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Best astrophotography planning apps
Updated 20 October 2026 · By William Dutton, developer of Night Logic: Astrophotography
Astrophotography apps fall into four groups: planetariums, photo planners, weather forecasts, and deep-sky target and exposure planners. Here is what each is best at, and how to pick.
Disclosure. This guide is written by the developer of Night Logic. It describes what each category of app is good at in general terms so you can pick the right tool; check each app’s own listing for current features and pricing, which change.
Four kinds of astrophotography apps
“Astro app” covers very different tools. Most imagers end up using one from each of the first three groups.
| Kind | Examples | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Planetarium / sky atlas | Stellarium, SkySafari | Exploring the sky, identifying objects, seeing what is above you now. |
| Photo planning | PhotoPills | Planning wide-field and landscape astro shots: Milky Way position, Sun and Moon paths, augmented-reality previews. |
| Astronomy weather and seeing | Clear Outside, Astrospheric | Deciding whether tonight is worth setting up: cloud cover, seeing, transparency. |
| Deep-sky target and exposure planners | Night Logic, Telescopius (web) | Deciding what to shoot with your gear, checking framing on your sensor, planning how much data you need. |
Where Night Logic fits
Night Logic: Astrophotography is a planner, and it focuses on one question that a planetarium does not answer: given the telescope, mount, and camera I own and the sky above me tonight, what should I shoot, and how long should I expose?
- Scores every target above your horizon tonight against your equipment, location, Bortle class, and the Moon, then sorts them best-first. Each grade opens into the ten factors behind it.
- Builds an exposure plan (Pro): suggested sub length and the reason for it, expected drift loss, and an integration ladder with tonight’s time budget.
- Shows the target in your real field of view for your focal length and sensor format.
- Ships with 40 telescopes and 70+ cameras preloaded and accepts custom rigs.
- Has no account, no analytics, and no ads; your location and gear stay on your device.
It is a planning app, not a planetarium for casually browsing the sky, and it does not replace a dedicated weather-and-seeing forecast app for deep nuance on conditions. It is on iPhone today, with Android coming soon to Google Play.
How to choose
- You shoot with a camera and lens on a tripod or star tracker: a photo-planning app plus a weather app covers most needs.
- You shoot deep-sky targets through a telescope: add a planner that knows your rig, so you stop spending nights on targets that do not fit your field of view or your sky.
- You are just starting: a free planetarium and a free forecast app are a good start, and Night Logic’s free tier adds equipment-aware target ranking.
- You are visual-only: you can leave the camera out and Night Logic grades for the eyepiece instead.
What to look for in any planning app
- Does it know your actual equipment (aperture, focal length, sensor), or only generic settings?
- Does it explain its scores, or give you an unexplained number?
- Does it account for the Moon and your local sky darkness?
- Does it work offline at a dark site with no signal?
- What does it do with your location and data?
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app for planning astrophotography?
It depends on the job. Planetarium apps such as Stellarium and SkySafari are best for exploring the sky, PhotoPills is popular for planning wide-field and Milky Way shots, astronomy forecast apps like Clear Outside and Astrospheric are best for weather, and Night Logic is built to rank deep-sky targets and exposure for your specific telescope, mount, and camera.
Is there a free astrophotography planning app?
Yes. Night Logic is free to download, with planets, all 108 Messier objects, live sky conditions, and equipment-fit grading included at no cost. Pro adds the full exposure plan, NGC and IC catalogs, and the 16-night outlook. Stellarium and the free tiers of several forecast apps are also widely used.
Do I need more than one app?
Many imagers use two or three: a planetarium for exploring and framing, a weather/seeing forecast for deciding whether to set up, and a planner for deciding what to shoot and how long to expose.
Night Logic: Astrophotography is a free iPhone app that ranks tonight’s targets for your telescope, mount, and camera, and builds an exposure plan for each one. Android is coming soon to Google Play.