Astrospheric Reviews

this app is an amazing weather app for astronomy and astrophotography enthusiasts. I have been using it for over three months, and Astrospheric tells me everything I need to know about sky and ground conditions (cloud cover, transparency, seeing, wind speed and direction, temperature, dew point, sun and moon rise/set times and elevation, moon phase details, etc). Tapping on any hour will give an estimated cloud cover map. Included are also various map layers like smoke, cloud, transparency, seeing, temperature, dew point, wind, etc as well as actual satellite imagery (IR, visible, water vapor, GOES-16). I also like the light pollution map that tells me how dark a location will be when I travel. Daniel Fiordalis, creator of Astrospheric , is an amateur astronomer and professional programmer, and you can appreciate all the love that went into creating Astrospheric. Thank You!!!

Living in a city with moderate light pollution limits observing and astrophotography. Driving to a dark site is great - when the skies are clear and calm when you get there. And that’s the problem - how can weather through the evening be predicted accurately?
I regularly use five apps to help predict the likelihood of a calm, clear night for astronomy. It is great when a majority give similar predictions, but often this does not happen.
Over time, this app has become my “go to” app. I love the hourly cloud cover predictions and frequent updates. The core of what an observer or astrophotographer needs to make the decision to go or stay is clearly presented and most often correct. Many thanks to the developers!

This is a pretty good app that gives you the big picture for planning astronomical viewing, however I do not like one aspect of it. Astrospheric opens with a location that is automatically selected near your current location, but it is off enough that you need to change it to your location by using a map or the forecasts might not be accurate. It does not remember your location when you start Astrospheric again and you must again manually select the correct location from a map. It then will tell you that you can save the location, but only if you provide them with your email address which is their way of compelling one to do that and enable the “favorites” to be available. I think that we should not have to provide our email address to set the home location and sort of sounds like blackmail to me.

This rating is for Astrospheric not the forecasts. While the forecasts are better for astronomy than most generic ones, a 5 star rating is not there yet. Astrospheric presents the forecasts in a clear and easily understood way. It gives a detailed hour by hour forecast for near term but a “wide field” less detailed view for the next week. This allows you to monitor potential astronomical conditions further in advance for planning. Results are presented graphically but a handy textural/numerical definition is adjacent for any selected hour. Sun and Moon elevation and rising and setting times are also shown. Don’t leave home for that long drive to the dark sky site without checking it.

Astrospheric is a critical part of my astrophotography sessions. Not only is it accurate, but the views it gives are unique among my weather apps.

Seeing for example let’s me know whether I can handle long focal length imaging or not, and beats the old method I used of going outside and looking at the rate of star twinkling.

It might be possible to get an this information from other sources, but I have found nothing else that gives me everything I need in one location and quickly determined how my night will go. I can’t imagine not using it daily.

I use the site to plan my observation nights and find the site to be very accurate in its forecasts, uncanny really. I mean with all the lousy observing weather that we have been having lately a site like this really helps. An example is a few nights back during a particularly gloomy evening when I would have just given up and went to bed , this app forecast a break in the clouds for a given time for about 2 &1/2 hours and I prepared for it and was able to get a couple of hours of observing in . Thanks this app.

I use Astrospheric almost daily to plan whether or not I’ll bother to set up for a night’s astrophotography session. I do use it in combination with a few other weather apps. The result is usually spot on for decision making. I realize that the “smoke” layer is still in beta, but that has been some great help as well. Currently we, in the Midwest US, are getting huge smoke plumes from western wildfires. I hope that will resolve soon, for many reasons. Sorry for any rambling but, to conclude, Astrospheric is fantastic.

This has been very helpful and reasonably accurate as to sky conditions related to observing. I like the cloud cover map that I have trouble finding elsewhere. From the detailed hour by hour look at the next few days to the big picture forecast for the next week, I really like the features. Suggestions for improvement: have a way to save favorites locations, and the ability to zoom in on the map.

Have been using Astrospheric for several months - the information allows me to quickly see the observing opportunities (alas, the weather in Central Iowa has not been very good for star gazing and photography). The content (refreshed every 3-6 hours) provides information on atmospheric conditions, dew point, winds, temps and moon glow (phases), plus ISIS transition times. Easy to read and helpful in planning.

Astrospheric has the best and most accurate weather for astronomy. It pulls in variables such as upper atmospheric conditions, smoke, and dust. Then it breaks it down into three categories, clouds, seeing and transparency so you can plan your evening on what objects to view. Includes site mode to show you lat/long coordinates for mount setup with accuracy reporting. Also displays moon cycle and phases. Best astronomy weather app.

