Apr 09, 2020  16 Best Astronomy Apps For Stargazing Android & iOS 2020 Edition. April 9, 2020 8 min read. Not a long time ago, astronomy was considered ‘expensive.’ From telescopes to sophisticated machines, it took a fortune to pursue this particular hobby. But the technological advancement in the 21st century has undoubtedly made things much more. Starry Night Pro Plus 8 is our fully featured flagship program, tailored for the astronomer who wants the very best in-class astronomy software and telescope control experience. It is available for Linux/Unix, Windows and MacOSX. With Stellarium, you really see what you can see with your eyes, binoculars or a small telescope. Loaded with advanced features, this incredible software will turn your PC into a virtual planetarium! This is definitely one of the best free astronomy programs currently available for download.

1. Best Astronomy Software For Mac
2. Best Astronomy Software For Mac 2019 Download
3. Best Astronomy Software For Mac 2019 Free

Astronomy is a natural science that’s all about the earth and the universe. While it’s a broad research field driven by professional scientists around the world, it’s also a personal hobby of many who are interested in the study of celestial objects such as stars, moons, planets, nebulae and galaxies. Beside of using your naked eyes, binocular or telescope to obverse these fascinating sky objects, you can also make use of some astronomy software to help you access the mystery of space.

KStars is an open source planetarium software, which can run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It lets you view the sky and explore it just like you would from Earth. It is mainly developed for educational purposes and has a database of millions of stars, thousands of deep space objects, all the planets, planets’ satellites, and the Sun.You can manually locate these objects or simply use the Find. Software for Astrophotography. The line is becoming blurred between DSLR and Mirrorless digital cameras such as those by Sony, Nikon and Canon, and CMOS sensors used in dedicated astronomical cameras such as those by ZWO and QHY. There are many different types of software that may help you astrophotography: Camera Control; Software-Assisted. The Mac App Store has a great selection of diverse astronomy-based apps at reasonable prices, many of them have superb 3D models of the planets and contain an astounding wealth of educational and interesting information. This article explores 10 of the best astronomy apps for the Mac. Jan 01, 2013  15 Free Online Tools to Build Your Personal Cloud 10 Best Free Interior Design Online Tools and Software 10 Best Free Mac Video Recording Software for Your Trip Top 24 of Free Video Editing Online Tools and Software 30 Best Data Backup, Restore and Synchronization Software Programs Top 30 Best Free Flowchart & Diagram Tools, Software Top 22.

Today we’ve compiled a list of astronomy software and online applications that help your work and hobby become more effective and interesting. These softwares are suitable to both professional and amateur astronomers and the best part is that they are all free to use!

Aladin Sky Atlas
This sky atlas software enables users to view astronomical images, superimpose entries from astronomical database, and gain access to most of the astronomical servers worldwide such as VizieR service, Simbad database, Hubble images, etc.

C2A (Computer Aided Astronomy)
C2A is an easy-to-use planetarium software that allows you to create detailed views of stellar fields, suitable to both professional and amateur astronomers. The software provides most of the star catalogues including SAO, GCVS, Guide Star, USNO, etc. Also, the deep sky object catalogues such as Messier, NGC, PGC and IC.

Best Astronomy Software For Mac

Stellarium.org
Stellarium shows you a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with your own naked eyes or through telescope. The planetarium software has catalogues with millions of stars, illustrations of constellations, nebulae images, as well as planets and their satellites. Other features include fisheye projection, time control, equatorial and azimuthal grids, eclipse simulation, star twinkling, and many more.

Sky-Map.org or WikiSky.org
These sites are basically interactive sky maps that contain myriads of stars and celestial objects. Users can zoom out for the whole star sky viewing or zoom in for details. In addition, users can edit the star information by including links, writing articles, uploading relevant photos, and other editing tasks.

WWT
WWT (WorldWide Telescope) allows users to explore the space, combining both images from ground and space-based telescopes with 3D navigation. WWT comes with 2 versions: Windows Client and Web Client. Both enable you to pan the sky and to zoom in on celestial objects, including stars, nebulae, and planets.

Cartes du Ciel’s SkyChart
This is planetarium software that contains a number of catalogs ranging from stars, planets and nebulae to comets and asteroids. You can make use of their data to draw your own sky chart for particular observation. There are many options and features given in helping you to create a complete sky map such as changing space objects’ color and dimension, adding coordinate grids and labels, superimposing celestial images, and many more.

Celestia
A free space simulation that lets you travel throughout the solar system, and explore over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. The software has a number of catalogs of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, etc. You can easily navigate and zoom in to the objects you like.

Orbiter
Orbiter is a free and realistic space flight simulation software that allows users to experience space flight missions from the pilot’s perspective. In addition, you can also recreate historic flights, plan interplanetary slingshots, design your own rockets and many more.

