"Star Chart" Android and iOS app

   Odds are, you are already aware of mobile night sky applications. You may even have one downloaded on your device already. If you haven't, and you're trying to figure out which one to download, this is the post for you. Here I'll talk about the night sky app I use, and why I use it. The app is available on both Android and iOS devices.

                                                       Star Chart

    The app is called Star Chart. It contains a thorough catalog of night sky objects, namely, solar system objects, stars, constellations, and Messier objects. The only issue I have found with this app is that, not only do you have to upgrade to get comets, meteor showers, and satellites, those upgrades don't come in one package. You have to buy each upgrade individually(????). I could understand paying a dollar or two to get all those upgrades, but to have to buy each one by itself just seems wrong.

   Let's get right into this. The first and foremost feature I like, is the night mode. It turns the entire app interface a deep red color. This red shading prevents your eyes from loosing their adjustment to the dark, provided you also turn you screen brightness way down. I've found this extremely useful. 

Night Mode allows you to keep your "night vision".

The other feature that holds it's own is the AR mode. This mode uses the gyro and accelerometer in your device to show you what part of the sky your device is aiming at. This is helpful in the event of trying to locate the Milky Way to photograph it, to locate a night sky object, etc. 

    The app also provides detailed information about the object you select. For instance, in the image below I've selected the star Vega. It tells you which constellation it's in, general characteristics such as surface temperature, distance, brightness, and even the coordinates to punch in to your tracking mount telescope. So this is great for somebody wanting to learn details of objects in the night sky.

    The last feature I'll touch on is the visuals. I love how the app interface looks. They've made the sky, the stars, and the Milky Way enjoyable to look at. I know that isn't going to help you with your astronomy, but it definitely adds to the enjoyment of using the app, in my opinion.

    I've only touched on a few of the features here. It can do much more apart from what I brought out, which were just the features that are my favorite. If you're looking for a night sky app to use, give this a try. If you don't like it, try another. There are many to chose from! So pick one, and get outside and have some fun with it!

First Attempt at Capturing the Milky Way

The Milky Way

    After all this time, I finally managed to get my hands on a DSLR camera. It's a Canon EOS Rebel T5 1200D. I'm very pleased with how it performs. So this was my first attempt at getting a clear shot of the Milky Way. It worked out pretty well! I hope to spend more time with the camera in order to get more familiar with it, and as a result, get even better shots.

   This shot was taken at ISO 6400, f3.5, at 30 seconds. You can notice some slight star trailing on the right side of the photo, so my exposure was slightly too long. I'll definitely be having another go at this soon, Ill try a slightly lower aperture to reduce noise, and I also would like to attempt at getting a good star trail image.