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Star Gazing app

Posted on by regalbeagleonline

Download a free app called SkyView Lite on Android or Apple. Open it, point your phone at the sky and watch it label everything you aim at: stars, planets, constellations, even the International Space Station sailing overhead.
Want something deeper? Stellarium is free, too, and it can ping you before big sky events, so you never miss a good clear night.
Try this. Point your phone straight down at the ground. The app keeps right on going and shows you the stars over the far side of the planet, the ones beneath your feet this very second. You’re looking clean through the Earth.
🛑 One pro move before you head out: Turn on the app’s red night mode. Your eyes take a full 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to the dark, and a single glance at a bright white screen wipes that out instantly. Red light keeps your night vision intact. If you can, drive a few minutes past the city glow. It triples what you will see.
Use the app to track down the W shape of Cassiopeia. Beside it sits a faint, fuzzy smudge that looks like a smeared star. That smudge is the Andromeda Galaxy, and it’s the single farthest thing your naked eye will ever see. It sits 2.5 million light-years away. The light hitting your eye tonight left before our species even existed. 
You’re not looking at a star. You’re staring 2.5 million years into the past.
Then set a reminder for Aug. 12 and 13. The Perseid meteor shower peaks, and this year, it appears during a new moon, so the sky goes pitch black and you could catch 90 shooting stars an hour. Aim your app at Perseus, lie back and wait for the show to start.

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