Newly arrived to my blog? Want to know more about me before you dive into my posts? Why not visit the home page first and start your exploration from there:
https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html
And welcome. Welcome to 'UnderSouthWest Skies'. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find the experience worthwhile. This blog post has been written from my own 'beginner perspective' after doing lots of reading on various basic astronomy and astrophotography topics of interest to beginners. In getting my head around it all, I may have got odd bits slightly wrong; but, like you, I am on a leaning journey, so please forgive any unintentional errors. Also, just because I have gone down a particular road regarding equipment, doesn't mean that I have chosen the 'CORRECT' route!
Meanwhile, clear skies to you. Take care and thanks for visiting Steve aka PlymouthAstroBoy
Who knew my life
would be ruled by apps? My smartphone is
full of them – all neatly arranged in folders. A folder for motorhome apps;
another for sailing. A big folder of apps for astronomy. Then smaller ones for
car parking, entertainments, utilities, communications and more! So much internal phone memory just for apps,
but never mind.
You are here to find
out about those apps that might be useful to you as you begin your learning
journey in astrophotography; so, without further ado – here are the main ones I
use and some others I don’t use but friends do. I should say I have an android phone but I am
sure you can get the ‘apple’ equivalent.
As I come across useful apps, I will update this page regularly with postscripts, so pop back every so often.
What is the aim of
these apps? To help you get the most out of the night sky
and/or to help you obtain the best nightscape/astrophotography images you can
get!
(As
I always remind myself on every evening under the stars – my Google Pixel 6A
has more computing power in it than the Lunar module had to get it down to the
surface of the moon and back – or is that one of those urban myths we all like
to tell ourselves?)
Before
choosing an app – ask yourself these questions:
1.
What do you need the app to do for you?
2.
How popular is the app – how many downloads and what are the reviews like?
3. What are the
alternative, comparative apps? How does your potential choice compare to the others?
The apps I use must do
some of the following for me:
·
Give me Astronomy weather forecasts
·
Help me plan an astrophotography session
·
Provide Aurora, meteor and ISS pass alerts
·
Share interactive Star charts and databases on deep
sky objects
·
Control my Asiair mini and my SWSA 2i tracker
·
Give me Moon phases and calendar information
·
(Control and align my telescope)
·
Find the position of Polaris on a polar clock
·
Provide a red light facility
·
Show detailed OS maps for night navigation
In essence, they all
boil down to a few things – finding the right weather; finding the right
location; finding the right shot.
So here are some of the apps I or friends are using regularly for astrophotography:
SkySafari Plus - if you are serious
about astrophotography and astronomy – get Sky Safari 7, the paid version. If
you are beginning, then get SkySafari Plus and decide whether to upgrade later.
I use this app constantly. A huge database of stars, galaxies, nebulae and more
to help plan your trips. Detailed observing lists. A quick search – gives you
tonight’s best, planets, brightest stars, nearest stars, best deep sky objects
and more. Hold it up to the sky and you know where you are looking instantly. Choose
the type of celestial objects you'd like to observe (think galaxies, globular
clusters or nebulas) then sort results by their location, to find the ones
visible closest to where you are. Zoom in and out of the planetarium screen. You
can use the time buttons to fast forward through the days and nights to see
what is changing above your head. Simple and intuitive.
(SkySafari7 is the big brother of SkySafari Plus and it’s a paid for app. Largest database of any astronomy app, including every solar system object ever discovered. Accurate and with advanced planning tools and excellent telescope control options.)
Stellarium Mobile Plus – a paid alternative to SkySafari. There is a free version of Stellarium as well. Don’t use it myself but have friends to do and they highly rate it, describing it as comprehensive and immersive. A real-time based planetarium based app that shows you exactly what is above your head when you look up, just like SkySafari. You can control a telescope with it via wifi or bluetooth. It has AR star maps and the app uses your smartphone GPS. Huge database that includes high definition photographs like SkySafari. Easy to use, minimalist user interface and award winning. Not a great one for astrophotographer I think as it seems to be mainly used by my astronomer friends. But then I might be biased here – I am a SkySafari aficionado.
PhotoPills App - a paid for app that is one of my most used. You drop a pin at your preferred location and immediately on the map appears the location, rise and set positions of the moon; the rising and position of the milky way core and much more beside. A great AR/AR night mode feature that allows you to work out where the milky way will be positioned in an image scene you are thinking of shooting later that night. Exact time, location, date and shooting position - brilliant as it helps me towards achieving that 'perfect' shot. Easy sections to calculate hyperfocal distance, field of view, exposure settings, star trails and more. One of my most useful apps - a game changer! Downside? steep learning curve - so use the help videos; works only in portrait mode.
Light Pollution map - great for working out areas of light pollution in your locality - colour coded with teh ability to zoom in to detailed maps.
Clear Outside - Created by First Light Optics and my first stop to find detailed weather forecasts for my night's observing. Cloud cover, wind speeds, temperatures, humidity levels and more. Updates hourly. You just input your location. Frustratingly, mine doesn't seem to be updating properly at the moment and I cant work out why.
ISS detector app - great fun as it tells you when and where to look for the ISS passing overhead. Gives a notification a few minutes beforehand. With some basic weather information about the night's viewing as well. Love it!
Telescopius - a new app to me and one I am still trying to work out. Essentially a planning tool it has a telescope simulator, calculator and a large deep sky objects database. You can save your frequently visited destinations. Check the weather for the oncoming days, use the simulator to work out the framing of your next astrophotography target in your camera. I suspect this will be another go to app when I have mastered its intricacies.
Polar Clock - simple and easy to use. do your polar aligning, setting up of your equatorial mount and more. Owning a skywatcher star adventurer, it helps me check the position of polaris in its reticule. Use it every session.
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