Astronomy Observation Planner
Smart telescope night plans
Only for Mac
Free · In‑App Purchases
Mac
Now free to download with a 20-day free trial. Plan smart telescope nights with saved sites, equipment profiles, sky filters, planets and the Moon, and timed plans.
Astronomy Observation Planner helps you prepare a night with your smart telescope before you step outside.
Save your observing sites, choose your smart telescope and accessories, and filter a bundled target catalog by visibility and magnitude. The planner shows the targets that are up inside your sky limits and Clear Sky areas, then builds a timed plan in which each target starts when the one before it ends. Save or export the plan for the field, and keep observing logs.
What's in the planner
- Saved observing sites, with a default site, address search and your Mac's location
- Smart telescope and accessory profiles
- A bundled offline catalog with exact catalog-number lookup. An object listed under several catalog numbers appears as one target card with its common name.
- Filters for visibility, magnitude, target type, altitude and azimuth, plus Clear Sky areas
- Chained night plans: a new target is placed in order, and Fill Gaps suggests targets for open time
- Planets and the Moon, calculated on your Mac
- An alert when a seated capture is shorter than 30 minutes, with a longer seat or a replacement to choose from
- Saved plans, export and observing logs
- Back Up and Restore: one zip file with your plans, target lists, equipment, locations and logs, which also restores in the iPhone, iPad and Windows versions of the planner
- An illustrated manual and Credits in Help
Free download with a 20-day free trial
Astronomy Observation Planner is free to download. A 20-day free trial starts after the first-start agreements. After the trial, Full Access is a one-time in-app purchase: no subscription and no automatic charge. Your saved data and Help stay available. If you bought the app before it became free, you keep Full Access with no additional purchase. Purchase questions: support@bigskyastro.com.
Your data stays on your Mac
Sites, equipment, plans and logs are stored on your Mac. Internet access is optional and is used for public lookups such as address search, elevation, catalog refreshes and target images. Location is used only to set up your observing site, and you can type a location instead.
Runs on macOS 15 Sequoia and later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Version 20.5
Now runs on macOS 15 Sequoia and later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
Now free to download: start with a free 20-day trial, then unlock Full Access with a one-time in-app purchase. If you bought the app before it became free, you keep Full Access with no additional purchase; Manage Access checks this automatically and Restore Purchases checks again. Bought the app before it became free and having trouble with access? Contact support@bigskyastro.com.
One card per object: an object listed under several catalog numbers now appears as one target card with its common name.
More from your Clear Sky time: after a plan is built, unused time inside a Clear Sky span goes back to the targets seated on either side of it.
Short captures: a seated capture under 30 minutes shows "A Capture Needs a Change", with a longer seat or a replacement that you can accept or decline.
Accurate planets and the Moon: positions are calculated on your Mac, and the planets agree with NASA/JPL Horizons to within about 2 arcminutes. The Moon is calculated from Earth's center, so from your site it can appear up to about 1 degree from its listed position.
Back up and restore between devices: Settings > Back Up and Restore saves your plans, target lists, equipment, locations and observing logs in one zip file. A backup from the Windows, iPhone or iPad planner restores on your Mac, and a Mac backup restores on those. After a restore, the planner lists anything it couldn't use, and your previous data is kept in a BeforeRestore copy.
Credits: Settings and Help & Recovery now include Credits, listing the people, catalogs, data sources and services the planner relies on.
Fixed website links: the privacy policy and feedback links now open the correct BigSkyAstro pages.
New users now start with deep-sky targets selected.
An illustrated user manual with a new Troubleshooting section.
The developer, Richard Derry, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Richard Derry
- Size
- 37.1 MB
- Category
- Utilities
- Compatibility
Requires macOS 15.0 or later.
- Mac
Requires macOS 15.0 or later.
- Mac
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
9+
- 9+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- 20-Day Trial $0.00
- Advanced Features $12.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 BigSkyAstro

