Luminos 4+

Simply the best

This is one of the best apps for Astronomy on the App Store. The amount of detail and functionality in this app is to be applauded. It is more expensive than the competition, but it is much more refined with a lot of detail on deep space objects, solar system planets, satellite tracking. It is optimised for iPhone, iPad, and the Apple Watch. I’ve found night mode to be really useful when using outside on my iPhone with my telescope. I love that you just point it up to the sky and then to object of interest and all info you need is there in front of you - tap the screen and you can then move the phone while maintaining the view. You can spend hours exploring space in this app. I don’t mind paying a lot for a good quality app like this. Well done to the development team and keep up the good work.

Good App overall

Update: Thanks to John for the informative response to my comments. To me it’s worth another star (if I could give it) when developers take the trouble to respond. Shows they care about their products and their users. Great App.
——————
Once you find your way around the sometimes confusing navigation you can find a wealth of information. It's a bit like an adventure game sometimes trying to find things.

My only two issues are firstly, when I open the App it always points to the west. I wish it had the option to open up pointing south. Opening using your own preferences would be great.

Secondly, the App is supposed to represent the night sky which it does apart from the Moon which, unless you zoom well in, it always appears as what looks like a large fuzzy star. No surface details show. When I look at the Moon I always see a disk with surface details.

Overall though, very good astronomy app.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the feedback, I especially appreciate the specifics.

I'll add a setting for the startup direction. I chose West because I figured that most people would start using Luminos later in the day, towards sunset, and so West would be the prettiest view, but I can see how the default direction has some utility as well and adding a setting is easy enough.

I appreciate the feedback regarding how I draw the moon - it's an issue I've debated back and forth with myself over the years. When the moon is physically too small in the sky view I replace it with a glowing point to represent how bright it is relative to the stars. As you zoom in the moon grows larger and larger until it reaches a few pixels in diameter, and then I stop drawing the glowing point and instead draw the moon itself. Other apps instead make the moon look larger so that you see the surface details even when it'd be too small in reality. I chose to make Luminos physically accurate from the start, but I may be too pedantic about it at times and inflating the moon when you're zoomed out is one place I may have to compromise, as people really expect to see a large moon.

There's something similar in the orrery view, where I show the planets as they really would appear instead of enlarging them. The apps that enlarge them look better, but I feel it is mis-leading to draw the planets are that big. I went for physical accuracy here too and so you see points of light representing how the planets would really look. When you fly to a planet, or land on it, or zoom in then I draw the real body.

I hope that at least explains why my goofiness is what it is, thanks again for the feedback.

Clear skies,
- John

Undoubtedly the best astronomy app on iOS

I've been using astronomy software for over 40 years, on PCs and mobile devices. Reckon I've tried every iOS app there is. Initially skeptical that this would be worth the high price when there are a couple of very nice cheaper apps but very glad I bought this. It has *everything* and a great UI - gorgeous and fun to explore. It is clearly a work of love by the developer. Updates are frequent and bugs are rare and fixed quickly. Perfect for seasoned amateur astronomers and newbies as well.