I am amazed at Stars, but don't know how to read Star Chart. Any suggestions? Help!

Buen instrumento para el observador aficionado

This app is excellent and extreme by intuitive to use, with hundreds of visible celestial objects, their names, and their locations in the sky. If you just use your compass/ level app on iPhone you can pinpoint exactly where the stars are. Overall very nice and very excellent app!!!!

I have used a few others and this one is by far the best!

I down load it then

boom!

you could see the real sky with only rotating

the ipad screen!

just love it

This is really useful and mostly accurate. Overall amazing!

Almost as Amazing as the Universe itself. Great App. Highly recommended.

Excellent app!

This is the star chart I was looking for!

My Grandkids really enjoy this App!!

This app is a wonderful tool to unlocking the puzzle that is the sky and all the stars in it. Planetary locations, stars "near" and far, all the constellations, everything you could hope to learn about in one brilliant app. I love it, my grandchildren love it and it helps us spend time together learning.

Really good but wish the factoids had a link to more information

Pretty app, but couldn't figure out how to search or zoom in to read the fine print

All I can say is if you have any sort of interest in the stars, planets and constellations and things of that sort, this is a must have app for you.

Awesome b and informational. I love not having to wonder what that "star" is thats so bright tonight!

Having fun!!

Very impressive ! Very helpful for nighttime photography and enjoying with your family and more !

It's my favorite

While in Montana at a star party, the NPS Park Ranger recommended we all download this before the party started! Use it all the time and love it!

Liked the free app, tried to buy the full version to get satellites and the rest. Never worked. It's been a long time, and a new phone, bit add ons just have a restore button and never worked.

I still open sometimes but get frustrated with this issue. Looked for a contact function, doesn't exist.

Don't spend anything with this app. Obvious delivery issue, but feels like a fraud. Free is ok.

Great app. The graphics and effects are amazing; it's a lot of fun but it takes forever to refine load your purchases and it glitches/freezes/shuts down at inconvenient times. Still, one of the best apps of its kind.

This used to be a decent app, but they had to go down the road of charging for every little feature. Want to track satellites? $2.99. Want to see where to watch the next meteor shower? $2.99. Follow a comet? $2.99. See a pattern here? Other apps out there do this and more for free.

Love this app, works great! It's so much fun, I'm addicted!

👍Excellent

I use the app when I'm on the porch relaxing at night and have seen many things I always wondered about

great

So easy to use, total beginner at stargazing, yet I can quickly identify what I see, and my desire to learn more about astronomy is set ablaze. It's a Phoenix for the flame

You will never want to put your device down and I never want to put my device down❣ it is so amazing❣❣ it'll teach me a little bit about stars❣❣❣❣❣

ME+GAME=❤️💛💚💙💜❣❣💕💞💓💗💖💝💘💟

Love the idea but the program is not accurate with its locations at all on my apple phone and yes I have everything on and aligned. The program location is off by a significant margin. Also you should be able to have a naked eye version i.e. only shoe stores that would be visible with the naked eye from the planet earth let me doing all the extra planets and all the extra stars that you would never be able to see without a telescope. Then have a telescope version so that you could see the stars you can see with the telescope this would make it much more user-friendly for an average person.

Once in a while the live mode is a few degrees off of reality but never enough to really matter. This is a fun app to explore the night sky with.

Developed with a user interface that's easy to use and feature rich for all my needs. I'd give 10 stars if it was an option.

So fun to have out on a clear night.

Nice

A lot of fun

A bit of juddering last night while looking for Saturn. All in all an awesome way to know what to look for!

This app is neat I like it. I see that some reviewers are somewhat critical / ok fine. I haven't reviewed any competing apps so I can't give a reference by comparison but for my casual use it works just fine. Thank you.

This app is very helpful,just wish it would stop with the upgrade pop ups while am trying to learn the basics

I like it a lot

This is mind blowing to look at! Absolutely love it!

