
Users can view thousands of stars, satellites, planets and constellations in this best stargazing app for iOS. Night Sky takes things further with Apple Watch support that brings the sky map down to your wrist. Users can hold up the Apple Watch to identify objects in the sky, or look down to view a "celestial compass" that gives an overview of objects visible tonight.
A new addition with the introduction of ARKit in past versions of iOS is the AR Grand Orrery that displays a virtual model of the solar system that you can circle around and view.
- Download Night Sky: iOS
2. Skyview Free
Terminal Eleven's SkyView gives you a good idea of what to expect from good all-in-one stargazing and sky guide apps. SkyView uses your phone's screen and sensors to give you an augmented reality view of what's up in the sky.
Users can turn their smartphones and tablets into AR viewfinders for identifying stars, planets and constellations; the app can display an object's track in the sky as well as information on select objects, planets, and satellites.
SkyView also includes a "time travel" feature that allows you to view the sky as it would have appeared in the past, or will appear in the future, based on what we know of each object's movements.
While you can download SkyView for free, a paid version of the app costs just $1.99 on Google Play and the iOS App Store, with more advanced features.
3. NASA
The official NASA app is a great way to explore the vast reaches of the cosmos without having to put down your smartphone. Combining official news articles, tweets, videos, photos and features from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the NASA app offers everything you’d want from one of the best stargazing apps.
Users can watch live NASA TV, explore a growing archive of more than 16,000 images from NASA’s probes, missions, and other sources, and check out the latest space news. It’s a particularly great option for when you’re stuck indoors, but still want to gaze at the stars.
4. SkySafari
SkySafari has long provided excellent sky guide apps for amateurs and professionals alike. The current version of this best stagazing app offers up a rich offline database of stars, planets, and other celestial objects that you can view on an AR star chart, complete with animated visualizations and info about the history, mythology and science behind these celestial objects.
The $2.99 Cosmos Collection in-app purchase unlocks additional features such as narrated tours of the heavens, orbit mode and galaxy view. Even more advanced versions, SkySafari Plus and SkySafari Pro, include an expanded database and more features such as support for WiFi-controlled telescopes.
5. Pocket Universe
Pocket Universe is another great all-in-one sky watching app for iPhones that provides both a portable sky map as well as a wealth of extras like augmented reality modes.
For $2.99, Users can view a map of the sky above, complete with labels and constellations, as well as track individual objects and planets (with a "show me" mode to guide your aim). An augmented reality orrery lets you view the solar system in your own living room, and the app includes extra activities and resources like quizzes and Wikipedia links to various objects.
- Download Pocket Universe: iOS
6. Star Rover
Star Rover is another sky map app that turns your phone into an AR viewfinder to help you locate stars, planets and constellations simply by pointing with your phone. It's a $1.99 download.
The view in this best stargazing app is configurable, with users able to toggle constellations, the names of planets and major stars, and equatorial and azimuthal grids. You can configure the app to display the sky based on your current location, date and time, or go time-traveling by setting the location, date and time yourself — that latter feature lets you view the night sky as it was in the past, or as it will be in the future.
7. Cosmic Watch
Cosmic Watch does more than just tell you the time. The app provides users with a slick mobile planetarium and AR sky guide depicting the planets, stars, and constellations.
The sky guide view has numerous layers that you can toggle on or off, such as constellations and star names, a sky gradient, and coordinate guide lines. You can view the night sky as it is right now, or use the time machine feature to see the sky in the past or future. You can also turn things around with a 3D view of the globe or a geocentric or heliocentric view of the solar system.
Cosmic Watch also happens to be pretty good at telling the time, in case that's useful to you. It's a $6.99 download for iPhone owners, while Android users pay $4.49.
8. Star Walk 2
Vito Technology's Star Walk 2 is a $2.99 augmented reality star chart that displays the stars and planets in the heavens above you. In addition, the app includes detailed information on the history and mythology of the various constellations, stars and planets, as well as a coordinates viewer for easy reference.
