Technologies

Try these stargazing apps to spot constellations and more.

These astronomical maps will help you spot planets, stars and constellations in the night sky.

Stargazing with a friend or partner is a relaxing nighttime activity. But if you’re wanting to relax under dark skies and look at the stars, how will you know where to look? Or what you’re seeing? If you want to check out the celestial bodies and star clusters visible in a clear night sky, you should consider downloading a stargazing app. The best stargazing apps can give you a better map of the sky and more details about what you’re seeing.

My husband and I are far enough out in the country to see stars, but we haven’t completely escaped the city’s light pollution. Every so often before we turn in for the night, we’ll step out onto the back porch if the sky is clear, and look up. We’ve seen a shockingly bright Venus, the ISS streak by and a few shooting stars — thanks in part to help from some astronomy apps. If you want to take a look at some of the best stargazing app options, read on. These apps should help you spot planets, stars and constellations — and some of them have a free version.

Read more: Best Weather Apps of 2023

Google Sky/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

Google Sky

See at Google Sky

Google Sky lets you explore the reaches of space through the «eyes» of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Digitized Sky Survey. You can explore the wealth of information available free on mobile or desktop.

Click through the tray at the bottom of the screen to learn more about the solar system, constellations, galaxies and nebulae, views of the universe in X-ray, ultraviolet and infrared. You can also use sliding bars to see drawings of the sky by Giovanni Maria Cassini.

Plus, find where the planets are in the sky at a given time by typing the name of a planet in the search box.

SkySafari/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

SkySafari

See at SkySafari

The SkySafari astronomy app, which starts at $2 on iOS and free on Android, lets you hold your phone to the sky to identify planets, constellations, stars and satellites. You can also use the app to see what the sky might’ve looked like thousands of years ago, or what it will look like in the future.

Simulate past meteor showers, approaching comets and celestial events, like eclipses. SkySafari also has a constellation illustration overlay feature in case you can’t quite visualize the lion or bear that everyone else claims to see. The app also offers history, mythology and science information to accompany the images.

If you’re not sure where to get started, you can tap Tonight’s Best in the app to check out which object in the sky you could get the best look at.

StarTracker/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

Star Tracker

See at Star Tracker

The Star Tracker app works on iOS (lite) and Android to show you 88 constellations, over 8,000 and deep-sky objects, and the sun, moon and planets, all in real time. The app uses a 3D compass in AR mode that indicates the position of objects you’ve searched for. Think of it as a mobile planetarium.

To enhance constellations, Star Tracker has a graphics feature for the 12 zodiac signs and six famous deep-sky objects.

The app is free, but there’s a full version with more features for $3 and a no ads version for $1. In addition, Star Tracker Pro offers a Time Machine feature and night mode.

Screenshot/CNET

International Space Station

See at ISS Detector

The International Space Station (ISS) app, available free on iOS and Android, doesn’t technically show you stars, but you can check out planets and the ISS itself. The app tracks where the in-space laboratory is currently located above the world at any given time.

Once you plug in your location — the only permission the app asks for — it can tell you how often you can expect to see the ISS in the sky. For example, residents of Louisville, Kentucky will typically be able to see the ISS between about 7:57 p.m. and 9:37 p.m. each night for about 30 seconds to a minute and a half. It’s a fleeting window — the ISS is traveling at about 17,100 miles per hour.

The app also keeps track of how long until the ISS will pass over your location again, and how long it’ll be visible. On average, it looks like the ISS is visible in a given area one to two times per day over the course of a week.

Skyview/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

Skyview

See at Skyview

The Skyview app is $3 on iOS and $2 on Android, but both platforms have a free lite version. To use Skyview, just point your device at the sky and you can get started identifying galaxies, stars, constellations, planets — even the International Space Station. The app has night mode and an AR feature, so you can use it comfortably any time.

The app’s Sky Path’s feature lets you track objects in space to see exact locations at any date and time. In addition, Skyview has a time travel option to observe what the sky looked like in the past and might look like in the future.

NASA/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

NASA

See at NASA

No at-home space adventure is complete without the free official NASA app, which you can download for iOS or Android. Although technically you can’t use the app for stargazing in the same vein as some of the others on this list, you can still get up close and personal with space.