Great and very very very very....

My grandson, seven, and I use this to 'explore' the night sky. Absolutely perfect! He loves and I do. Covers things we can see in our night sky. Thank you! Perfect app.

The app seams to be loaded with too much information and design on screen. Otherwise fun to navigate the universe.

Take it from an astronomer, this is a highly functional tool you can use at the observing site in place of other media. The night eyes preservation mode is great, and the search and trac functions are wonderful. There are even little animated tours thrown in for fun. The graphical representations are accurate enough to get an understanding of scale, and they look great too!

Very nice tool for finding objects and exploring the sky (above or below the horizon).

Highly, highly recommended.

.99? Uhh... yes please!

This app is fun and easy to use. Love it.

I appreciate the fact that this app was free for me to download and use. I believe 5 stars is appropriate.

After installing this app, my interest in the Stars has skyrocketed. Who knew the solar system, space, and the sky had so much to offer? And all of this is available to anyone with view of the sky and an evening to themselves! No doubt in my mind I'll be buying the professional version soon! I highly recommend this application.

Great program but get add-ons. Worst thing is developers pestering customers to review.

يستاهل مليون نجمه

I absolutely recommend this app! It's extremely accurate.

I've been able to deal with any issues that came up think it's a good app

This App is a great tool for everyone to have. Show and teach your children and others the constellations and also impress others with your knowledge of the stars. I learned all of the constellations with this app and my girlfriend at the time whom is my wife now, used to say that that she was amazed at my knowledge of the sky and stars. She was so amazed at my knowledge that she eventually fell in love with me and told me later that one of the reasons is because not many people can show and explain the stars anymore and it she felt like she did when she was a little girl and her granddaddy would show her. Thank you Starchart*********

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.

Not everyone can afford a telescope or visit the planetarium. Every night I get to wish on a star and know it's name. I learn the constellations just by having fun looking around the Galaxy. It truly is amazing. Now try to convince me their is no God. This app will show you the shooting stars, constellations, meteors, comets, satellites, and each planet up close and stunningly vivid. With descriptions of each planet, the coordinates for your telescope, all their moons, what constellation they inhabit, their orbital period (it takes Saturn 29 yrs 166 days for our 1 year to go around the sun) and their rotation period (Saturn takes 10 hrs 19 mins to our 24 hrs). Your going to feel like a kid and love learning all about astronomy while your at it. Besides, learning should be fun, right?!

This app is such a help to me its unbelievable. I am an astronomer and I have a nice telescope that I use mostly in the summer but sometimes in the winter. I strap my phone onto my telescope and I use it to locate nebulas, planets, and even a few comets. It's been amazing. I have bought two upgrades. Meteor showers and comets. They both work perfectly. I might buy the mesires upgrade as well but if I do it will be the last one I buy. The only complaint I have is that I think the upgrades are a little over priced. I mean they work but it's an app and that's a lot of commitment for an app. That is the only thing I thine is wrong with the app. If you do have problems delete the app, restart your iPhone and then download it again. If you bought any upgrades you can re download them for free. Five stars from me!!

I love this app and use it to inspect the sky before using my telescopes. Its very smooth and I like the experience of moving the sky around and dragging time forward so easily. The visual effects are very beautiful as well. Some areas that need improvement are the clutter of constellation s and stars should be something I can dial down or up based on visibility. Second it should be easier to confirm location. Third the search experience needs some way to super or categorize results by visibility. These features would make this app perfect.

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 don't write reviews for apps. But I've used this app for so long, and it's so good, that I felt it deserved one. My favorite things:

It has SO MUCH information on it. Anything you could possibly be looking for is there. Even when I'm not stargazing, I use it to find moon/planet rise/set times.

And it doesn't need wifi or service! This is especially nice since it's not uncommon for a good stargazing spot to have terrible service.

I haven't found a star chart app I like as much as this one, and this one is FREE.

