Android App Review: Google Sky Maps
Google Sky Maps was designed for pretty much anyone who’s gazed up at 
the heavens wondering about some bright unidentified object appearing in the night sky. I love gazing up trying to identify planets, constellations, and other bright objects decorating the night sky. Is that Jupiter or Venus? The Big Dipper or my imagination? But my curiosity has always exceeded my ability to use printed astronomy guides, whether charts, w
heels or books.
My problem is that I’m directionally challenged. So “look in the southwest sky 45 degrees above the horizon,” it may sound simple to you, but for me it’s anything but. With Google Sky Maps, you enable the GPS so the device can find you and then simply point. You can set the app to show only planets, only stars, or whatever you want, or all of it—the complete night sky. The horizon is clearly marked on the screen and all you do is hold the app in front of you, tilt it toward where you’re looking, and voila!, you are now a bona fide stargazer.
The only downside is that the device is locked on your GPS location. If you move, so does the app’s frame of reference. If you want to fix on specific (and less identifiable objects) you should stay pretty still. It’s one of the coolest apps for the Androi
d phone in my opinion. I take it with me everywhere I travel.
Google Sky Maps is easy to download. If you have a bar code reader in your Android phone, you can simply scan the code to the left to get it instantly. If you need a scanner, text “scan” to 43588 for code reader (Message and data rates may apply).
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