Google Sky Map is a mobile planetarium/astronomy application for Android that allows you to discover and browse the night sky just by pointing your G-Phone to space. You can explore planets, stars, constellations and learn the name and location of space objects.

By using Android phone’s orientation sensors, it can show you a star map for your current location based on GPS. And using the compass and accelerometer sensors, the application can determine the exact direction that your phone is facing and display the stars that are visible. If you want to identify that bright star in the west, all you have to do is point the device in that direction and you’ll see “Venus” appear on your screen.

There is also a search feature that lets you enter the name of a celestial object, like Saturn, and the phone displays an arrow pointing to the object. As you get closer, the color of the arrow goes from blue to red and the application circles the object when you find it.

Key features of Google Sky Map for Android include:

Search: Find planets, stars, and constellations guided by your phone.

Motion detection: Sky Map uses your phone’s GPS, accelerometer, and compass to create a window in the sky that moves with your hand.

Celestial objects: Browse a map showing the brightest naked-eye stars, planets, sun and moon, constellation lines, horizon, cardinal points, and Messier Objects.

Navigation: Use automatic mode to let Sky Map adjust the map for you or switch to a manual mode that allows the map to be dragged with a finger