Get it. It's great.

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 is by far the best (free) version of any night sky / star guide app yet. It allows you to pan your view over the night sky and uses GPS to determine your exact location for the best results. The screen view is very clear and movement is seamless and doesn't lag or jump like many other free apps. It updates in real time and shows objects as you move your phone across the sky. It displays names and constellation lines and images. It also includes planets and other deep space objects. This is a great download. A must have for any Astronomer or space enthusiast.

I used this app constantly. I loved to go outside and finally figure out what stars and constellations I was looking at.

I guess I used it so often that it kind of broke? It may just be a bug, and there may be a way to calibrate it, but I can't figure it out. When the compass pops up to re-calibrate, it disappears immediately. The map is off track (moon as a reference, it isn't in the right position when I hold up my phone, and neither are the rest of the stars). I don't want to have to go through the trouble of downloading the app again just to get it to work. Must be a bug? Please fix!!

If the app were easier to navigate and if there was an easy way to calibrate it, I would give it five stars. Loved the app otherwise, though,

One improvement needed: if the constellation illustrations in this app were fainter, less dominant and didn't tend to block out the stars of the constellation, then identification of the actual stars in the sky would be easier.

However, I've tried several similar apps, and this one definitely is superior& most closely approximates the location of the stars, and the search tool is excellent. Only thing is it tends to get stuck in search. If I search for a star and find it, then try to go back to the homepage, it often shuts down.

I have been doing amateur astronomy for over 45 years and I wish I would have had this app back in the day. Any level of observer can use this app. You just point your iPad or phone up to the sky and the app shows you what your looking at in a very realistic way. The screen can be customized in so many ways and you can access whatever level of data you would like. You can even see the Space station or Hubble. I love astronomy and this app is a great way to enjoy the sky and learn at the same time.

I knew nothing about the stars but when I came across this app I said to myself "Why Not Give It A Try." Believe me, it turned my knowledge of the dark night into a bright opening of the Stars! I use this app almost nightly! And when the night sky has no clouds a whole new experience of the night sky opens up, thanks to this app! I've told all my friends about this app and they all agree it gave them a new view of the night sky! It can do the same for you too. Give this app a try. It is a five star app!

I've had this app for awhile but never used it much; I got it b/c a Facebook friend who's into astronomy frequently referenced it. Recently I (somehow) enabled notifications which, combined with this year's Pluto coverage, has led me to open the app much more often.

I really like all the reference information and am learning a lot - the universe has changed considerably since my school days back in the Dark Ages. 🙂 However, I too, could use more & better instructions. Right now I'm more interested in reading the text than using it to look at the night sky, but I keep getting lost while trying to navigate the app.

With better instructions, I would gladly give the app a higher rating.

I am deleting this app because of several issues but mostly the way it keeps begging me to buy the innumerable upgrades. I did buy a couple but I can't use them them some reason. It sends me notifications of cool events but then it's a bait and switch to get me to buy something. Extremely annoying.

The navigation is terrible, I keep getting lost in the app when I just want to look at the star chart. Things keep popping up to take me away into some detail screen - and sometimes it's a "buy this thing" screen! I just want to go back but there is no obvious way to do it, especially annoying when I just want to pause my walk to identify something in the sky - dogs waiting on the leash eager to get moving again!

Also it wasn't tracking my movements properly so I couldn't just hold the phone up to identify things. It's supposed to just point the right direction and it doesn't.

This app is amazing. I first assumed that this was just a starchart that I could easily learn my constelations with, but there's more. There is a feature that displays the stars that you can see in the sky based on the direction your phone's camera is pointing. In other words, when you point your cell phone to one area of space, you will see the same stars as you would with the naked eye but instead with annotations of what each and every star is, along with what constelation you are looking at and even if there is a planet we can see in that part of space. This is every aspiring astronomer's dream!

