Categories: Entertainment

Stars for hobbyist astronomers: Three useful apps for decoding the night sky

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Which was the North Star again? The starry sky on clear autumn nights is especially diverse.
Valentine’s Day RubinEditor Service

In autumn, nights are clearer and longer; perfect conditions for our starry sky observe This year, October is the ideal month to look at the sky at night. If you’re lucky, you can see six planets: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. At the end of October, Venus is more visible early in the morning than at any other time of the year. In addition, a partial lunar eclipse, a rare event, will occur in Europe on the night between October 28 and October 29.

Three apps help amateur astronomers better orient themselves in the sky and avoid missing the celestial show. Nowadays there is no need for astronomy knowledge and expensive equipment anymore.

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Sky View

The Skyview Lite app shows all visible stars, constellations and planets thanks to augmented reality (AR). All you have to do is open the app and point your smartphone with the camera at the sky. The screen shows the night sky expanded to include descriptions of stars, constellations and planets (see image). When you touch a celestial object, you get information about its properties, sky path and distance from earth.

In the full version of the application, additional information about galaxies, satellites and cosmic nebulae can be accessed. Unlike Skyview Lite, the full version is not free. It costs three francs at a time.

The Sky View Lite app shows users a schematic view of the night sky and the constellations within it. Pictured: The planet Saturn with the constellation Aquarius depicted around it.

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Sky Guide AR

The Sky Guide AR app has even more functions. It works with AR technology like Sky View and Sky View Lite. In addition to scanning the night sky, the app also allows you to move around the timeline. This means you can view past and future star constellations on your mobile phone screen (see picture). It is also possible to search for celestial objects specifically. If you cannot find the planet Jupiter, you can search for it using the app’s search function and follow the on-screen instructions.

The paid version Sky Guide Plus lets you zoom in further to see distant stars and galaxies. It is also possible to predict the occurrence of meteor showers and certain star constellations. The Plus version costs three francs per month or 20 francs per year.

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The Sky Guide app shows stars, planets and constellations in the night sky in real time; for example, the planets Jupiter and Uranus in the constellation Aries (left). The app also offers tips for sky observations in the near future (e.g. on October 23) to get a particularly good look at Venus. Or on October 28 (right) for a partial lunar eclipse.

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Eclipse Guide

Eclipse Guide is not suitable for stargazing, but is suitable for solar and lunar eclipses. The app allows you to track the timing, course and intensity of past, present and future lunar and solar eclipses. The search function can be used to check whether certain solar or lunar eclipses can be observed in a particular area (for example in the city of Bern).

The standard version of the application costs a one-time fee of two francs and allows users to prepare for rare celestial events and obtain all the necessary information about them. For the partial lunar eclipse observed from Bern on the evening of October 28, this means: The peak will be observed between 22:15 and 22:52 (see image). According to the Eclipse Guide, the best area for observation would be in northern India, between the cities of Mumbai and Delhi.

Using Eclipse Guide is simple. You select the celestial event (left), choose the location, and compare it to the course of the lunar eclipse (middle and right).
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Source : Blick

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