By David Tiegen
Space nerds know that high-quality astronomy apps are few and far between. For a long time, the only popular astronomy app was Google's SkyMap, but now Google Play and the App Store are bursting with options for everyone from the casual to the devoted observer. Here's a breakdown of the best space best apps available.
Cosmos Celestron Navigator
It's amazing this app is free. Like a lot of astronomy apps, it provides a GPS-enabled star chart. Just point your phone in the direction of the sky you want to examine or search the name of a star. What makes it unique is the polished design (when you zoom in on an object, it makes a sweet woosh sound), a ridiculous amount of customization options, and its wealth of information on anything in the night sky with tap with your finger.
Celestron, the hobby science company, has released some official Cosmos branded gear to accompany the app that includes a Wi-fi enabled telescope you can control through your smartphone but, it'll set you hack four hundred dollars.
Available on Android & iPhone.
Planetarium
Planetarium is an astronomer's multi-tool. Less beginner friendly than our top choice, this app will make you look like you know what you're doing. It has a no nonsense UI that crams in the essential information for night time observers and offers an astronomical clock, a Google map, a line graph, a solar system map, two GPS-enabled night object finders, and an updated calendar of night time phenomena. Its simple design makes it stand out from the crowd of other apps. This app goes for use over polish, and succeeds in its own humble style. It would be at the top of the list, however it's only available to Android users.
Night Sky Tools
Night Sky Tools aims to be the ultimate digital reference for an astronomer. Like Planetarium, its UI is minimal and aims to help you become a better astronomer. It is both a digital textbook and toolbox. It provides information on viewing every imaginable object in the sky, and also provides special tools for calculating things such as focal ratio for astrophotography and weather reports for viewing conditions. It includes almost every sky object catalog and a section of tools devoted to deep-space objects. It has (almost) everything!
Available on Android.
PlanetDroid
PlanetDroid is an app that will make your friends think you're an astronomy genius. Its main menu consists of a minimal line chart followed by a dark screen with coordinates for telescopic observers. It includes a sky map with an AR interface, which is the main reason it finds itself near the top of this list. Like Planetarium, the sky map has an interface that will make you feel like you're playing a video game from the late eighties. Suggested for the seasoned observer.
Available on Android.
Exoplanet
Exoplanet (for iPhone) and Exoplanet Explorer Lite (for Droid) make distant solar systems and their planets observable. iPhone users win the best app here, as Exoplanet is highly interactive, sends notifications when new planets have been discovered, and highlights possible planets habitable to life.
SkEye
Similar to PlanetDroid, the main draw of SkEye is its ease of use and minimal design. A sky map with practical graphics, it provides astronomers with the appropriate coordinates. We appreciate the app's little touches not found on other apps including a choice to change the color theme to "dusk", a feature that monitors your battery, and an app tutorial.
Available on Android.
Earth Now
Earth Now is an app created by NASA for the climate-change minded. Sourced by real time satellite imagery and measurements, the app shows three-d Earth models of its "vital signs": air temperature, sea salinity, carbon monoxide levels, gravity field, ozone, sea level, and water vapor. Some measurements come with an animated option, so you can do things like watch the northern hemisphere ooze a swirly vortex of CO2.
Available on Android & iPhone.
Satellite AR / Satellite Tracker Plus 3
           These apps reveal the location and status of the many satellites floating in our orbit. Satellite AR (for Android) has a ton of choices for what you can see using its AR sky map, from amateur radio satellites to the ISS to Sirius XM. Satellite Tracker (for iPhone) has more limited options, but should still provide some interest to the satellite junkie. Especially if you're handy with a HAM radio.
ISSFlyBy
This app alerts Google Glass users when the International Space Station is viewable in their area. It's just one of those things that makes you put on your glasses and go, "I am living in the future, and I am freaking out."
Available on Google Glass.
NASA Space Weather
Last on our list is something for the heliophiles. This NASA app offers a look into their Integrated Space Weather Analysis System (iSWA), which allows the user to look at computer model images and data regarding the sun's behavior and its effects on Earth. Meant for serious astronomers, a beginner can still glean some understanding from options such as its bright yellow Automated Solar Activity Prediction (ASAP) images, which provide near real-time predictions for when the sun might be spewing out massive amounts of radiation and plasma in our general direction.
Available on Android & iPhone.
Are there any apps  we missed? Let us know in the comments. Astronomy nerds unite!
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