This app has been helpful for class, studies, and observing things but above all this app is excellent for many things, it gives up dates on point and let's you know what star from our solar system is close or how long it will take to orbit the sun. Touching the screen while in the app or even rotating the phone shows magnificent stars and wonders, though many people think other wise of astronomy this app will "Blow Your Mind". I enjoy it when I'm bored and have nothing else to do but since I like astronomy it's awesome, I'm not exaggerating, the person who created this app or other people thank you! This app tells you everything you need to know about the stars, how many years it'll take yo arrive, how far or close, and the atmospheric pressure which is the most amazing part of it.

I am about to enter my sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on the first of September, and Astronomy was my best subject in fifth year due to this app. I really like Astronomy, but I used to struggle at it. Since I discovered this handy app, however, I have excelled at it. The app was very convenient for looking up information on the subjects that we discussed and viewed during our late-night lessons (especially if I was stuck on something). I especially liked how easy it was to discreetly check my work, as the entire course curriculum was basically in my pocket for whenever I may have needed it. Professor Sinistra never even noticed! I am continuing Astronomy at the N.E.W.T level next year, and I have no doubt that this app will help me along the way. Amazing app overall- would definitely recommend!

I do a fair amount of observing with an 8" telescope and have several apps that I use on the iPad to make a quick survey of the sky before beginning. This basic app is simple to use, accurate and lacks some of the rather frivolous graphics and features of some other apps that in the end are rather annoying. It includes the Messier catalog, but I wish it had the option of adding the NGC catalog. That would cover nearly all objects visible through a small scope. Or something like a list of the 200 best objects available for small scopes. This app is highly recommended.

I am a child of the X-3 and all later air/space craft. I had my first scope by age 9, looking through clear night skies near the Pacific in Orange County. Everyone's dad worked in aircraft, oil, electronics or at JPL.

Like most everyone else, the first object i viewed was the Moon, and I was hooked on astronomy. In the intervening 60 years I've had two other small to mid-sized scopes. But, for me, late-nights spent trying to find objects with a wet star chart caused many planned viewing nights to terminate early

I've had two other Astronomy Apps but they quickly became insufficient. StarCart App is Primo, my mind tells me this App will be my last App. I quickly became proficient and comfortable with the menus, settings and use. These developers know the shortcomings of earlier apps and they seem to have designed them out. Buy this app!

This app is great for showing you stars, constellations, and planets. Hold your iPhone or iPad up to the sky and your screen will duplicate what you see in the sky. You can also easily change the time to go backward or forward in time. I was able to go out over two years to see the solar eclipse of 21 August 2017. It even correctly showed that it will be a partial eclipse in my area and did a nice job of showing what it will look like. I have tried two other astronomy apps (one was not free) and this app was the best of the three by far. You can search for any star, constellation, or planet. You can also select from a list of key future astronomical events.

It is rare for find inspiration to write a review for an app; but this one really has impressed me. I grew up in Colorado under a dark night sky with stars by the millions but, having moved to Los Angeles, seeing anything in the night sky is few and far between. This app provides a beautifully designed window into the depths of the universe no matter when or where you are. It's artistic initial interface hardly scratches the surface with which you can zoom and explore and see what's going on up there in real time.

Very much a fan!

(P.s. One very minor suggestion would be to work on making the UI navigation between panels and exploring other plants more intuitive)

I'm not usually one for rating/reviewing apps, as in this is the first time I've felt compelled to do so. This app is absolutely perfect at what it tries to do. The images are of great quality, it is full of details, and the AR mode is surprisingly accurate to the point of being able to correct my astronomy professor when she had taken the class outside to observe Jupiter. All in all I would definitely recommend this app to anyone looking for any of the functionalities it offers.

