Astronomer's Friend - Astronomy Tools

Astronomer's Friend has the best night sky tools for astronomy and astrophotography. Alerts for meteor showers, aurora (northern lights), super moons, lunar eclipses, aurora borealis, ISS flyby, and more. Integrated Light Pollution Map to find the best areas near you to see the night sky. Aurora overlay, cloud cover overlay, ISS tracker and information, live webcams and more! Scroll down and read to see the most important features:

Light Pollution Map

Integrated Light Pollution Map helps you find the darkest places near you for the best viewing of the night sky. Includes the ability to save and load your favorite dark sky locations, fully adjust the light pollution map overlay opacity and map type, and a unique "horizon safe radius tool" to avoid light pollution on the distant horizon!

Cloud Cover Map & Temperature Info

With an integrated cloud cover map and temperature indicator, always know before you even step outside if it's worth going outside to see the night sky!

Aurora Overlay

Overlay an Aurora layer on the Light Pollution Map to see where the best viewing of the Northern Lights (Aurora) currently is.

ISS Tracker

Follow the international space station on a live map, see when it's flying above your location, who is currently on the ISS, view a live ISS webcam, and more!

Alerts

Configure the app to send you alerts for the next meteor shower, super moon, or lunar eclipse. The app can also alert you when Aurora activity is high and viewing is good at your current location, and alert you when the international space station will be flying above you.

Moon Information

Find moon phases and moon rise and set times for any date and any location. Also see more detailed info about the moon for the hardcore moon observer!

Live Aurora and Magnetic Field Info

See live information about the aurora such as KP value, viewing probability, magnetic field Bz, Density, and speed.

Live Aurora Webcams

Explore live aurora borealis webcams from around the world, and also see live graphs of the magnetosphere.

Moon Position Tool

Always know where the Moon will rise or set for any location, at any time and any date. Also has Moon Rise and Moon Set times.

Night Sky Calendar

Find the best days for meteor showers, lunar eclipses, and super moons for any day, past or present.

Live NASA SOHO Images

See live images of the Sun from NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

Widgets

Enable and put widgets on your android home screen to show aurora information, cloud cover percentage, temperature info, and the time total darkness begins and ends.

And a lot more!

Some features are not available in the free version and may require an additional in-app purchase.

APP PERMISSIONS REQUIRED & EXPLAINED:

In-app purchases - used to upgrade the app.

Contacts - used to share the app with your friends at your choosing.

Location - used to find your location on the map.

SMS - used to share the app with your friends at your choosing.

Photos/Media/Files - used to store map tile images.

Storage - used to save locations at your choosing.

Receive data from internet - used to load the map and alerts.

View network connections - used to load the map over wifi.

Full network access - used to load the map.

Prevent device from sleeping - used to stop your device from sleeping while you are reading the map.

Read Google service configuration - used to load in-app-purchase data.