Great Astronomy Apps for Android Phones

Okay Folks,

So the Poorman got a birthday present a HTC wildfire android phone.  I immediately started looking for free Astronomy Apps....keeping in step with the Poorman theme.  Oh before I start how much was the phone? £150 out the door non-contract pay as you go from "Phones 4 U".  So expensive by Poorman standards but it does other things besides Astronomy.

Back to those free Apps.  The no brainer download was "Google Sky" fits the budget it's free. Point your phone at the sky, and Google Sky Map will show the stars, planets, constellations, and more to help you identify the celestial objects in view. You can also browse the skies in manual mode. Murphy's law cloudy first night after download next night though it was great.  Google Sky is fantastic point it at the heavens and it tells you what you are looking at simple as that. Crafty trick hold it in front of the telescope and move scope and phone until phone shows what you want to see and hey presto a very crude go to. I found Andromeda through the light pollution very quickly this way.

As my Dobsonian comes with no frills not go-to etc. My next job was to find such an App.  and I think I have found one it's in Beta mode but looks very promising.  The App is called Skeye.   The handheld-mode is similar to Google SkyMap. However, when switched to indirect-mode it doubles as a PUSHTO guide for telescopes. The PUSHTO system uses the phone's sensors alone. All you need to do is strap the phone onto the telescope. So I am going to make a support to protect the phone and mount that on my Dobsonian and see if this works.  If it does then finding stars will become a whole lot easier than with Google Sky.

Will post an update soon.  Also I am building a Webcam mount out of bits and pieces so will be updating that here if successful.

 This video was taken of Saturn using a point and shoot held at the Dobsonian's eyepiece.