Planetscope is an app for Android and BlackBerry 10 phones that calculates the positions of the 8 major planets as they orbit around the Sun, as well as the Moon’s orbit around the Earth, displaying the results on 4 different views:
- Top-down ‘orrery’ view showing the relative locations of the planets to each other and to the Sun.
- Sky view, showing the planets locations in the sky, as viewed from your current GPS location.
- Size comparison view, showing the relative size and brightness of the planets to each other, as viewed from Earth.
- Data view, giving detailed numerical readouts related to the orbit of each planet/object
The displayed time can be altered and animated, fast-forwarding the planets’ motion to help predict interesting astronomical events and to visualise various concepts about how our Solar System works.
The readings calculated for each object include Rise/Set times, Altitude/Azimuth, Right Ascension/Declination, Distances from Earth/Sun, Apparent Magnitude/Apparent Diameter, Elongation and Phase. Objects shown: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Note that all readings are calculated in real-time within the program, so no internet connection is required.
Privacy Policy
All calculations are handled within the app. No personal data is collected by the app except your GPS location for use in the planet location calculations. No data is transmitted by the app. Use of the app and its calculations are at your own risk; the developer offers no guarantee as to their accuracy or completeness.