SkyPortal APK
App information
Version 3.5.3.3 (#35303)
Updated 2024-10-22
APK Size 67.8 MB
Requires Android Android 4.4+ (KitKat)
Offered by Celestron
Category Free Education App
App id com.celestron.skyportal
Developer's notes Celestron Telescope Controller and Planetarium application
Screenshot
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Table of contents
Latest updates
What's new in SkyPortal 3.5.3.3
Editor's review
Download the latest SkyPortal application, version 3.5.3.3, compatible with Windows 10/11 (using emulators such as Bluestacks), Android devices. This free Education app is developed by Celestron and is easy to download and install.
Previous versions, including 3.5.3.3, 3.5.3.0, 3.5.2.1, 3.5.1.2, 3.4.4.0, 3.4.1.0, 3.4.0.0, 3.3.1.2, 2.3.1.0, are also available. If you need help or have any problems, please let us know.
Description
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Celestron’s newest planetarium app is an astronomy suite that redefines how you experience the night sky. Explore the Solar System, 120,000 stars, over 200 star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, and dozens of asteroids, comets, and satellites—including the ISS. SkyPortal includes everything you need to experience the night sky in an exciting new way. When connected to a compatible Celestron WiFi telescope, you can automatically point the telescope to any object in the database and view it with great detail.
Planetarium Features
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Simulate the night sky and plan your observing session with a custom list of tonight’s best objects based on your exact time and location. Look ahead to see when Jupiter’s Great Red Spot will be visible, animate transits, eclipses, and other celestial events. View hundreds of photos or listen to more than four hours of audio narration to enhance your stargazing experience.
Simulate the night sky from anywhere on planet Earth, up to 100 years in the past or future.
Compass Mode (with compatible devices): Hold your device up to the sky for a real-time synchronized display of celestial objects – from star names, constellations, planets, to nebulae and galaxies.
Control compatible Celestron WiFi telescopes with sophisticated mount modeling for quick and accurate go-to alignment.
Animate transits, conjunctions, eclipses, and other events with SkyPortal's Time controls.
Explore the sky with Night Vision turned on, and preserve your eyesight after dark.
Learn the history, mythology, and science of the heavens with SkyPortal's hundreds of object descriptions.
Browse hundreds of astronomical photographs and NASA spacecraft images
Access over 4 hours of audio commentary to guide you through the best celestial objects.
Computerized Telescope Control
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Pair your device to your compatible Celestron WiFi telescope, align with Celestron’s patented SkyAlign™ technology, and you’re ready to explore! Identify objects instantly. Tap any object and your telescope automatically centers it in the eyepiece.
SkyPortal’s telescope alignment incorporates advanced mount modeling, providing better pointing accuracy than other telescope systems which rely on a dedicated computer.
SkyPortal has localization support for French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
App permissions
SkyPortal 3.5.3.3 APK requires following permissions:
Allows applications to open network sockets.
Allows applications to access information about networks.
Allows an app to access approximate location.
Allows an app to access precise location.
Allows access to the vibrator.
Allows using PowerManager WakeLocks to keep processor from sleeping or screen from dimming.
Allows applications to access information about Wi-Fi networks.
Allows an application to receive the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED that is broadcast after the system finishes booting.
Ratings and Reviews
Rating: 3.8/5 based on 5K+ reviews
(*) is required
4 ★ Good app. Zoom sound is annoying with no way to turn it off
1 ★ Will not allow my Android phone to connect to my SLT or my AVX mount.
3 ★ I'm going to split this review in two. On one hand, the app is amazing for viewing objects in the sky, reversing and forwarding time, predicting future events, etc. 5 stars for the main interface. Where this app gets 0 stars is controlling the scope. I am beyond frustrated. The app assumes you don't move your telescope each time you use it, so doesn't let you align with new objects every time. As far as I can tell, once you align, you cannot erase and start over, making this a disaster.
3 ★ Update: I am now experiencing issues with connecting, staying connected, even if I forget all other WiFi networks and stop connecting. This app freezes if I switch to another app (i.e. camera, phone) for a few min. Useful by itself, it really helps when paired to a motorized mount (I use the Skyportal WiFi module). It makes setup, alignment and slewing to objects simple and quick. The one addition I would like to see would be a logging capability. As this app will show, there is so much to see!
