The night sky has always remained a mystery to humans. Stars, planets, constellations - all this is a beautiful sight, but not everyone can distinguish them. Thanks to the development of technology, with the help of special mobile applications, now anyone can learn to identify constellations.
Their work is based on the use of GPS and sensors that determine the orientation of the smartphone in space (accelerometer, compass and gyroscope). Using this information, applications form a map of the starry sky, which is displayed on the smartphone screen. I tested most of these applications and selected the best ones.
Stellarium
Stellarium is an application that positions itself as a full-fledged pocket planetarium. It displays the sky as it appears to the naked eye, only with strong magnification. Stellarium looks less impressive than other applications from the review, but it copes with its task quite decently. The catalog contains information about more than 600,000 stars, as well as nebulae, galaxies and satellites.
For each object, a description in Russian is available (taken from Wikipedia), interesting facts and other information (distance, size). In addition, there is a sunrise simulation function. This allows you to learn how to determine the time of day and the direction of light depending on the position of the Sun in the sky. I think this function will be especially useful for those who likes to go hiking.
Available for iOS And Android.
Star Walk 2
With Star Walk 2, you can explore meteor showers, star clusters, and planetary nebulae. The app detects your location and shows you what you can see in the sky above you at that moment.
One of the most interesting features is the ability to identify constellations. Once a constellation is identified, a beautiful picture opens up, for example, the constellation Ursa Major in the northern hemisphere turns into a picture of a bear. This looks much more impressive than a simple set of dots and names.
Available for iOS And Android.
Google Sky Map
Google Sky Map was developed by Google. The application was released back in 2012. During this time, it has been downloaded more than 50 million times, while the average rating of the application is 4.4 points, which indicates its high quality.
Sky Map allows you to filter visible celestial objects by categories such as stars, planets, galaxies, etc. To do this, use the icons on the left side of the screen. There is also a search function that allows you to find a specific star or planet on the celestial sphere. When searching, a large arrow appears on the screen indicating the direction to the desired object.
Available for Android.
Night Sky
Night Sky is a popular iOS app that contains information about 1.7 billion stars. The app includes a search function and a light pollution indicator.
The app shows a lot of information about stars for free: age, temperature, distance and 18 other parameters. Many of the features are free, including integration with Apple Watch. A distinctive feature is the presence of tags that can be assigned to stars.
However, for additional paid functionality you need to pay 1150 rubles per year. One of the most popular functions is Grand Orrery, which uses augmented reality technology and allows you to move around the solar system, approach planets and enlarge individual objects. It is also possible to walk on the Moon.
Available for iOS (530 MB).
Sky Guide
Sky Guide AR is an iPhone app with Apple Watch support. It notifies you of upcoming space events, such as the ISS flyby, and lets you know where the ISS is at the moment. You can choose how much time before the event you want to receive the notification.
With Sky Guide AR, you can observe the Moon, solar activity, and various planets. For an additional fee of $10, you can use the high-resolution zoom function. In addition, the paid plan gives access to a 50x larger star catalog (a total of about 2.5 million stars in the database) and exclusive cinematic tours of space.
The free version of the app is available for two weeks, but all additional features must be paid for.
Available for iOS (211 MB).
SkyView
Just point your smartphone at the sky, and SkyView will identify all the stars, galaxies, planets, constellations, and satellites that are in your field of view. Even the Hubble telescope and the ISS are recognized automatically!
Each space object has its own library of interesting information (in English), which includes coordinates, distance to Earth, radius of the equator and much more. All this can be useful and interesting not only for children, but also for adult astronomy enthusiasts.
SkyView also provides notifications of interesting space events so you don't miss anything. And the time travel feature lets you travel back in time to see all the space events that happened before.
Available for iOS (there is support for Apple Watch) and Android.
Star Chart
Star Chart is an iOS mobile app that uses AR and GPS technology to display the current location of stars and planets in the sky in real time. It displays all 88 constellations and allows you to move forward or backward 10,000 years using the Time Shift feature.
Unlike Google Sky Map, Star Chart has a simplified calibration process and smoother scanning of the starry sky. Its star chart visualization has been improved, and the constellations are drawn more beautifully. In addition, Star Chart offers comet, satellite, and meteor shower tracking features, but only for an additional fee.
Overall, Star Chart and Google Sky Map have similar functionality, but Star Chart has some advantages in usability and visualization.
Available for iOS.