Astronomy Apps for Android Phones

[Airconvent]

I discovered this very useful app today, called PlanetDroid. It is free and can be found on the Android marketplace, just search that name. Donations to the programmer welcomed.

The app will show the exact data for the Sun, Moon, and planets for your location, incl rise/set times, altitude/azimuth, RA/Dec position, etc.

Also:
- for the planets, the prev and next dates of opposition and conjunction, and elongation (mercury and venus)
- for the moon, the next dates of the phases.
- for the sun, twilight times.

But wait, there is a further trick it can perform! It can download the orbital elements of comets and asteroids from the web (from the Minor Planet Centre) and then once downloaded, you just search a comet by name 'offline' and add it to yr objects list. Presto! The current data of the comet will be listed just as for the planets.

I cross-checked the computed results for Comet Garradd and it was accurate.

You can also change the date/time from the present to another setting for all objects.

Amazing, and free!

Thanks for the recommendation Gavin. I'm wondering if there is an app out there similar to Taiyoukei for my old pocketpc. Its a database with photos of all the objects, stars, etc.

[sTiCkY]

lol i just bought vortex planetarium.. really cool app.. better than google sky..

first app i bought when i got an android phone was moon phase pro.. notifies me whenever it's new, quarter or full moon..

[orly_andico]

Was trying Skeye on my cheapo Galaxy Spica (believe it or not, i got this phone because i loved the name... very... astronomical)

maybe it was all the metal of the balcony, my mount, etc but the digital compass was darn inaccurate. so the pointing was useless.

i was having trouble finding two stars that were far-enough apart to do a 2-star align but eventually managed to align on Vega and Arcturus (no thanks to Skeyes!)

after that... SkySafari on iPad + GoTo on the CGEM. i didn't bother to hook up the Skywire to control the CGEM directly from the iPad... but maybe I should have...

[Gary]

Latest Vortex Planetarium update:

- FULL NGC catalog added!

[Gary]

This is well designed free android app for finding and visualising FOV for your telescopes + eyepieces + barlows/reducers. Do give it a try.

https://market.android.com/details?id=a ... rch_result

"A few pointers on using FOViewer.
• Tap the plus icons to add your own equipment.
• Tap the minus icons to remove equipment from the lists.
• Tap the preview images to cycle through objects."

[Gary]

"Star Chart is just $0.10 today on the Android Marketplace as part of Googles 10 Billion Apps Downloaded promotion: http://bit.ly/t5APYa"

Good eye candy. Performance wise not the best planetarium app for droid. But it is only 10 cents today! Yes. SGD$0.10. One day only.