The first thing I look for in an app is whether it lets me backtrack. If it takes me down a path and I realize I’m lost I look for a button somewhere on the screen that lets me reverse course. Ironic that an app that ostensibly lets you navigate the heavens is totally without this feature. I read that Fox News Talking Head Lou Dobbs is an astronomy buff. This app is on his smart phone. Lou, my brother, if this is your idea of a great app I now have to question any other opinion you are vomiting out on a nightly basis regarding everything else under the stars.

When you find yourself hopelessly lost navigating thru this thing you can’t even shut the app off and expect it to bring itself back to its original position on the launch pad whereupon you can start afresh. A sorrowful waste if you are accustomed to apps being intuitive. Probably developed by lifelong Microsoft programmers, whose motto is “We’re Not Happy Until You’re Not Happy."

I have looked at all the other astronomy apps out there and I consider this one to be superior in every way. The others like sky walk or sky guide are good but I get tired of them. They are like a high school trip to the planetarium. Star chart is like I'm at Mauna Kea Observatory. If you know the difference between Einsteins Cosmological Constant and Planck's Constant and know who the REAL Heisenberg was and want to explore deep sky objects this is the app to get. An enormous number of deep sky object to play with. It's like you have the entire universe available to you. You can also set it for other times in history to see how the sky changes over time. An enormous amount of data and visuals to die for. If you want a deep sky app to really explore the universe this is the one.

This is definitely the best free planetarium app out there. Not quite as polished as Star Walk, but very nice looking, smooth, uncluttered, and tons of data on the most popular stuff (Messiers, all the planets) than even some pay apps. No Ads, either. There are some plugs for IAPs, they're mostly tactful--no animations, no glaring colors. Some of the IAPs are over-priced, but the base app is so well stocked, I'd say none of them are really necessary.

Interface is clean and fairly intuitive. Tap anything to get more info on it, tap again to deselect. Pinch to zoom, etc... Tap the clock to view other than real time view. Aim at the sky to switch into AR mode which tracks the sky with phone's built-in compass and gyros. Only complaint is that the screen scrolls at twice the rate you drag at (rather than what you touch staying under your finger, it skims by too quickly).

There is a definite bug with iOS 8 that makes it unusable if you open the settings screen while holding the device in portrait mode (so meanwhile, don't do that... ;), but the devs say they're working on it. My only requests would be to add optional Telrad circles to the screen, and also fix the scrolling so it tracks with your finger instead of the faster rate it currently moves at.

A well done, and classy app. 5 Stars. There are better, but not many--and at free, this app is a great find!

Although I still have the free version, it seems to have many nice features. Beyond the stargazing, the history notes and the notification of cosmic occurrences, I love seeing the constellations displayed as I move the phone in that direction no matter the time of day. The one feature I would like that I may be unaware of is guidance. If I want to see a constellation or cosmic event it will show the area, but I would like it to guide me to the viewing point by showing on the device which way to physically turn and see it. I'm not bad with maps, but stellar coordinates are not my specialty and I'd rather be guided than try to figure out where I'm supposed to look.

I love this app. I really do. And if all you want is the basic free version with none of the bells and whistles, it can't be beat. It's a five star review for that. But DO NOT purchase the upgrades. Only two of them will load- meteor showers and extended planets. Everything else just crashes the program and you threw your money away. I wanted this program to tell me when the International Space Station would fly over, which is supposedly part of the satellites upgrade. Well, I purchased the upgrade and it tries to load and then the program crashes. Clicking the restore purchases option starts the cycle again, to end in yet another crash and still no expanded content. I have gigs of space left on my phone, so I asked for help at both the "contact us" and "report a bug" links. It's been six months with no reply whatsoever. You see, the company that originally wrote this app was bought out, and all the contact info points to the old company websites. I suspect that any requests for help are going into a big black hole. New releases are still coming out, and I keep hoping the problem will be silently fixed, but not so far. At $5 and more per upgrade, these are not cheap. I don't want a refund though, I just want the content I paid for. Until they actually post working "contact us" addresses, buyer BEWARE.

