iCSC: Clear Sky Chart Viewer Reviews

iCSC gives you timely information about sky conditions for night sky observations across the United States. That said, not all observatory names tell you about their location. This is never a problem if you only plan to frequent ones that are near you and few in number, however, if you’d like to travel and plan out night sky observations along your trips the location (geographic) information is not contained in the name of each observatory. It’s kind of like someone only telling you the name of the street or city they live in. If their are multiple locations that have that street or city name, the usefulness of that information is quickly diminished. Adding GPS coordinates might help, but so would a road, city and state. If not that, then allow for notes in the favorites list on each entry so you would not need to enter the site report and then look to find it on the map. A very useful add to iCSC would be to make use of location information provided by cell and ip to see a list of reporting observatory’s nearby.

Wondering if its possible to access the backend data source of a specific location, so I can query updated info on demand. Cloud in my area changes frequently, there are a few times iCSC wasn't able to catch it up until last minute and that makes the plan have to be cancelled.

Thanks to great data from the Canadian Met Office and great software from Atilla Danko, the astronomy sky forecast is used by astronomers all over North America. This convenient app is great since I can save my favorite observing locations and check out the sky forecast before I head out to observe. Well done!

Nice to have access to the charts on phone anytime and anywhere. Works well. Also nice to be able to be able to save the sites you use as favorites. Very nice predictive software so you can plan your viewings and know what to expect for upcoming observing conditions

I’ve got a handful of local spots saved as favorites so I can quickly check sky conditions, so I know when star gazing will be awesome vs so-so vs “stay inside”.

Really great resource for anyone who likes to view the stars, with or without a telescope.

It’s nice to have access to accurate, near-term weather data when you’re trying to spot distant galaxies or take night photos. iCSC makes that possible.

Thanks for getting this fixed. It’s back to working great.

Lots of “seeing” information and forecasts at my fingertips. Helps me plan for an evening under the stars with my telescopes.

I’m generally happy with iCSC, but would like the ability to enter GPS coords for favorites. “Nearest neighbor” doesn’t work when that closest info point is over 100 miles away.

Great app, but there’s no search function? It would be so easy to implement a simple search feature at the top of the full list of observing sites. Please implement this in the next update!

Crashes as soon as I select an observatory/location ever since the update.

Corrected - now it is fixed. Thanks for fixing so quickly!

Quickly brings up your local Clear Sky Chart for astronomical observing or photography. Does not bring up maps like the original website though.

I have been using iCSC for years. It seems to be a very accurate forecasting tool.

This is a wonderful tool, I use it anytime I am planning to look up at the sky.

Wish they explained what each category meant in terms of overall ability to see the stars.

I use iCSC all the time. Very accurate for my location (US mid-Atlantic coast).

The data isn’t bad, but it is all but unusable on my 5th gen iPad Pro 12.9. Tiny text you can’t zoom in on. MyCSC is a much better choice for iPad users.

Bug with favorites is fixed. Thanks for the great support.

I would rate it 6 stars if I could. Very useful app.

Perfect lightweight app to check sky conditions for astrophotography!

A no brainer. Get this!