SkyPulse — Your Sky, Explained

What's actually real in here

Every number on screen is computed or fetched from a live source — nothing in SkyPulse is hardcoded or simulated.

🌍

Real orbital mechanics

Sun, Moon, and all 7 planets positioned using real Keplerian orbital elements and sidereal-time rise/set/transit calculations — not linear approximations.

✨

8,921 real stars

Imported from the HYG astronomical database (Hipparcos/Yale/Gliese), down to naked-eye visibility — real coordinates, magnitudes, and names.

🔭

Point-your-phone Star Gazer

Real device compass + tilt sensor fusion projects the sky through your phone like a window, with pinch-to-zoom and search-to-locate any object.

🪐

Real constellation art

Illustrated constellation figures affine-warped onto their actual star positions — sourced from Stellarium's community sky-culture project.

🛰️

Real satellite tracking

Live TLE orbital data from CelesTrak, propagated with a validated SGP4 engine — no paid API key required, unlike most competitors.

🌦️

Real stargazing conditions

A live stargazing score computed from real cloud cover, humidity, and wind data for your exact location tonight.

🚀

Real space news & launches

Live upcoming launches and space news pulled from Launch Library 2 and Spaceflight News API, cached and kept current automatically.

📅

Real astronomy calendar

Actual eclipses (NASA catalogue) and meteor showers (computed by solar longitude) — not guessed dates.

Everything included

The full feature list — one app, no in-app purchases, no paywalled sections.

Tonight dashboard
Moon phase, visible planets, tonight's best target, and upcoming events — preloaded before you land on it.
Star Gazer AR view
Point your phone at the sky — real compass + tilt sensor fusion with smart smoothing to stop shake.
Dome & map views
Flat sky-map and dome projections of the same live object data, with pinch-to-zoom.
Search-to-locate
Find any star, planet or constellation with plain-language "look up and to your left" guidance.
Constellation art
Illustrated figures warped onto real star positions, not fixed decorative overlays.
Satellite tracker
Live pass predictions from real TLE data — including the ISS — with no API key required.
Astronomy calendar
Real eclipses and meteor showers, browsable month by month.
Space news & launches
Live upcoming launches with countdowns, and current spaceflight news.
Stargazing conditions
A live score from real cloud cover, humidity and wind for your exact location.
Favourites & observation log
Save objects you care about and keep a personal log of what you've actually seen.
Weight on other planets
A fun, real-physics calculator using each planet's actual surface gravity.
Personalized experience level
Beginner/intermediate/advanced controls how many stars Star Gazer shows — editable anytime from your profile.
Interest-based dashboard
Pick photography or space and get extra real-data cards (shoot conditions, launch countdowns) on Home.
Offline resilience
Cached fallback across the app so a dropped connection doesn't blank the screen.
Admin-managed content
Credits and core settings are editable live from an admin dashboard — no app update needed.

How it compares

A lot of free stargazing apps lean on canned data or paywall the useful parts. Here's where SkyPulse stands.

Feature	SkyPulse	Typical free stargazing app
Satellite tracking	Free, no key needed	Often requires a paid API key
Star catalogue depth	8,921 real stars	Often a few hundred, hardcoded
Constellation art alignment	Real star-anchored warp	Often a fixed decorative overlay
Stargazing conditions	Live weather-based score	Rarely included
Offline resilience	Cached fallback across the app	Varies
Search-to-locate objects	Any star, planet, or constellation	Often objects only