How can I tell what the star, or planet, is in the nighttime sky?
I am looking for a website that tells me what it is in the nighttime sky? Depending on how many clouds, and time of night, I either see a couple, or quite a few "stars". I put "stars" in quotes because I realize that it might not be a star. If there is a website that allows you to put in your address, and then it tells you; if there is such an option, I would love it. I have just grown more interested in the nighttime sky and want to know more about what is out there. Thank you for your help.
Anonymous2013-11-11T16:22:48Z
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There are a number of tools available. Stellarium is free software that will show you want is in the sky. And astronomy.com has a "Your Sky Tonight" feature that will tell you as well.
Not by address but by city (the stars you see at your address are the same stars that are seen a few miles away).
I have an app on my phone that uses GPS to find you. Sky View. I got it free. You just point your phone around at the sky and the view changes to show you what you're looking at. Then you can click on a star or whatever and it will bring up the information on it.
There's apps like Google Sky and Skymap that you can install on your android phone. I deinstalled Google Sky cause it couldn't seem to track which direction I was pointing in very well. Skymap is a huge install so I'm hesitant about installing it on my little phone. Get a phone like a Nexus rather than a Samsung, moving apps to the sdcard on Samsungs requires that you root it.