I got this app because I just started an astronomy class and we were having a start night party where we look at the stars and moon. This app was really helpful and a huge hit with my classmates. Even though it was cloudy and we couldn't quite see the stars my teacher was pointing out we were able to use this app to see where they'd be if the clouds were gone. Awesome app guys and I love the interesting updates about astronauts and other events focusing on the stars. Thanks!! Even my family, who have never been interested in the stars, love it. Great job!

You are missing the constellation Argo Navis, it is no longer "officially recognized" because it has been broken down into Carina, Puppis, Vela and Pyxis. However it is my favorite constellation and I figured if I asked maybe you would include it. I did not know it was not officially recognized until I purchased the extended constellations add-on, found it missing and looked it up. Nonetheless I am quite sad and if you have any humanity or if you support budding astronomers I ask you from the bottom of my heart to include the beautiful constellation (or super-constellation because it includes 4 smaller ones. Please help to mend my broken heart

I can think of improvements but that is true for most apps and my preferences can be a bit odd. Works great, has many options to customize your viewing options. My favorite feature is the compass viewing, meaning as you move your phone the area of the sky your viewing moves with it. Want to know what that star is, which planet or constellation you're looking at? Just point your phone at and presto, you're an astronomer now. Great tool to use in getting kids interested in space/science, also great for impressing a date.

I really like the way this app has evolved over the years, I would have given this 5 stars years ago and I'm giving it 5 stars today because its just incredible how well they have constructed the way the app works with the iPhones inboard sensors. Any other app or phone is just a knock off or remake of what these people already did. Every app needs updating and they stay pretty current for the average joe. You can pick apart anything but this app is pretty tall standing in its abilities to try in point out a couple flaws that can and will likely be updated in the future Especially with good user feedback.

5 stars all the way and my kids love it too

This is an excellent program for the novice or the pro. Definitely pay to release the ads and buy some some inexpensive basic add-ons/extras like the meteor shower add on and the program really comes to life.

I live in AZ so I'm blessed with a sky full of stars. This program lets me find and/or identify any area in the sky. Be sure you use a compass to get yourself properly oriented. My app is on both my iPad and iPhone and works well with both. Verify the latitude and longitude setting from the internal GPS and you are ready to enjoy the wonders of the universe.

I also like the event updates sent regularly not only alerting me to planetary events, meteor shower activity, etc. but telling me exactly where to look to witness these wonders of the sky in my unique location.

This is a great way to spend quality time with the young ones teaching them about the legacy left to us by the ancient Greeks and Romans who first mapped the night sky as well as modern events like knowing where to look to see the space station fly by.

Let them know about the tie in with their personal horoscope and show them which stars are uniquely related to them. They'll be amazed to actually see Aries or Taurus as real things not just a heading in the daily news. The program not only shows you where to find them but superimposes a removable outline so you can explain how and why they got their names.

A DEFINITE MUST HAVE!

The best pocket change I've spent in a very long time. The interface and value of this app is 5 star for sure. Funny, I powered up my iPad, got a push notification about a cool planetary alignment tomorrow night, became very interested, swiped in my password and opened her up and saw the pending notice on the app icon, opened up Star Chart, acknowledged the pending alert bottom right, and nothing inside that window anywhere regarding the initial alert. OK, now is a good time to rate Star Chart and give her a 4 since its such a great app I use so much but finally has a bug! I'm tough. When I open the menu bottom left to rate it, the menu box opens up empty. I remember an update recently and this app has not been buggy at all. Anyway, the buy-ins have become much more prevalent and as a capitalist I appreciate that and they're not too annoying right to the edge. This is an app that's immersing, stateful and very well done and no doubt full of good updates in the future. I'll stand on my four since you probably get 5s too often and it wouldn't look right with so many perfect ratings anyway so you're welcome.

