The Best iPhone Astrophotography Apps [2023 Edition]

The Best iPhone Apps For Astrophotography

Sky Guide

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• The app’s official description: Bring the beauty of the stars down to Earth. Hold Sky Guide® overhead to automatically identify any star, constellation, planet or satellite! Easy to use and powerful, it’s epic stargazing for any experience level. Is it a star or the planet Mars? Knowing what’s up in your night sky is easier than ever. Sky Guide’s AR mode superimposes figures onto your real sky so visualizing the heavens becomes effortless. Have you ever wished you could recognize constellations but didn’t want to fumble around with paper star charts? Now you can.
• What it does: Sky Guide is one of the coolest apps on the iPhone. It allows you to find and spot numerous celestial bodies–including man-made ones like the international space station! It’s the perfect app to know what you’re looking at in the night sky.
• How to get it: iOS

Light Pollution Map – Dark Sky

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• The app’s official description: Light Pollution Map allows you to easily locate dark sky locations where the sky will not be affected by light pollution, allowing the best observance, star gazing, and photography of the night sky! But it’s not just a light pollution map. There’s so much more, such as aurora borealis live viewing map, meteor shower alerts, super moon alerts, lunar eclipse alerts, moon phases and info, aurora and magnetic field information, international space station tracker, and a lot more! Light Pollution Map will help you master the night sky..
• What it does: Good astrophotography relies on not only good weather but good lighting conditions. This app will show you a light pollution map overplayed on a traditional one, which can give you an idea of the best places to shoot from.
• How to get it: iOS

Astrospheric

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• The app’s official description: Astrospheric provides advanced weather tools for professional astronomers and astrophotographers in the Continental US and Canada, and supports hundreds of astronomical societies with tools that help members stay connected. Are you using what the pros use?
• What it does: Astrospheric is a great app for astrophotographers as it shows you a massive amount of information about weather conditions including cloud cover, smoke, surface pressure, and more–all which help you decide when and where to shoot.
• How to get it: iOS

Stellarium Mobile – Star Map

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• The app’s official description: Stellarium Mobile is a planetarium app that shows exactly what you see when you look up at the stars. Identify stars, constellations, planets, comets, satellites (such as the ISS), and other deep sky objects in real time in the sky above you in just a few seconds, just by pointing the phone at the sky! This astronomy application has an easy to use and minimalist user interface, that makes it one of the best astronomical applications for adults and children who want to explore the night sky.
• What it does: This awesome app easily labels things in the sky, so you know what you’re looking at. It’s got a great interface, too.
• How to get it: iOS

Sun Surveyor (Sun & Moon)

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• The app’s official description: Sun Surveyor takes the mystery out of the sunrise, sunset, and moon phases, allowing photographers and filmmakers to scout the best locations, plan effectively, and get the perfect shot. The Live Camera View, Interactive Map (with Street View), 3D Compass, and detailed Ephemeris provide a wealth of information about the largest natural light source in the galaxy, as well as the moon, and milky way:
• What it does: This app shows you the positions of the moon, sun, and entire milky way in the sky, allowing you to get a heads up on good astrophotography opportunities!
• How to get it: iOS