Star Chart

This is one of those app's that you know you got your money's worth and a lot more!! It gives you so much information about the heavens above, I really like being able to identify the constellations and the planets and being able to read the information about them, really great stuff. Another nice thing is that you can have it let you know of up and coming celestial events such as meteor shower, it'll let you know the where and when of the event. It'll tell you about planet conjunctions and so much more!!!!!!! If your looking for an app about the sky's this is the one you want, I've showed this app to friends and family and once I have it's not very long or it's right then that they're downloading it to their devices. Get it so you can show off your knowledge of the night sky's. It even shows you what's in the sky on the other side of the Earth!!!!!

This used to be one of my favorite apps-- I've memorized just about every (visible) star in the summer sky thanks to it. When I first downloaded it a little over two years ago, looking at the stars quickly became one of my favorite pastimes. The Messier catalogue and all of the extra information on stars, planets, constellations, etc. is pretty expansive, even without the upgrade packages-- there is a TON of information available, all for free. This app is awesome! However, lately (I started noticing it a few months ago), the feature that allows you to point your phone at the sky and see it on your screen has been so buggy it's impossible to use. When I try to do this, the portion of the sky that shows is about 100 degrees off from the real sky, and shows at the wrong angle (the horizon line is almost vertical). The calibration screen will pop up for a split second and then go back to the sky chart before I have a chance to do anything. Those two screens will cycle until I stop it switching back to manual scroll. I really wish this bug would be fixed-- this is the best feature of the app, in my opinion! The app is still great but definitely not as fun without that feature.

This app has beautiful displays of constellations and stars. The night mode is a nice feature to keep your night vision, with that, the displays go to red on black. For identifying what stars you see in the night sky, I found this app to be difficult to use. First, it could not use my iPad's GPS to identify my exact location, so I had to set that manually, and the closest I could set it was about 50 miles away. You can only set it on population centers, which of course, are not good for star gazing because of the ground light. Second, you point it at a section of sky, and it shows you the stars and constellations in that section of sky, but of course, you have now blocked your view of the sky in that location, so you have to do this up and down movement trying to match what you see on the iPad to what you see in the sky. It does not use your device's camera to actually view stars as Sky View Free does. Finally, the most annoying feature of this app is it is constantly offering you further information and when you click on that offer it says, "You have to upgrade for that information, that will be $9.95". Sky View Free is a better free app for occasional star gazing.

I LOVE this app, and I use it all the time for finding planets, and deep space objects to observe through my telescope. I also appreciate the accuracy of each star location in relation to one another, even down to the 11+ magnitude stars, but I purchased the satellite addition recently, and even though it shows it in the sky with an apparent magnitude in the negatives, surely brighter than most stars, i see absolutely nothing! I don't know what's up, but looking at the iss is the only thing the upgrade's useful for. I also am disappointed that you used the messier catalogue only for deep space objects, because now all deep space objects in the south aren't listed, even the carina nebula! I hope that these bright southern DSO's can be added, and perhaps the new general catalogue. Other than that, this app is great and I spend hours on it star hopping to find the next galaxy!

Star Chart is a great application to have for those interested in astronomy and the mysteries of the universe whether in its free or premium form. While the premium version gives users access to just about every observable part of our universe including planets, constellations and our extended solar system the free version is still worthwhile. Users can use the free version to observe the constellations in our sky and the imagery and visuals presented are top notch high quality. Users can also view and read data regarding the planets in our solar system, the moon and more. Navigation within the app is easy and users can move, tap and pull the device and screen being used to look around the sky, solar system of whatever is being looked at or focused upon. While serious astronomy lovers will want the fully loaded version for those with more of a casual interest in the heavenly bodies above us the free version will do.