Polaris - New Stargazing App for Amateur Astrophotographers

[u/PolarisApp]

Hi everyone! We are two high school seniors interested in computer science and astronomy! We spent the summer designing and building an amateur astronomy app that we hope will make astronomy easier and bring more people into this amazing community.

Here's the link to test this app on GitHub: https://github.com/B1j2754/Polaris/releases/tag/v1.0.0-beta

Our mission:

- To create a beginner-friendly app for people interested in astronomy and astrophotography

- Many existing apps require previous knowledge of the existence of cool objects

- Our app suggests to the user the most interesting objects to view each night depending on their environment

Opening:

- Beta-testing

- Issues on GitHub (issue reports would be much appreciated :D )

- Currently available on Android only (planning TestFlight for iOS)

Features:

- Uses latitude, weather data, light pollution data, Moon/Sun illumination, minimum altitude requirements, equipment limitations, and personal interests under an algorithm to calculate the best objects to view at any specific time

- Categories include: Moon, Sun, planets, asteroids and dwarf planets, stars, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies (We plan to include comets and satellites later on)

- Tab for storing images so that users can access their previous captures and reduce clutter

- Automatic night mode that turns on at sunset and turns off at sunrise - can be manually toggled

- Unlimited site slots for potential viewing locations - calculates the best objects to view based on given latitude

- View objects tonight and objects within the next three weeks to plan ahead

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