Smartphone?

[A McEwan]

Hi all,

Just wondering how many of you use smartphones and apps for your astronomy experiences. Which types are best and what apps do you find most useful? Any that really stand out?

I'll be thinking of a smartphone for my next contract upgrade in a few months so thought I'd ask around and see how useful these things are in a field under a dark sky!

Ant

[IvanT]

Starmap pro and sky safari on the iPhone for me. Only reason I use two is that starmap pro has a nice "what's up" feature I use to plan, sky safari I prefer for its UI.

Let's not forget Tapatalk which is a fantastic little forum app.

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[Pavel]

I have got an old smartphone with apps for astronomers. That one is solid and quite functional for night walking; old one that I don`t afraid to lost my phone.

Most useful for my model:

- "SkyMap",

- "Mobile Star Chart",

- "MicroSky".

[beetlejuice]

I use Google SkyMap on my Android - great little planetarium programme that makes devices like the Celestron SkyScout obsolete. SunSpots is another brilliant free app that allows you to download current satellite and ground based daily observations of our nearest stellar neighbour - ideal for seeing if there are any sunspots, prominences to view. Heavens Above for satellite observing. Sky & Telescope SkyWeek for a daily almanac of what's on in the skies. Moon 3D for the moon phases. Meteor Shower Calendar for, er, meteor showers. All these apps are free so can't be bad.

[Dunkster]

I have several astronomy apps on my iPhone, but the one I've been using so far when I'm observing is Sky Safari 3.

[mcwill]

I've used pUniverse on the iPhone for a couple of years with no problem, however I've recently switched to sky safari and been very impressed with the amount of information available.

[West End Wendy]

Sky Safari is certainly the best app I've tried for iPhone (I have 6 similar apps) though Starmap Pro does have a couple of nice features and is a decent app too.

Tim

[Psychobilly]

Cheapo PAYG Orange San Fran with 16GB card...

Google Sky Maps

Polarfinder

Astro Panel - Nice work Lewis

Moonshine

Flashlight

Sidereal Clock

Heavens Above...

[red dwalf]

is there an app for smart phones to show your longtitude and latitude thats easy to use and ideally free, i have google maps on my phone but it doesn`t seem to show these details, would be very usefull in the field when using eqmod on my mount, you might tell that this is my first smart phone so still getting to grips with it, (wildfire s)

[Psychobilly]

It probably has a GPS... which you will need to turn on...

[red dwalf]

yep it has GPS on it which i turn on but then when i use google maps it just shows me where i am but little else apart from nearest shops, petrol stations and so on, no exact co ordinates, any more help please with settings as there seems to be loads

[RogerTheDodger]

Install astro panel (which is well worth having anyway), that'll give you the co-ordinates at top left.

[A McEwan]

Wow! Sounds like there's loads of astro-apps out there! Not having had a smartphone before I suspect it will be a bit of a learning curve, but I'm looking forward to it now, knowing that there are some tools that might add tomy astro experiences.

Ant

[red dwalf]

thank you rogerthedodger, installed astro panel, looks very good nice and easy to use and shows ISS passes also, many thanks.

hi Ant, yep get yourself a smart phone, don`t have to pay a fortune for them, my wildfire s was £10 a month on virgin mobile, must be a good phone as the kids want me to swop it for there`s L.O.L.

have downloaded google sky, and now astro panel which is very usefull to get coordinates for eqmod when i go to astro meets.

[Psychobilly]

Seeing as you have an HEQ-5 grab PolarFinder...

[dobbie]

hi i have a ipod touch with distant suns3 which is good , but the most useful app i have found is on my android wildfire cost 63p its called " whereisit " its finds your location using gps,, then you can search for all the messier objects cadwell objects and as binoculars objects , its also has the main 15 stars to line your scopes up . you can input your favs list and it gives your alt/az coords plus ra/dec .i plan my viewing night punch in the ra/dec coords and it converts them to alt/az in real time fantastic little app , dobbie

[Lianachan]

Tried Heavens Above on my HTC last night, and as a result I saw an excellent mag -5 Iridium flare. Will be using it again!

[Stu]

Mobile Observatory is very good and shows jupiter moon positions

Skeye

Star chart

Vortex Planetarium, also shows jovian moon positions

Google Sky maps

Heavens above

Telescope calculator for magnification and field of view

Foviewer, shows how objects look in different fields if view, about to be updated with more objects

Polarfinder

Hubble space

Star3map

Astropanel for weather and seeing forecasts

APOD, sets your background to the astro photo of the day

Plenty of lunar moon phase apps

...and of course compass and spirit level apps for setting up your mount :-)

Enjoy

Cheers

Stu

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[Stu]

All android of course. Samsung Galaxy S, to be upgraded to S 2 when my contract allows :-)

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[A McEwan]

That was my next question - yep, the question the whole world is asking.... Android or iPhone? Sorry....

Ant

[Stu]

Well.....

.... I was a cheap skate and could get a Galaxy S free on contract vs £ 85 for an iPhone.

Aside from that, there is a view that Android is much more open and flexible than Apple kit which is very good and works seamlessly, but is totally locked into iTunes etc.

Sure there is plenty of opinion out there both ways!

Stu

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[MG1]

just wondered, but do these apps work 'off-network'?

Kielder has next to no mobile reception (at least O2 and Voda) so will they work with raw GPS or do they need a signal for the A-GPS that the majority are packed with to work?

[scogyrd]

That was my next question - yep, the question the whole world is asking.... Android or iPhone? Sorry....

Ant

Get an android phone, flash MIUI (because it looks iphoneish), a new kernal and overclock and undervolt the phone to make iphone users jealous. My sister went right off her iphone once she'd seen how smooth and quick my phone was compared to hers.

On the other hand if you join the cult of apple it'll change your life forever and make the world a much better place.

[scogyrd]

just wondered, but do these apps work 'off-network'?

Kielder has next to no mobile reception (at least O2 and Voda) so will they work with raw GPS or do they need a signal for the A-GPS that the majority are packed with to work?

Some apps work offline and some don't. It really all depends on whether they need to access the internet or not. However, generally speaking, you don't need mobile reception to access gps so many of them do work with no connection.

[twotter]

I recently got a Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, which is the first smartphone I've ever had. Installed SkyMaps and another astro app to help me find targets. Tried them out on a clear night to find they were very inaccurate. Still had the problem after doing the figure 8 reset, so I uninstalled the apps.

Pity