Home Planet
Home Planet’s Earth map displays day and night regions, moon location and phase, as well as earth satellite’s locations. The software also has sky map, based on SAO catalogue or Yale Bright Star catalogue which contain millions of stars, planets, asteroids, comets, Messier objects and NGC objects.

Winstars
Winstars enables users to view realistic 3D maps showing the celestial objects in our solar system. The software contains a database of over 2 millions stars and a catalogue of 10 thousands nebulae, star clusters and galaxies, with details information about each object. You can also view the outline of the planetary orbits, celestial equator, ecliptic, etc.

WinOrbit: Satellite Tracking
WinOrbit is a free software that computes and displays the position of artificial earth satellites, together with information like bearing, distance, and elevation above the observer’s horizon. The information can be updated in real-time, manual, or simulation modes.

Best Astronomy Software For Mac 2019 Download

What are the essential Mac apps for the backyard astronomer? In this article, I've listed some of the most notable OS X apps that round out a complete technical package for the amateur astronomer.

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The goal here is to recommend some very good, respected apps for beginners that are in typical use on the Mac. It would be impractical to list every available app, and I recognize that many advanced amateurs will have their own favorites.

Best Astronomy Software For Mac 2019 Free

I've defined six categories of apps: a sky chart that does telescope control, astronomy weather forecast, satellite look up, session planning, image processing and last but not least, a superb scientific calculator.

1. Sky Chart & Telescope Control. There are several Mac apps that combine a sky chart with telescope control for compatible GoTo telescopes. They include, for example, Equinox, SkySafari, TheSkyX and Starry Night. Based on previous reviews of the Mac and the iPad versions, as well as the technical energy being put into continuous development, I have come to consider SkySafari Pro or SkySafari Plus by Southern Stars the best option for the Mac. Here's a review of the Mac version by a well-known amateur astronomer.

Image Credit: Southern Stars, SkySafari Plus for Mac.

Southern Stars also offers SkyFi, a Wi-Fi telescope controller to operate a GoTo telescope with a Mac (or PC, iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and, with some limitations, Android.) A description and list of compatible GoTo telescopes is on the SkyFi page.

2. Astronomy Weather Forecast. Before you can start planning for an observing session, it's helpful to know what the weather is going to be that evening as well as the phase of the moon. The weather will help determine a start time and what clothing you'll need. The phase of the moon will tell you whether you'll be doing some casual observing of the moon and planets during a bright full moon or perhaps some deep sky photography at new moon or after the moon in partial phase has set.

Two sites that help with that are 7Timer! and Clear Sky Chart.

3. Satellite Info.Where are iphone software updates stored on mac. Satellite info is good in case you'd like to try to catch one with binoculars and need the azimuth and rise time. Some amateurs have used this data to anticipate and photograph the International Space Station from the ground with stunning results.

Check the Heavens-Above website.

4. Observational Planning. Once you've figured out the weather and what you want to look at or photograph, it's helpful to have a session planning app. Your start time and the positions of the selected objects will determine when they go below the horizon, so you'll want to start in the western sky before they set. A planner will help with all that.

AstroPlanner is a well regarded astronomy session planning app for the Mac. Here's a review.

Image credit: AstroPlanner.

5. Photographic Image Processing. If you move from introductory visual astronomy, simple gazing or things that can be done visually, such as sketching or double and variable star observations to astrophotography, you'll need a collection of apps that can process your images for research or publication.

Note that astrophotography will require some extra equipment and lots of trial and error to gain experience. There are plenty of good books that will help you get started. For example, 'Digital SLR Astrophotography' by Michael A. Covington.

Here are some image processing apps, in no particular order, that are typically used by amateur astronomers.

• Photoshop. For merging photos, enhacing in various ways, creating animated GIFs to show object movement over time, and so on.
• GIMP. An open source Photoshop alternative.
• Pixelmator. Another strong image editing app. Some people, including me, prefer Graphic Converter.
• Lynkeos Often, a better image can be obtained by digitally 'stacking' or combining several shorter duration photos on a Mac/PC rather seeking to obtain one long duration photo. This app does a good job of that for individual images.
• Keith's Image Stacking. This app can stack multiple frames from a single video file.

Image Credit: Lynkeos.

6. Scientific Calculator. Many astronomers have a good, physical scientific calculator or two handy, such as the HP-35s from Hewlett Packard. However, if you prefer to have one on your Mac, I give my highest recommendation to PCalc by James Thomson.

Amateur astronomy is an enormous field that encompasses a long scientific history, huge choices for equipment and a great many books on the subject. As I mentioned above, it's virtually impossible to cover the possibilities in a single article of this size. However, if you want to get started or already have some initial experience with a telescope, the links here should be helpful.

Next up: a similar look at iOS Astronomy apps for the iPad.

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Starry sky teaser image via Shutterstock.