Night Sky Tools - Astronomy
The calculations are of a high enough accuracy for almost all amateur astronomy applications.
Due to the fact that astronomy is often best when far from civilization where mobile signal may not always be reliable. Therefore, this app is (almost) completely self-contained and does not require any internet connection for most of the information available. The only exceptions to this are the SOHO solar images and NGC/IC, Messier, Caldwell and Binary star images and weather forecast which are loaded dynamically, as well as the refreshing of satellite, comet and near-earth asteroid data.
Night mode turns the display red for night observations without having to ruin your night vision.
The Sky Map makes use of the direction sensors of the device to show the sky above (or below you). Most of the features can be toggled in the settings. The Sky Map also allows you to turn on the device's camera to see the view behind the device with the sky map superimposed over it.
The direction sensors of the device may need to be calibrated if the map appears to be pointing in the wrong direction. To calibrate the device's sensors wave the device in a figure-8 pattern. If the direction is still off, then the direction calibration can be adjusted manually by changing the setting in the Settings screen.
The observation log, allows you to save observations in the applications, as well as manage a list of astronomical equipment and observing locations. This equipment is also available for use in the Telescope Calculator.
Most of the data screens have an option to share the data via email, or other similar apps able to accept HTML content.
The Astronomical Time is also available as a Home screen widget. To use the widget, the app needs to be installed onto the internal storage instead of the SD card, otherwise it will not be available.
Some permissions are required for correct functioning of the app:Location
- used to determine user location throughout the appCamera/Microphone
- used to allow camera background in skymap. The microphone is never used but this permission is bundled with camera.Photos/Media/Files
- used to allow proper functioning of the full screen images and caching of imagesNetwork access
- used to do online searches, and downloading comet, asteroid and satellite data, object images and geocoding.
The app is jam-packed with features:
- Observe the sky with the skymap, planisphere, aurora forecast, polar finder, weather forecast, daylight map, Moon and Mars maps, SOHO images, Jupiter and Saturn's moons, Moon and Sun calendars and what's up.
- Detailed object information on the planets, constellations, comets, exoplanets, meteor showers, near-earth asteroids, satellites, as well as the full NGCIC, Caldwell, Messier, 6th catalog of Visual Binary Stars by the USNO and General Catalog of Variable Stars catalogs, as well as a SIMBAD search.
- Calculate angular separation, atmospheric refraction, magnitude, coordinate conversions, visual limiting magnitude, precession, redshift, and telescope airy disc, f-ratio and magnification
- Astronomical references, glossary, HR diagram and stellar classification.
- Astrophotography tools for exposure time, CCD resolution, Untracked exposure time and optimal f-ratio.
- Emphemerides for eclipses, equinoxes, conjunctions and oppositions, the sun, moon and planets
- Observation log
- Astronomical time
Caller ID
Night Sky Tools has free caller ID. It identifies callers for you
- even the ones not in your contact list. Caller ID results are shown after calls and also allow you to save the contact details directly to your address-book. You can disable or adjust caller ID to your preferences in the app menu settings or after-call screen settings at any time.
Category : Education
Reviews (28)
Lot of useful information when out on the observing field. Just wish I could make the fonts bigger, especially the Moon's of Jupiter &Saturn
Started randomly scanning my incoming calls as some alleged caller id feature... Very odd for a astronomy app. Don't trust it anymore, uninstalling.
Can no longer download this app. It says incompatible with my device.
I don't need an astronomy app to give called ID. I have that through my mobile provider already. It used to be nice, but I'm uninstalling this and it's bloatware immediately.
Search function useless. White font on white background unreadable. Developer refuses to fix
great app.. one more feature would add benefit... sidereal time alarms
Beware! Installs extra apps that messes with the phone app! Uninstall!!!
Great program, I use it every day.
yeah its canny gud 😉...
Why is it not compatible with my Huawei 10P Lite?
why is it now saying that I cant use it on my sony m4aqua when it used to be installed the phone is android device so whats the problem ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
This is a must have app so much info incredible, only problem I am unable to get weather forecast to work , but no matter the rest of this fantastic app is A1 . Thank you dev's for so much info and hours of enjoyment . Love it for sure....update...weather forecast now working brilliant. .thank you dev's
Nice collection of handy utilities, all in one place but the permissions are excessive
I've downloaded this app before and it worked great, but I've been trying to get it to work for two days now. Every time its a little spinner on the screen and and does nothing. It would help if you explained how to calibrate the app
Takes forever to load pictures, in fact, they never loaded.
A lot to learn from this App. Really worthy app. It's absolutely your wish to choose this app for other purpose like calling. Nothing's forced.
Great app for checking out what's up, selecting standard stars etc. -- would be great if you could add airmass calculations to the sky map, and airmass charts (like jskycalc) would just be incredible. Would definitely pay for a version of the app with pro features like those.
This is such a wonderful app with so many useful tools. I have switched to Apple for my phone and I see this app is not offered with Apple devices. Any chance of it being developed for for this platform. I so love it and will miss it!
Great app - until it started hijacking my phonecalls and looking at my contact numbers. Read the small print very carefully indeed, you might want to choose another app.
Immediately started locking up my device. Samsung galaxy s7 edge.
They haven't left anything out of this accurate, and unique, multi-tool. In most, similar apps, the compass is inaccurate and erratic. The compass here is spot-on. If you're an astronomer, 'Night-Sky Tools' has got everything you need!... However: WHY DO THEY WANT TO ACCESS MY CONTACTS? Whenever a user asks that question, the standard answer is: "Thank you for taking the time.... You can disable Caller ID... Other users like it."... Oh, Really? Which users? YOU?!! What is it, that, the users of this app "LIKE" about that feature--exactly? Why would any user want that "feature"-- what could he do with it? This app is not a communications app. It has NO business accessing such private information!! What are YOU DOING with it?!! TELL US! DEVELOPERS--PLEASE ELABORATE-- IN DEPTH AND AT LENGTH--YOUR REASONS FOR WANTING TO ACCESS OUR PRIVATE INFO!
I think it's the best of its kind. good work keep it on
Its excellent love this app!!!! Comes in handy regardless if you study stars,moon,or planets: Very useful
Nice and Scientific App , I love it.
Why is there caller ID in a astronomy app? I appreciate your enthusiasm but separate the features into separate apps
I think that it is very nice app
It's very nice App
Invasive spam/ pop-up ads, when you're not using the app. Having an ad banner, in the app, is one thing. Trying to take over my phone is quite another. It was great, up until this last update. Too bad they decided their customers don't deserve to be respected.