SkySafari

What is SkySafari?

SkySafari is the best stargazing app for beginners and professionals alike. Its flagship app offers a “freemium” subscription; thus, it’s a perfect app to get started in the world of astronomy and stargazing. The newer version of SkySafari has a wealth of information stored in its offline database including nebulae, planets, galaxies, stars, and constellations. With this stargazing app from Simulation Curriculum Corp., you can have an overview of an AR star map, integrated with complete information and animated visualizations about the science, mythology, and history behind astronomical bodies.

SkySafari offers a more advanced stargazing feature through its SkySafari Pro and SkySafari Plus versions. Through these apps, you can use Wi-Fi-controlled telescopes.

SkySafari is a point-and-identify sky map that includes the major planets and moons; tens of thousands of stars; 220 of the best-known star clusters; and nebulae, galaxies, asteroids, comets, and more. Students can learn about astronomy by viewing planets, stars, and celestial bodies; searching for specific objects of interest; or looking at noteworthy astronomical sightings in that night's sky. 

SkySafari does a beautiful job of rendering the night sky, offers rich data on the stars and other objects it shows, and can control computerized telescopes. SkySafari is the intermediate version of Simulation Curriculum's trio of planetarium-style iPad apps, which depict the starry sky in the direction you are holding your tablet.

SkySafari Plus shows an impressive number and variety of cosmic objects, and it stands out for the thoroughness of the information it provides.

Read also: Best Space Apps

Both seem to offer the ability to locate planets, constellations, satellites, and more using the app, no matter which device you’re using. There’s also more expensive versions of the app in both stores; SkySafari Plus and SkySafari Pro are available in the App store, for instance. So it all depends on what features you’re looking for and what you’re willing to pay for them.

As you manually explore the virtual heavens, the app provides precise positioning data regarding what you’re looking at. If you have a compatible telescope, you can connect the app to it, tilting and panning your device to rapidly help you find what you want to see in the night sky. And before it gets dark, SkySafari enables you to plan targets for stargazing sessions, with filters such as object types, time ranges, and constellation.

Perhaps surprisingly, all these features don’t rob SkySafari of immediacy, although it is a mite less friendly than Sky Guide AR. However, if you do dive in, be mindful that this is an app that needs a certain level of time investment and dedication to truly get the best of its deep and powerful feature set.

Is SkySafari free?

SkySafari is not free for iOS users. SkySafari is available for free to download on Android devices.

What we like about SkySafari?

SkySafari offer a wealth of information about celestial objects, allowing users to dig deeper into their findings. SkySafari provide detailed lists and explanations of what users can expect to see, as well as the ability to zoom in close to planet or star surfaces for additional detail. This can be a great way to learn more about the night sky and to explore the universe in more detail. 

SkySafari Alternatives

• Star Walk 2
• Sky Map

You can download SkySafari on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the SkySafari app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.