2 ★ I love the concept of this, and it does make alignment easier. But, it drops the connection whenever the screen locks, requiring you to close and restart the app to reconnect. Because the alignment data is stored in the app instead of the telescope, this data is lost and you need to realign. The app either needs to manipulate the telescope's alignment process, and be able to pick that back up, or write the alignment data to persistent memory and ask to resume.
3 ★ I like how I can use skyportal with my nexstar se. Lately I have been unable to calibrate the scope when I'm connected and its finding the planets I tell the app to go too. In the beginning I would just calibrate and after that, I didnt have to manually find anything but now the calibration doesn't work and throws a plate error. Also, the minute you go out of the app or the screen turns off, its game over and you have to start over. So much potential with this app celestron. Get it together!
4 ★ I'm struggling with the Celestron SkyPortal software. It's hard to press the correct arrow when you are looking in the eyepiece and a bad press leads to an error message that you must clear (and look away from the eyepiece) before you can move on. When i use the telescope's attached handheld to set the location for viewing, the SkyPortal software thinks the telescope is 90 degrees away from where it actually is pointing! So directing the telescope to sky objects is meaningless. I wish there was a way to tell the software "Hey, you! The telescope is pointing at Jupiter, not the ground!". I find that the colored display is too bright for my eyes, but the night (red and black) display is too hard to see. Constantly dropped connections are a big pain, often leading to rebooting the app. Getting 3 stars each aligned can take half an hour or more.
5 ★ I love this app. As a new person in the stargazing enthusiasm, I find this app extremely helpful and user friendly. You easily navigate your way through what you want. I like the info page which gives you a very useful details for each object and a lovely audible explanation. I highly recommend it!
5 ★ Great app. So much information for free. As a total novice I found this easy to use. Very intuitive and clear. I used to have a celestial telescope in my teens and this app got me thinking I might buy another telescope. They are so cheap and have so much tech everyone can afford and use one. The smart phone holders to pin point objects look great.
3 ★ Good potential, but ... 1. Needs a manual. 2. Needs ability to delete alignment points, start from scratch. 3. Needs ability to keep phone awake as long as app is open so that Wi-Fi isn't dropped over and over, forcing realignment. Love the audio tour, rapid zooming, best of current sky.
1 ★ Frustration. I want to love this app and the wifi capability of the not-cheap Nexstar Evo I have, but this app habitually hangs for 10-20 seconds while slewing. I can't get it to connect to my home access point at all, so it's direct only, and it's just a terrible experience. It has actively prevented me from using the telescope more often.
1 ★ Intermittent slewing control. Fails to align. Cant clear previous alignment. Tried connect and align rather than just connect. Doesnt fix the non clearing issue. Always just remembers the previous alignment. I could go on and on. 3 hours of messing about. Taking the astrofi scope back today. Utterly useless.
1 ★ Clearly copied SkySafari and made it worse.... Very little stars on the map, no music settings and deep sky out lines do not show.... Do no waste your time downloading this app.
5 ★ I use this along with my astromaster 130eq Telescope. Works really well. I have attached phone on the top of the Telescope screw using rubber band and navigate using compass option. It takes me to the object I want to view. Awesome..
5 ★ Wonderful free app with a wealth of information. Not sure how well it works when connected with a telescope, but at the very least it will help you find things in the sky.
Previous versions
SkyPortal 3.5.3.3 APK for Windows (#35303, 67.8 MB)
SkyPortal 3.5.3.0 APK for Windows (#35300, 67.8 MB)
SkyPortal 3.5.2.1 APK for Windows (#35201, 32.8 MB)
SkyPortal 3.5.1.2 APK for Windows (#35012, 30.5 MB)
SkyPortal 3.4.4.0 APK for Windows (#3440, 25.3 MB)
SkyPortal 3.4.1.0 APK for Windows (#3410, 37.9 MB)
SkyPortal 3.4.0.0 APK for Windows (#3400, 34.9 MB)
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