OwlPlot: Astro Photo Planner

Glucoplate

About this app

Plan the shot before you drive.

OwlPlot is a photography planner for golden hour, blue hour and the Milky Way. See sunrise and sunset times, sun position, moon phase, aurora forecast and light pollution for anywhere you shoot — then plan the shot with AR, exposure calculators and a shot planner. Free, no account, and the astronomy works offline.

KNOW WHEN TO GO
• Golden hour and blue hour, morning and evening, to the minute
• Sunrise, sunset, solar noon and every twilight phase
• Moonrise, moonset, phase and illumination
• A 0-100 score for right now, from cloud, rain, visibility and wind
• The coming nights ranked, so you can pick the good one

FOR THE MILKY WAY
• When the galactic core rises, where it will be, and how high it gets
• Astronomical darkness — when the sky is genuinely dark, not just dim
• Moon interference, because a bright moon ends the session
• Bortle sky darkness estimated for every spot you save, from
satellite light-pollution data, so you know what you are working with
• Seeing and transparency worked out from the forecast model

POINT YOUR PHONE AT THE SKY
• AR view places the sun, moon, planets and the Milky Way on the real scene
• Scrub forward or back twelve hours and watch the arcs move
• Draw your lens's field of view on the sky before you unpack the bag
• Plan a panorama: overlap, frame count, sweep

WORK OUT THE SHOT
• Tonight's Recipe — ISO, aperture and shutter for what is actually up
• NPF and 500-rule star trails, ND filters, timelapse intervals
• Hyperfocal, depth of field and focus stacking
• Moon framing: how big the moon really is at your focal length

LINE IT UP
• Alignment planner: the next 30 days of the sun or moon behind a landmark
• Shot plans with a leave-by time, calendar export and a reminder
• Eclipses for two years, ISS passes, meteor shower peaks

ON YOUR HOME SCREEN
• Widgets in three sizes with a live countdown
• An ongoing notification counting down golden and blue hour

ON THE COAST
• Swell height, period and direction, with wind read against the beach
• Tide state and water temperature from the nearest reporting buoy
• Ten-day outlook, day and hour picking

BUILT FOR THE DARK
• Night vision turns the whole screen red so a glance at your phone does
not cost you the half hour your eyes spent adapting
• Dark throughout, with extra dimming below the system minimum

HONEST BY DEFAULT
• Free. No account, no ads, no subscription
• Sun, moon and Milky Way maths runs on your device and works offline
• When the weather service is unavailable, OwlPlot says so rather than
showing you yesterday's numbers as if they were today's

Weather by Open-Meteo. Light pollution from VIIRS / Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines. Sky darkness is an estimate and you can override it on any location.