Check out a photo library with thousands of images constantly being updated and watch live NASA TV. In addition, the app has on-demand videos from around the agency and live streaming from the High-Definition Earth Viewing experiment on the ISS.

The app also keeps you in the know about NASA missions, launch information, upcoming sightings, news and tweets from the agency.

Star Walk 2/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

Star Walk 2

See at Star Walk 2

Star Walk 2, $3 for iOS and free for Android with in-app purchases, uses your phone’s sensors and GPS to show you a map of the night sky in real time, pinpointing the location of stars, planets, constellations, comets, the ISS and satellites.

Like SkySafari, you can tap Visible Tonight if you’re not sure where to start. The feature will tell you all upcoming astronomical events and celestial objects visible for your location. The What’s New section will also keep you posted on upcoming events. You can also view the astronomy calendar or tap the clock-face icon to select any date and time and watch the sky of different periods.

Spectacular ISS shots of cities at night (pictures)

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Technologies

Verizon’s Simple Mobile and Total Wireless Plans Expand International Features

If you frequently call or visit countries outside the US, these prepaid phone plan improvements could help your travel budget.

Travel patterns are changing, with more people in the US venturing outside the country and needing to stay connected. To accommodate this surge, Verizon is boosting the international options in its prepaid Simple Mobile and Total Wireless phone brands starting Aug. 28.

Most phone plans include options to call and text people in Canada and Mexico, along with some roaming options for US travelers. Depending on the plan, those options are extended to many other countries around the globe. But you often end up paying for a more expensive plan than you need in order to get the travel benefits.

Now, the Simple Mobile and Total Wireless brands are expanding their international options and increasing data allotments so you can travel using the plan you carry every day without the stress of finding local coverage.

See also: Make sure you have a good phone for traveling.

Simple Mobile changes

The Simple Mobile prepaid plans include an allotment of high-speed data before downshifting to slower unlimited data. Be sure to check the details for specific countries on the site. Here’s how they break down:

The $25 Unlimited plan includes 15GB of high-speed data (up from 3GB) and unlimited calling to more than 100 countries.
The $30 Unlimited plan includes 20GB of high-speed data (up from 5GB) and unlimited calling to more than 125 countries (up from 100 countries).
The $40 Unlimited plan includes 30GB of high-speed data (up from 15GB) and unlimited calling to more than 125 countries (up from 100 countries).
The $50 Unlimited World plan, formerly named the Truly Unlimited plan, includes unlimited high-speed data and unlimited calling to more than 200 countries (a doubling of the number of countries from before).
The $60 Unlimited World Plus plan, formerly the Truly Unlimited Plus plan, includes unlimited access to Verizon’s fastest network, 5G Ultra Wideband (where available) and unlimited high-speed data. It also doubles the number of countries with unlimited calling to over 200, and offers international roaming in more than 140 countries.

Total Wireless Plans

The top two Total Wireless plans, Total 5G Unlimited ($50 a month) and Total 5G Unlimited Plus ($60 a month), feature unlimited high-speed data, including 5G Ultra Wideband speeds.

As of Aug. 28, roaming coverage for those plans doubles to more than 30 countries and international calling to 180 countries.

The Total Base 5G Unlimited plan stays the same with unlimited high-speed data (but not 5G Ultra Wideband), international calling to more than 85 countries and texting to over 200 destinations and roaming in Canada and Mexico.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 20 #535

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 20, No. 535.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a tough one. It helps to know a little something about different currencies, but there was one on there that was completely new to me. If you need hints and answers for today’s Strands puzzle, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Mint condition

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: We’re in the money!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

GULP, GLOB, LORE, DOLL, DOLE, DOLED, ROPE, ROPER, WALL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

EURO, PESO, DOLLAR, POUND, RAND, RUPEE, KWANZA

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is GLOBALCURRENCY. To find it, look for the G that’s four letters to the right on the very top row, and wind down.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Aug. 20

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 20.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword has a few challenging clues (4-Down threw me off), but it’s mostly OK. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.