Continued from last week where I provided helpful apps to track weather, blue and golden hours, and provide apps to access national park maps.  

Planets, Stars, Meteors, Moon, and More

Meteor Wheel by fiddlemeragged ($0.99) — A very simple app that shows the most notable meteor showers of the year in an easy format. 

Planets by Q Continuum (Free) — Love this app! I love the ability to turn my phone into a mini-astronomy map revealing the constellations. AND, my favorite part is being able to select the “Sky 3D” tab, so when I move my phone around, it will show me where (north, west, east or south) the stars and planets are in the sky, making it easy for me to see them. The only drawback is that you need to have 4 to 5 bars to use it.

MoonPhase by RomanDuck Software ($1.99) — This is another one of my most favorite apps. I can change the location, time and date to see what the moon phase will be. This feature is tremendous help when planning vacations to take photographs of the northern lights (when you don’t want the moon to be full) or when you want the moon to be visible for possible landscape backdrops. The app shows the sunrise and sunset times for the sun and moon, and just like the Planet app, your phone easily becomes a moveable device that shows in where the moon is (for those somewhat cloudy evenings or you are in large city or dense forest, this is a great feature). 

Northern Lights 

Aurora Forecast by Grigo (free) — This apps shows what is on the Geophysical Institute at UAF website. Coupled with the 3D Sun app, below, you’ve got the tools to know when there is a solar flare. 

3D Sun by Dr. Tony Phillips, LLC (free) — Sends notifications of major solar flare eruptions on the sun to your phone. The app provides digital reconstructions of satellite images, but I find I mostly use it for helping me to know when a solar flare may come hurling toward earth to create the northern lights.