Sky safari or Stellarium

[bosun21]

I am debating which one of the above to buy the pro version of. I hear a great deal of mixed messages regarding both of them. I don’t want to buy a year’s subscription only to find out I made the wrong choice. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[Gfamily]

Have you tried the free versions of either/both? Those should show you what to expect from each. 

I used to prefer the original iteration of Stellarium, but the more recent version that they used for the Plus version seems a bit clunkier. 

Sky Safari has more options, but some of the defaults (graphics, sounds, animations) were just annoying (to me YMMV), so it's taken a while to get used to it. 

I now use Sky Safari Plus (the intermediary version) for controlling my telescope, and Stellarium + (very much zoomed in - and with the field of view reversed) at the eyepiece to allow me to confirm what I'm seeing 

[Zermelo]

13 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I am debating which one of the above to buy the pro version of. I hear a great deal of mixed messages regarding both of them. I don’t want to buy a year’s subscription only to find out I made the wrong choice. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Which version of Sky Safari are you currently using?

Have you seen this comparison of features?
https://skysafariastronomy.com/skysafari-6-professional-astronomy-telescope-control-software-for-android.html

This is for Android V6.  V7 is now available on iOS, but is only on beta for Android.

You can do a lot with the intermediate "plus" version. The main advantage of Pro is a much larger database of objects, down to fainter mags.

I wasn't aware that the Pro has an annual fee. I just paid one-off for Plus.

Is there something specific you have heard about it that put you off?

[Stu]

13 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

I wasn't aware that the Pro has an annual fee. I just paid one-off for Plus.

 

Pro doesn’t have an annual subscription, there is something called LiveSky which does.

47 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

I now use Sky Safari Plus (the intermediary version) for controlling my telescope, and Stellarium + (very much zoomed in - and with the field of view reversed) at the eyepiece to allow me to confirm what I'm seeing 

Out of interest, why use both? SkySafari can be setup to exactly reflect the eyepiece view as well.

[Zermelo]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

Pro doesn’t have an annual subscription, there is something called LiveSky which does.

Ah right. I use the free level of LiveSky with Sky Safari Plus.

It lets you back up all your data to the cloud and view it from your browser, but not to edit it (you need to make any changes in Sky Safari).

[Gfamily]

23 minutes ago, Stu said:

Out of interest, why use both? SkySafari can be setup to exactly reflect the eyepiece view as well.

As I'm using SS6 for the scope control, I like to use the correct view for the general whole sky view and selecting the next targets. I don't want to be changing settings when I zoom in for the reversed image eyepiece view. 

As far as I'm aware there's no setting to allow the image alignment to auto switch at a certain zoom level. Mainly this. 

In addition, I find the Stellarium + slider to set the magnitude limit quicker to reach through the menu system. 

ETA : It helps that I got both apps when they were on half price, so I feel that I've not overspent.

I'm really waiting for the Sky Guide app to come out on Android, as I know Jen Millard who writes the science pages. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Gfamily

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

As far as I'm aware there's no setting to allow the image alignment to auto switch at a certain zoom level. Mainly this. 

Yes, that would be very handy wouldn’t it.

3 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

In addition, I find the Stellarium + slider to set the magnitude limit quicker to reach through the menu system. 

Do you know the short cut to this menu?

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, Zermelo said:

Which version of Sky Safari are you currently using?

Have you seen this comparison of features?
https://skysafariastronomy.com/skysafari-6-professional-astronomy-telescope-control-software-for-android.html

This is for Android V6.  V7 is now available on iOS, but is only on beta for Android.

You can do a lot with the intermediate "plus" version. The main advantage of Pro is a much larger database of objects, down to fainter mags.

I wasn't aware that the Pro has an annual fee. I just paid one-off for Plus.

Is there something specific you have heard about it that put you off?

  Basically the reviews on the App Store. A lot of them are pretty dismal. I have both Android and iOS.

[bosun21]

I have just started a 30 days trial of Stellarium and also have the basic Sky Safari. I just want to get it right before I commit to a year’s subscription.

[Stu]

2 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I have just started a 30 days trial of Stellarium and also have the basic Sky Safari. I just want to get it right before I commit to a year’s subscription.

A couple of points here. First off, as said, SkySafari 7 Plus and Pro are one off purchases and not subscription based. Secondly, the basic version of SkySafari doesn’t really show off many of the more useful features of the Plus and Pro versions, so it’s worth checking these out separately or asking on here.