A Time Machine slider in this best stargazing app lets you view the skies of the past or the future, and you can tap on individual objects for more details. A night mode allows you to stargaze without burning out your night vision, and an augmented reality view overlays the star chart over your camera view.
9. Sky Map
Formerly a Google project that's gone open source, Sky Map is a neat augmented reality app that turns your smartphone or tablet into a mobile planetarium.
Sky Map uses your phone's many sensors to calculate your geographical position and then display a detailed star map based on where your device is pointed. The map includes the constellations, the names of stars and planets, and makes for a great companion app for stargazers.
A night mode ensures your low light vision doesn't get ruined, and a time travel feature lets you view the sky as it looked in the past, or as it will be in the future.
- Download Sky Map: Android
10. Stellarium Mobile
Stellarium has long been a well-regarded open-source planetarium app on desktop devices. Mobile versions for Android and iOS let you take your sky guide with you when you head out to stargaze. (The Android version is a free download, with in-app purchases unlocking features; Stellarium Mobile Plus is a $13.99 app on iOS.)
The mobile app features a catalogue of more than 600,000 stars on a zoomable map that can also be used as a viewfinder and star or satellite identifier by pointing your phone up at the night sky. Users can display asterisms and constellations from different cultures, as well as search for artificial satellites.
11. Solar Walk 2
Rather than a virtual planetarium, Solar Walk 2 is a pocket orrery, modeling the position of the sun, planets, moons and other assorted celestial objects in our solar system.
Lavishly animated and illustrated, the $2.99 app lets users zoom in on each of the planets, moons and even a number of space craft and satellites to view stunning images, infographics, and detailed writeups of each object. You can also zoom out and view the entire solar system in motion, the app modeling each celestial body's movements over time.
12. Sky Guide
Another old favorite for iOS users looking for the best stargazing apps is Sky Guide, a handy GPS-assisted sky map and recognition tool for spotting and identifying constellations, stars, planets and satellites. iOS 11 added a new twist with an augmented reality view that overlays the star map on your camera view.
As with the best star map apps, Sky Guide uses your phone's sensors and screen to display a map of the sky wherever your phone is pointed at, identifying stars and planets. In addition to showing you the sky as it is now, you can also time travel to view the sky as it was or will be on particular dates. Apple Watch support lets you receive notifications for things like the International Space Station flying overhead; you can also view solar activity or a Moon complication.
- Download Sky Guide: iOS
13. GoSkyWatch Planetarium
GoSkyWatch Planetarium is another popular app for iPhones and iPads, dating back to the iPad 2 launch. The $3.99 GoSkyWatch Planetarium serves as a sky map and star finder, displaying a labeled star field based on your current location and device orientation, with a search arrow that can guide you to a selected stellar object.
Users can adjust brightness and night mode for late night viewing, view constellations, experience time lapse animations of stellar movement and consult sunrise and sunset times.
- Download GoSkyWatch Planetarium: iOS
14. SkyWiki
SkyWiki provides users with a simple kit of helpful features for stargazing with your Android pphone, including a GPS-assisted starmap, a calendar of celestial events, compass, and a "periscope" chart that displays vital information.
The Skymap automatically calibrates based on your device location, showing you a projected night sky; crosshairs indicate where your phone is pointed at right now to help orient your viewing.
The periscope view also provides sunrise and sunset times, as well as altitude and heading info, and a similar spread of facts about visible planets and the sun and moon. A helpful night mode changes most text and UI elements to red in order to protect your night vision — another reason why this lands on our list of best stargazing apps.
- Download SkyWiki: Android
15. SkEye
SkEye is a mobile planetarium app for Android devices that doubles as a PUSHTO guide for optical telescopes. SkEye operates like most other star map apps, with a built-in catalog of stellar objects, a search function and a time machine mode for viewing the night sky in the past or future.
Users can also attach their Android device to their telescope's optical tube assembly, and with some alignment calibrations, they can use the app as a PUSHTO guide for aligning telescopes to objects they wish to view.
- Download SkEye: Android
