Phone planetarium app

[TimW]

I have a few :

Phases of the moon
Stellarium
SkyPortal
Goolge SkyMap

[Apollo XX]

I guess it all depends on what you'd like the app to do. Myself, I don't think a phone app is very practical in the field. The small screen and too-bright illumination don't bode well for dark adaptation and it's constant glasses on/glasses off.

I do find it to work well under bright circumstances though, like at most outreach events. With some alt/az setting circles I can locate lots of cool stuff that I wouldn't be able to otherwise, and the phone's accurate location knowledge means very good alt/az data from the program. I typically reference off of a bright object and Bob's your uncle.

As far as live pointing is concerned, I think they're all pretty poor from what I've seen. But it will usually get you in the ballpark. Personally I've never really wanted much from the 'this is what's in that direction' feature except to maybe identify a naked-eye object, constellation, etc.

I use mine all the time. Sometimes just to get a general idea of what's what at the moment, often to look ahead at when certain things will be up, and sometimes for specific location data on an object. I've even used it as a star chart to locate a comet or perhaps the planets Uranus and Neptune. It doesn't go very deep, maybe 8th mag or so, but it has done the job in pinch.

For $2 it's been a pretty good tool.

PS - I stand corrected. I just opened up my Stellarium Mobile app and went to a date later this month around new moon and zoomed in. It goes out to about 10.5 mag in places. Not bad.

[Pete]

My primary use of these apps is to locate planets in the daytime for viewing with binoculars or a small azimuth mounted scope. But haven't put that much time into this and have no idea what works best.

Pete

[Paul D]

I have to agree with Mike. The only app I have found worth while is Stellarium. Its perhaps the most accurate of them all. That being said I still don't use planetarium apps in the field. They are just to small on a phone or a tablet and the light will ruin your night vision even in red mode. I use a planner app that is on a dark background and even with that I put a piece of rubylith over the screen and I still think its to bright, so I use it sparingly.

If you are going to use an app I suggest you use a well filtered tablet that is a lot easier to work with and is easier to read. I don't trust the compasses that are in phones or tablets no two phones or tablets will ever read the same.