Space. I love space. I didnt study astronomy or anything related, but Ive been an armchair astronomer since I was 11 and pored over a giant picture book detailing our solar system, galaxy and what might lie beyond. I never actually considered studying the stars, nor did I catch the astronaut bug as a child, but sometimes I think I may have missed a calling.

Of course, 21st-century technology hasonly fed my obsession. Ive perused a few space-related apps, and although I havent tried them all I found my favorite easily. The interface is marvelous in its simplicity and I can tell the developers are making good use of phones capabilities. This app could be pared down to its most-basic interaction and still be great, but the depth of information behind its wow-factor is remarkable.

This app makes my not-so-inner nerd sing.

Itscalled SkyGuide, and its available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch (the last of which I havent experimented with). Its $2.99 in the Apple App Store.

Something comparable on the Android appears to be Star Walk 2, which is $0.99 on Google Play. Reviews for this app have been similarly favorable to the iOSs SkyGuide. (Do you have a favorite astronomy app for Android? Tell us in the comments!)

Far and away the best feature of the SkyGuide app is the main attraction the ability to lift your phone up to the sky and see all of the constellations, planets, satellites, comets and other space objects in your phones field of view.

I cant even count the number of times Ive been sitting outside with friends who look up and wonder what a certain bright dot is in the sky. If I dont already know, out comes SkyGuide, in which we inevitably lose ourselves in for the next 15 minutes.

The app gets even moreexcitingfor big events past and the future including this years total solar eclipse which will be visible across North America. Curious what that will look like from where youre standing? Turn the time forward to Aug. 21, 2017, between 2 and 4 p.m., Eastern time.

Im in Washington, which will not see the moon cover all of the sun. But it will come close. I could always drive to North Carolina, I suppose.

Nowlets look at Fridays lunar eclipse! I can do this right now by changing the sky time, so to speak, to the time of peak eclipse. When I do, the sky appears exactly as it will at 7:44 p.m. Eastern time, including the shadowed moon. The moon will not turn red tonight, since its not a total lunar eclipse. It will turn gray as Earths shadow grazes the moon.

It labels comets, constellations, meteor showers and individual stars. I spoke with the developers at Fifth Star Labs and they saidregrettably, they did not get Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajduskov into the app in time for tonights pass. Each event is added by hand and there are a lot of comets. Understandably, its hard to know which ones will pique peoples interest in advance.

At the very least, set up an alert for the International Space Station and impress your friends by pointing it out in the sky. Youll earn some serious nerd-cred.

(Fifth Star Labs/SkyGuide)

Excerpt from:

Want an app to help see eclipses, comets and constellations? This is my favorite. - Washington Post