[bosun21]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

A couple of points here. First off, as said, SkySafari 7 Plus and Pro are one off purchases and not subscription based. Secondly, the basic version of SkySafari doesn’t really show off many of the more useful features of the Plus and Pro versions, so it’s worth checking these out separately or asking on here.

It’s the Stellarium plus that I am trialing and I will probably just buy the Sky Safari plus as it’s only £6.49 (I think). Once I’ve tried them both i will be in a better position to determine whether either merits upgrading to the pro version. Thanks 

[Astro_Dad]

Again referencing BBC Sky at night magazine, the May 2022 issue featured a good balanced review of some of the key apps and their differences, pros/cons  with pricing options. 

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/top-astronomy-kit/best-astronomy-stargazing-apps/

I enjoy SS pro on iOS primarily - previously enjoyed Luminos too. But that’s now a subs model… SS works well controlling the Syn Scan Heritage 150p. I’ve never found the cloud based observing and sync feature as handy as using a notebook app like Day One with  an Astronomy section, but maybe I need to try that more to get into it? 

On desktop I’ve always preferred using Stellarium to SS - it is a “desktop first” application vs SS which is “mobile first” . (Info from Simulation Curriculum). 

What do people think of of Starry Night? 

 

[Spile]

I use Stellarium on my desktop computer, SkEye on my Android phone and SkySafari 7 on my iPad.

[bosun21]

31 minutes ago, Spile said:

I use Stellarium on my desktop computer, SkEye on my Android phone and SkySafari 7 on my iPad.

Jeez and I thought I was bad having an Android and a iOS Apple 

[paulastro]

32 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Jeez and I thought I was bad having an Android and a iOS Apple 

Well, its good to have all bases covered 😊.

Edited June 15, 2022 by paulastro

[Spile]

23 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Jeez and I thought I was bad having an Android and a iOS Apple 

I don’t mind being a technology tart.

[Jiggy 67]

On 15/06/2022 at 20:47, Astro_Dad said:

 

On desktop I’ve always preferred using Stellarium to SS - it is a “desktop first” application vs SS which is “mobile first” . (Info from Simulation Curriculum). 
 

 

Sorry i have to disagree regardless of what Simulation Curriculum say. i have SS6 Plus on a 24 inch iMac and it looks and works amazing, i also have SS7 on an iPhone, equally good. SkySafari works great on desktop and has more features than Stellarium, which I also have but rarely use these days. A particular feature of  SS is the session planning tool. Plan your sessions during the day on desktop and your plan will be on the phone for the night (regardless of the version...6 on desktop, 7 on phone, it doesn't matter). I also like the logbook feature which enables to log all your observations, equipment used etc, building your own database of all your observations to look back on. SS observing lists are really useful as well. Sorry, I don't work for SC but i am a big fan 😀

[bosun21]

I have just bought the Sky Safari plus and it looks to have everything i need from an app. It’s very reasonably priced into the bargain. Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment 👍

[RT65CB-SWL]

I found a 'copy' of SkySafari 4 in a list of my purchased Apple apps and re-installed it to my iPhone & iPad a few weeks ago. I also have SkySafari 6 installed on both devices.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Philip R

[Starwatcher2001]

SkySafari 7 Pro has just released in the last few days on Android. It's currently on half price at £24.49. They don't do an upgrade price from previous versions, but moving from 6 to 7 keeps all your settings (more easily if you have a Livesky account).

[Spile]

One thing I had to tweak were the default star and label brightness and size settings to match what I was seeing.

[Zermelo]

On 02/07/2022 at 20:44, Starwatcher2001 said:

SkySafari 7 Pro has just released in the last few days on Android. It's currently on half price at £24.49. They don't do an upgrade price from previous versions, but moving from 6 to 7 keeps all your settings (more easily if you have a Livesky account).

another current thread here:

 

[Astro_Dad]

I’ve been tinkering around this morning trying various apps to connect to and control Syn Scan GOTO on my Heritage Dob. Sky Safari my default but unlike others including Luminos I cannot seem to get Stellarium Plus to connect - not a deal breaker but I was interested to try the mobile version a bit more to see if I liked it. 
has anyone any tips to get this to work? (I’m running iOS). 
Thanks, 
Andrew