This app is phenomenal!! Even though it is light years beyond my understanding of astronomy, I have always had a universal fascination with the cosmos. I downloaded it for my iPad to showcase the retina display and all I can say is......( I need a thesaurus!) amazing, astounding, breathtaking, extraordinary, spectacular, stunning, stupendous, etc. Ok, just speechless..

I installed it on all of my devices and even my 5 year old's 3GS (my old phone). Side note: it does strain the OS on the 3, but runs beautifully on my 5 and iPad. I did purchase and load all of the upgrades and that may be the cause for the overwhelmed 3.

My daughters and I will be learning everything there is worth knowing about our ever expanding universe from this wonderful app.

Thank you Feel Great Publishing!!

Interesting program but if you think you'll see things in perspective at it shows in the first "screen shot" then guess again. Starts, planets and other bodys are shown in "scientific" brightness not real time as seen from earth brightness. If you hold it up expecting to see the moon as in the screen shot, it isn't going to happen. The moon is actually shown as a tiny dot, smaller than many far distant stars that cannot even be seen by the naked eye. When I asked about this I was told that it's because it's based on the brightness of the star according to NASA and not based on what is seen from earth. .... interesting scientific ap but not appropriate for people wanting to learn the constellations or find out what they're seeing when they look up at night. Not for the average layman stargazer. Very disappointing.

I can't get over how amazing and beautiful this app is. I love the AR mode where you can move the iPad around to look at different parts of the sky. I also really like how you can select different planets or the sun as your frame of reference to look around. But probably my favorite feature is the timeline. I love just giving it a spin while looking down on the solar system and watching the centuries float by. Incredible!

The amount of detail and effort that went into this is breathtaking.

I use Star Chart to illustrate to others current events in the sky. The graphics are very strong and impressive. When it comes to researching the past or the future it stumbles badly, simply for it's lack of accounting for axial precession. The further away from 2000 AD you search, the more inaccurate the star fields get, though the planetary positions are extremely accurate. The constellations along the zodiac migrate eastward at the rate of 1 degree every 78 years.

ILLUSTRATION:

I used Star Chart at the telescope to help me track progress of the transit of Venus a while back It was dead-on accurate. When I researched events 2000 years old, the planetary alignments were dead-on, but erroneously occurring in an adjacent constellation.

If the app is to have time travel features, it must get the precessional factors right or it is useless for anything but NOW.

You read it right. This app turns your iPhone or iPad into a window. Imagine it; it's like standing in a room and looking through the wardrobe into Narnia. Or looking through the walls of your house and the trees and the hills and the atmosphere and all around you wherever you spin it, there is such a crazy sensation as you peer through this screen into SPACE!! Like in "Contact" when Jody Foster is in the round, transparent transport out in space. Just use your imagination and this app will blow your mind (if you like thinking). SO worth hitting that purchase button.

This app is amazing and far superior to the app Nightsky. Bravo developers!! And everyone who made this possible... I love how you can search by star, planet, constellation and even Messieurs. When you search this way a arrow pops up telling which way to move your device to find what you are looking for... Then when you do it gives you a fact sheet and the option to zoom in. Also you can set the whole program to view stars in certain distances from Earth.... Really I could go on all day about StarChart.

Bravo!

What a great application that makes great use of all the functions of the phone! The way you look "through" the phone to the sky to identify stars planets etc is absolutely amazing. 5 years ago this would have been in an unbelievable sci fi movie!

The problem though is that now I question it's accuracy. For instance the location of the moon is completely wrong all the time. It's already a bit of a challenge to get the layout right against the sky especially where there is a lot of light pollution. I'm guessing something went wrong in the latest update as others have mentioned. Hopefully a fix is in the works and I can revise the rating. But for now 3 stars

I got the app at the same time I bought my first telescope, as a part of my contribution to our local astronomy club. The app is a lifesaver for me as we are trying to educate and interest school students in the science of astronomy. I've loved astronomy, but never had time for it before, and the learning curve can be considerable. But the app makes it easy for me to compare what I see in the sky with what I see in the app and usually can find what I need in my scope within a couple of minutes. For someone whose HOBBY is astronomy, it really is helping me learn my way around the sky quickly.

