App to plan Astro / Milky Way photos?

Is there an App where I can type in a place, and even perhaps get an image / augmented reality to see where The milky Way will be at a certain day / time etc, so that I can plan a shot of the Milky Way?


/Jocce

I'm not sure how augmented you're looking for, the mobile ones I've used have aligned it automatically with the phones orientation, so you can hold it up in a direction and see which stars will be there at a certain time. I haven't looked at any for a while, there might be one that incorporates the camera somehow to include your own landscape or maybe 3d models of big cities but I haven't found it yet. I know you can use Google Earth and turn off the sunlight and use 3d buildings, you can change the date time too but overall the quality is terrible - see here: http://i.imgur.com/6Lu​c8aC.png


http://www.stellarium.​org/ is my go-to, there's PC/MAC/Linux Android and IOS versions. Stellarium screenshot from my phone: http://i.imgur.com/pc0​LgqV.jpg

Some people prefer the Star Walk 2 app, so try that too.

The PC/Mac version has a few more features than the mobile version but I always have my phone with me so I end up using that more. You give it the location, then you can zoom/rotate the view and change the date/time. I use it for tracking the milky way for photos so I set the advanced options of the milky way brightness up high and turn a lot of the other visual stuff off except the landscape/horizon.

My usual process is to find a date where the moon will either be below the horizon or will be a new moon (no moon) using one of the lunar cycle apps/calendars, then open Stellarium, go to that date/time and check where the milky way will be during the that night.

If I have a location picked out I will go there and turn on the orientation stuff so I can hold the phone up and see which direction the milky way will rise/set and what will be in the foreground.

This might also be useful: http://photographyroun​dtable.com …photograph-the-milky-way/

You are looking for PhotoPills: http://www.photopills.​com

It was made to do exactly what you want.... it's for photographers (not astronomers) and it's augmented reality, and it shows you when and where the sky, milky way, sun, moon, etc. will be located to help you visit a site (during the day) to plan out your shot (figure out where you should stand and what time to be there to capture the Milky Way relative to a foreground composition.)

Here's a video demo'ing how it works: https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=MMbKEq-zr18

TCampbell wrote in post #18257819
You are looking for PhotoPills: http://www.photopills.​com

It was made to do exactly what you want.... it's for photographers (not astronomers) and it's augmented reality, and it shows you when and where the sky, milky way, sun, moon, etc. will be located to help you visit a site (during the day) to plan out your shot (figure out where you should stand and what time to be there to capture the Milky Way relative to a foreground composition.)

Here's a video demo'ing how it works: https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=MMbKEq-zr18

Ah, I knew there was something, too bad it's only iOS. Their FAQ says they're working on an android version, I might have to try to borrow an iphone until then.

I just got photopills this weekend. At first glance it's really overwhelming but they have some great video explaining how to use it. Once I took the time to figure it out it's pretty amazing. I used it this weekend to plan a sunset shot. Unfortunately it wasn't a great weekend for starts because of the moon but another cool feature of the app is it helps you plan what days will be good for milky way shots.

I bought an iPad recently (my first Apple product in over 10 years... yuck), mainly for Photopills. I can confirm, it's fantastic (the app, not the iPad).

For Android, there is The Photographer's Ephemeris, which I believe is quite similar (also on iOS)

For Windows, I use Stellarium, but it's nowhere near as user friendly as other apps. That's the problem with Windows software in general I find. Super powerful, but clunky.

Highly recommend Stellarium as well as The Photographer's Ephemeris. Both free, although the android app of Stellarium does cost a couple dollars, but it's well worth it!

Stellearium isn't quite the same on a mobile app as it is on a regular computer. My understanding is that since Stellarium is open-source, someone used the source to build a port for mobile, but the port isn't free.

For mobile devices, the most heavily recommended (and basically the best) general astronomy software is Sky Safari 5 which comes in a "standard", "Plus", and "Pro" versions. The "Pro" is fairly hard-core (I think it has all stars down to something like 18th magnitude - the databases are huge) and it runs $39 (it's been on sale for $29 but I think that's only for this month). The "Plus" version is the version that I think meets the needs of most people... features are basically identical but the databases are smaller. But still, the databases are large enough that pretty much anything that can be seen with an amateur telescope will be in that database. I think the "Plus" version is about $15 (cheap). Lastly, there's the standard version. I think it's about $2 -- it has a much smaller database (everything you can see without a telescope will be in there as well as many objects that require a telescope, but it's not nearly as extensive as the "plus" or "pro" versions. Also the "plus" and "pro" versions can drive telescope mounts (if it's a "go to" computerized mount) whereas the standard version cannot.

I would suggest most people with an interest in finding things in the sky ... but not hard-core amateur astronomers would probably prefer the "plus" version (the $15 version). Those into serious astro-imaging should get the "pro" version (because 18th magnitude stars do show up in long-exposure images.)

Most people gravitate to Stellarium on a regular computer -- not because it's the best, but because it's free. But the mobile version isn't free.

I have heard of Sky Safari, and it looks like a truly great program. However I think it might be overkill for OP who just wants to know the location of the milky way. I'm sure if using a telescope or doing any deeper imaging, Sky Safari is fantastic.

Photopills released a beta for Android recently. I haven't tried it yet to either recommend or not.