The Sky Chart view is the primary screen of SkySafari. It consists of the Time, Compass/AR, and Status bar at the top, the main Sky Chart in the middle, and a Toolbar along the bottom.

The first time your run SkySafari, the program will ask if you want to retrieve your current location using the GPS or network location capabilities built into your iOS or Android device. You can always change these settings later, using the main Settings view.

Status Bar

The coordinates of the chart's center, and the width and height of the field of view, are displayed in the Status Bar at the top of the chart. You can turn this feature on or off using the "Show Coordinates & FOV" option in the Settings > Appearance & Behavior screen.

Popup Control Panels: In SkySafari Plus and Pro, tap the coordinates or field of view in the Status Bar at the top of the sky chart to display a popup control panel which quickly lets you change these items.

Tap the coordinates at the left corner of the Status Bar to quickly look north/south/east/west, to adjust the star or deep sky magnitude limits, or to change coordinate systems. Tap the field of view at the right corner of the Status Bar to quickly change the field of view from 1 to 180 degrees, show field-of-view indicator rings, and flip the chart horizontally or vertically to match the view seen through your telescope's eyepiece.

After you tap on an object, the Status Bar also shows an object's common name, catalog number, magnitude, type, and constellation for a few seconds. You can get this information back by tapping the status bar again. You can still get more detailed information on the object by tapping the "Info" button to the right of the selected object's name.

Time and Compass/AR

Tap the time button on the upper left top of the screen to display a set of controls to adjust time. Tap compass button on the upper right top of the screen to enable compass mode and augmented reality (AR).

Toolbar

The Toolbar contains buttons to bring up commonly-used functions and other secondary views used by SkySafari. These include Search, Tonight, Observe, Scope, and Search.

Tip:Users of SkySafari can also customize and change the icon order using the Appearance panel in the Settings. The toolbar for tablet users will contain additional buttons.

Sky Chart

The sky chart shows an accurate depiction of the sky. The information displayed is highly configurable, and may be changed in the SkySafari Settings views. The sky chart shows the location of the stars, planets, and deep sky objects (star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies) as seen from your date, time, and location.

Tap an object on the sky chart to select it. If there are multiple objects next to each other and the first tap selects the wrong object, tap again and SkySafari will select an alternate object nearby. Once you have selected an object, tap the "Info" button next to its name to bring up the Object Info view. The Object Info view shows numerical data for the object, as well as English-language descriptions and images for many of the brighter objects in the sky. Tap and Hold (long-press) the selected object to open a popup menu with additional options and quick actions such as Center and Orbit.

The horizon is shown with a customizable image that you change in the Settings > Horizon & Sky view. The cardinal directions (east, northeast, north, etc.) marked. Note: if the sky chart is using Equatorial coordinates (see Settings > Coordinates) the horizon will not be shown.

Swiping and Zooming

Touch the chart and drag to change the direction you are looking in the sky. You can pinch with two fingers to change the field of view shown in the chart. You can zoom the field of view from 180 degrees, showing you the whole sky at once, down to 0.1 arcminutes - about the average size of Mars as seen from Earth.

You can also zoom in or out by touching and holding your finger down on the + and - sign in the lower right corner of the sky chart. Enable this feature by selecting the "Show Zoom Buttons" option in the Settings > Appearance & Behavior screen. This is much easier than pinching and zooming, especially when you're trying to zoom in or out by a factor of 100x or more!

Location & Time

You can display the current date, time and location used by the application to depict the night sky. You can turn this feature on or off using the "Display Location & Date" option in the Settings > Appearance & Behavior screen.