Android: Skysafari Pro

[Astroegg]

Anybody tried the Android app "Skysafari Pro" from Southern Stars? At £25.79 I am puzzled as to how much better it can be than free offerings such as SkEye but I am a sucker for yet another astronomy app on my android phone.

Perhaps this is slightly better for the tablet devices? I'd be interested to hear thoughts on this.

[RogerTheDodger]

I have it, and it is very nice graphically with a huge object dbase and a lot of images. I use it to plan what I might want to image as I have set up the FOV of my cam and use that to see how the target will frame. There's loads of info in it, I'm just scratching the surface so far...

Here's a screenshot of M101 on my Galaxy Nexus.

[ngc457]

Here is a simple equation on how skysafari compares to other android apps. Skysafari = a full fledged plots all does all app. Other android apps = novelty toys. Seriously most android apps plot a few stars and messier objects. A few of the better ones plots ngc/ic objects which is a poor deepsky database for amateurs because it lacks dark nebula, and non ngc open clusters such as do, king, collindar, and so forth. Many of the objects are treasures in binoculars. In my opinion skysafari pro is the only android astronomy app.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

[ZEbbEDY]

Yep the best I've used so far

Before i was using star chart but tried em all really

[knightware2]

I participated in the beta test for Sky Safari 3 for Android and I am really impressed with its capabilities. I am using the mid-sized 'Plus' version on a Motorola Droid Razr phone with impressive responsiveness.

The only hitch I found was in importing observing lists. This capability was not ready by release time (late Dec) so it was deferred to the next service release. The Mac and iOS versions already have this feature.

This program doesn't replace my desktop observing software but it is very handy for astronomy on the go.

Southern Stars has periodic specials where the basic version on free. You might check the Android Market for such an opportunity.

[Astroegg]

Thanks for your responses everybody. It certainly seems to have drummed up support. I'm still of the impression this is more suited to a tablet device, and I am not sure the wireless telexscope control would be quite so useful for me at the moment either - I'd need a remote focussing method and probably a whole heap of other pricey accesories, but maybe one day.

Southern Stars has periodic specials where the basic version on free. You might check the Android Market for such an opportunity.

I shall look out for such an opportunity, thanks.

[svelo]

I have a Asus Transformer I use for pretty much all my astro things, the pro version runs great on it and it haves pretty much everything you need. It is way better on a tablet than on a phone too.

[jam1e1]

personally found the smartphone version excellent and very well suited to smaller screens. Bought this and havent used anything else to navigate night sky since

Got the Skyfi module and useful with EQ6 PRO to hunt down hard to find objects, or squeeze lots different objects into one nights observing - with our weather well worthy investment!

[knightware2]

An update to my January post - the latest update (v1.1.1) brings observing list import function to SkySafari Plus & Pro for Android. Getting a list to your Android device isn't as easy as with iOS - you need to attach your Android device to a computer by USB cable to copy the file(s). Even so, this is an imminently convenient way to take custom observing lists into the field.

[saturn10]

Hi,

For help check out my post on 12th Feb.

Rob

[Rattler]

I'll have to check this out at some point. I use Star Chart on my phone.