Can't beat it for $3 bucks! Easy to use, accurate and very valuable and handy for me.

I'm barely even an amature star explorer and this app has been my Best new friend!

Have been able to identify anything that i can see in the night sky with it as well as the distances in Lys, size and classifications.... And w/o any artificial magnificatio.

I love it and have had Zero problems or complaints about it.

If you like astronomy / cosmology and are trying to broaden your horizons in this vast field of overwhelming size and info, this app is a Great place to start!

My dad is a telescope maker, he asked me if my phone can find planets with that "fancy new technology." I found the Planet Finder app, but it doesn't support galaxies so I had to keep looking, I finally came across this jewel. I showed him the screenshots and explained it to him the best I could, he threw down his card and told me to get it for him.

When you open the app, you can control what you want to see in the augmented reality sky (stars, planets, constallations, galaxies), a bunch of other neat features. For the best experience, enable to Augmented Reality mode (AR). Has a search feature, when you search for what you want to see, it places an arrow in the direction so you can easilly find it even if you're facing completely away from it.

I reccomend this app to ANYONE who is interested in looking at the night sky, very fun and practical app. Totally worth the $3 pricetag.

This app is truly amazing. You set your GPS position and then you can move the iPad around and see exactly what you see in the night sky. You can use it to search for planets, stars, or constellations. When you aim at a constellation, it shows you the stars but also a superimposed picture of the constellation over the stars. I used it on the first night to find Saturn in the sky. Awesome!

Only improvement I could suggest would be to be able to click on the name of the constellation to read a story about it.

If I were rating this strictly as an educational tool, it would definitely get 5 stars. However, as an amateur astronomer, I can only give it 3 right now. In night mode, when you search for something, you are immediately blinded by "real" color and bright images; why is this also not red/black? It's the same thing if you choose to look at the settings while in night mode...you get bright whites and whatnot. If I want to keep my night vision, I can't do either of these things. If night mode is selected, EVERYTHING should be red/black. For the most part, this is a good app, but make these changes and it will be stellar (pun intended).

Jeff

The application has very good information and is quite useable, if you already have a basic knowledge of the sky. It is always quite visually appealing. It does not, however, point at objects correctly. If I put my phone in front of a star (even the sun), planet, other, the object will often be just off screen. This might just be a GPS location problem (but the problems continue to persist even after 30 or so mins of use i.e. enough time for GPS location to be correct), gyro problem, or phone level time problem (though displayed time appears to be correct), but objects appear to be about an hour off (including the horizon, suggesting a miscalculated local sidereal time.

Slick, accurate, precise, detailed and beautiful. This app might not have all the features of some of the other star gazing apps out there, but it's my favourite. There's something about the software that just exudes style and makes you want to learn more about the stars. It's not an encyclopedia, but rather a very knowledgable friend. I've tried it on the iPod Touch, iPhone and my new iPad and it works flawlessly on all regardless of network connection. Hats off to the guys and gals that made this very slick app. Top marks, and well worth the download at this price.

Looking at the beautiful starry night a few nights ago and wished I could remember some of those stars I used to be so interested in. Then it occured to me to see if there was "an app for that". Of course there is!

After typing in my GPS position, which I had no problems with at all, I was looking at the sky in a whole new way :)

I'll list my favourite points:

- really great graphics. Those constellation images are simply stunning.

- easy to use. I'm on an iPod Touch, so I wish I could just point at the sky (I'm guessing its not technically possible), but I've found that the finger swipe is well done. Clicking a star or planet gives you more details and its all pretty intuitive.

- fast and responsive, especially considering the amount of stuff on the screen.

All in all this is a great app. I honestly can't believe it's not got more reviews.

Here's looking forward to the next update!