It’s really valuable to know what the clouds are likely to do for planning star gazing or imaging. Several apps provide info on this but astropheric has far and away the best user interface. You can easily figure out exactly what the conditions should be on simple screen. Moon light, various levels of clouds, seeing, transparency, sunrise/sunset. Sometimes it misses a forecast but in general it’s a great planning tool

Astrospheric has really helped me figure out the best times to go out looking for northern lights. The cloud forecasts are easy to read and accessible, and the kp forecast feature is really nice. I’d definitely recommend getting it if you have a hard time catching clear skies while the lights are out.

I do amateur astrophotography and Astrospheric has been incredibly helpful with planning, seeing expectations and so much more. Their cloud forecasting is incredibly more accurate than any other app I have found and that includes our local news stations. Thanks for the assist.

The greatest variable in what you can hope to see under the stars is the weather. Astrospheric assembles all the factors most likely to affect viewing in one easy to understand graphic report. A great aid in helping me plan my observation plans. One of my most used apps.

I don’t know why I didn’t have Astrospheric before, the ability to see hourly cloud covers and much more useful information including light pollution and smoke layers makes Astrospheric a must have for observing or planning a night.

I really like the usefulness of Astrospheric. I don’t waste time putting up equipment and can plan my astrophotography sessions with a good deal of confidence. My only complaint is I have a pro subscription but continue to see ads. What’s up with that? Would have given 5 stars otherwise.

Really handy app for checking the weather before a night of observing. The forecast is actually quite accurate and the level of detail is amazing on the type of viewing conditions to expect. Very glad I have Astrospheric!

Been using Astrospheric for several months. Highly accurate even a few days out. Only been one night it wasn’t, and even Accuweather showed it to be clear when there was 100% cloud coverage. Highly recommend.

I use Astrospheric on a daily basis. The sky and cloud forecasts are often very accurate. I like how you can search the sky conditions for any location. The interface is easy to use. Highly recommended!

Edit: Screen time is on. We allowed browser website although apparently it’s desktop only and Astrospheric still shows a black screen with loading ball apart from site information screen.

I have been using this app for a year and it kicks all the other Astro weather app’s butts. I love it.

Two things:

1. Maybe it’s an iOS thing, but for me on iPhone XR it doesn’t display my normal iOS time and cell status in the top bar. Is this fixable?

2. I would rather see forecasted wind speed (with red numbers if it’s too high) rather than wind direction. If a specific time is tapped, wind direction can be shown.

3. It would be the only weather app I use if it could somehow also display more details than cloud cover (like high/low temps, chance of precipitation, etc) in the extended forecast, at least for a few days.

Otherwise, incredible app!

I use this daily and sometimes multiple times a day. It combines several key points of information to make planning when I can observe so easy. I find small windows of viewing opportunity that I otherwise might have missed. It really is a big help and I recommend it as often as I can!

I have been using this app for a few years now and highly recommend it. It has been very accurate and allows me to schedule my observing/imaging sessions accordingly. Nothing is 100% but this is the closest to it that I’ve found.

Clear DARK Skies,
George Fleenor

It was the best app of its kind when I first got it. Since then it’s undergone a big overhaul. Now this app is unbeatable. Nothing even comes close to it. The developer has put a lot of time and effort into function, accuracy, and form. I use it literally every week. So helpful!

Astrospheric is amazing. Not only can I see what the weather is going to do but I can also see what the light pollution in an area is like. I find Astrospheric useful for playing camping and adventure trips also.

Has multiple map views, short term specific conditions, long term general conditions, and more. Very useful for anyone who likes an app to give you the information to make an informed decision rather than Astrospheric directing you when it thinks is best for you to go out.

Astrospheric is dead on accurate. Plain and simple. Today it suggested clearing skies by 8pm; all day has been heavy overcast. It’s 7:45 right now, as I look out the window I see light blue skies, continuing to clear into the night. Perfect again!

Get it, check it compulsively at least every day=success. Great to plan ahead for stargazing from the city early in the morning (when its darkest). You don’t want to wake up at 3am just for there to be clouds!

This is by far my go to astrophotography weather app! The maps and predictions are both rich with data as well as accurate! Big hats off to the developer, thanks so much for creating Astrospheric!:)

I have been using this tool for quite a while not only for astrophoto but regular sunset sunrise too. It has been accurate most of the times .

After using Astrospheric extensively across numerous spots in Colorado I’ve learned to trust the accuracy of the predictions. It would be wonderful to have a 5+ day forecast but I’m much happier with a highly accurate 48-72 hour outlook.