SkySafari VS Space Engine

You don't have to have a telescope, but you should at least take a set of binoculars and install the SkySafari app on your cell phone or tablet. Make certain to be familiar with the SkySafari on your mobile device because urban and suburban astronomers often become disoriented because dense star fields make dark skies look so different. I also keep a copy of Sky & Telescope's Sky Atlas with me as a hard copy... Source: 11 months ago

Binoculars like these. And an app like this or this. Head out to dark skies if you can. Pro Tip: a bean bag makes a great binocular observing chair. Source: over 1 year ago

As for apps, feel free to try out my app Nightshift if you're on Android. Other often recommended apps are SkySafari and Stellarium. Each app offers different features, so in the end it's a matter of personal preference or needs. Source: about 2 years ago

Stellarium as suggested gives you the opportunity to see which planets are above the horizon at any given time. If you want to to see what planets are visible in any given night without the need to scroll through the entire night, most astronomy apps like SkySafari have a 'Best of Tonight' feature that also lists the planets. Source: about 2 years ago

This is the Encoder Kit, like this one here. You need to connect your encoders to another device, like Nexus II (which what I have) or Nexus DSC Pro. Nexus II has its own WiFi network, which you can connect to with your phone/tablet. Then you can use app like SkySafari on your phone/tablet to connect to your telescope/Nexus II, by doing this your telescope will be a "Push-To" not "Go-To". Source: over 2 years ago

I mean, there are plenty of good deep sky images out there. Try looking at the New General Catalogue (NGC) objects for something that strikes your fancy. Alternatively, you could cruise around in Space Engine and bookmark an interesting galaxy to get screenshots from multiple angles, which is what I usually do. (SE is available on Steam for a reasonable price.). Source: 10 months ago

Computer says yes: https://gravitysimulator.org/ https://spaceengine.org/ Once the mass, velocity, heading of an object is known it becomes easier to track and fine tune parameters meaning time of intersect with earth can be calculated which gives orientation of planet and entry attitude. An exact street addres | sub metre grid reference is a big ask, but the "line of breakup" arcing across a narrow slice of the... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago

Space Engine[1] is another popular one [1] https://spaceengine.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago

This is a bit of a tall order. There are none that I know of; most folks I know who do galaxy maps either make them by hand with their digital paint tools of choice, or utilize the procedurally-generated ones from Space Engine. Up until recently SE had a free (old) version available on the site; you should still be able to find a mirror of it somewhere but I don't know of one personally. Otherwise, SE is available... Source: 11 months ago

Numbers as overwhelming as these are meaningless to our little minds. Then, do yourself a favor. Download Space Engine and see for yourself what it's like to visually behold the mindblowing immensity we are talking about. Now, take into account Multiverses, and consider the possibility that all those Universes may be fractal-like with n-infinite dimensions. Contemplate that we probably know absolutely nothing... Source: about 1 year ago