Put a Planetarium In Your Pocket With Google Sky Map

Confession time: I am an astronomy geek. I have been ever since the second grade when Mrs. Woodward taught us all about the planets.  Then Cosmos came along and reinforced my obsession. I cried when the Mars Curiosity Rover landed. ( I follow Mars Rover on Twitter.) This is one of my favorite apps under the sun. The Google Sky Map app for your Android phone allows you to track the heavens without a telescope. It can also assist you in pointing your telescope in the right direction!

I first learned about Sky Map from my husband, who downloaded it so we could track when the International Space Station was in orbit  over our area.  We went outside with a smartphone, held it up to the sky and this app immediately showed us where to look.

To download, head on over to the Google Play Store to download for free.

Hold it up to the sky where you are and it will identify what you’re looking at up there.

Looking for a particular planet or star? Sky Map will help you find it. “Hey Mars Rover! What’s up?”

There are also cool features like Time Travel. It allows you to see what the night sky looked like in the past and what it will look like in the future.

There’s also a gallery of gorgeous images from space for you to view. Then with the tap of a finger, Sky Map will find them in the night (or day) sky.

It’s really just like having a planetarium in your pocket.  You can use it to find constellations and meteor showers. Here I am using it to track Pluto in the sky at the office.  I still believe in you Pluto, you will always be a planet to me!

Check it out, it’s well worth your time.