# Smart Telescope Planner — Find your targets fast.

> Find your targets fast. (iPhone/iPad app by Richard Derry.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smart-telescope-planner/id6768153445 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Richard Derry](https://appshunter.io/developer/1895668428)
- Category: Utilities, Photo & Video
- Price: $9.99
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 59 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Italian, European Portuguese, European Spanish
- Released: 2026-06-04
- Data updated: 2026-09-01
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smart-telescope-planner/id6768153445/reviews.md

## What is Smart Telescope Planner?

BigSky Planner helps smart telescope users prepare an observing session before they head outside.

Save observing locations, select a smart telescope setup, filter a bundled target database, and build a timed plan for the night. Target cards show planning details including magnitude, object type, first view time, duration in view, azimuth, and altitude.

Plan for tonight or a future date. Define one or more Clear Sky viewing openings and filter targets by catalog, object type, magnitude, time, azimuth, and altitude. Checked targets remain available while changing object types, making it easier to build a plan containing nebulae, clusters, galaxies, and other objects.

The planner organizes observation windows, helps avoid overlapping target times, and supports saving, reopening, printing, and sharing plans. Quick Ref provides a compact field list with each target's name, first view time, azimuth, and altitude.

Key features:

- Save and reuse observing locations
- Select a smart telescope setup
- Plan for tonight or a future observing date
- Filter by catalog, object type, magnitude, time, azimuth, and altitude
- Define multiple Clear Sky viewing openings
- Build mixed object-type plans without losing checked targets
- View target duration and telescope-specific capture guidance
- Schedule observation windows and handle after-midnight sessions
- Save, reopen, print, and share plans
- Use a compact Quick Ref report at the telescope
- Review illustrated in-app Help
- Use adaptive iPhone and iPad layouts with light and dark modes

BigSky Planner is a planning companion. It does not control a telescope or replace a telescope manufacturer's app.


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 20 — 2026-08-12

Bug fixes and planning reliability improvements:

- Keeps checked-target Build Plan cascades inside the telescope window.
- Moves the first target start to its first valid Clear Sky time when needed.
- Shows a clear note when a target start time is adjusted for Clear Sky constraints.
- Improves planner and target-list synchronization after cascade conflicts.

### 19 — 2026-08-02

Updated observing planning tools, improved session workflow, and general stability improvements.

### 18 — 2026-07-20

Version 18 build 1 is a major smart-telescope planning update with requested timing and workflow fixes:

- Corrects checked-target planner timing so the first target starts at initialization, each next target starts at its first visible time, and the previous target ends there.
- Handles after-midnight cascades correctly for observing windows such as 22:34 to 04:47.
- Keeps the final target only through the earlier of its visible card end or the capture-window end, leaving unused time open for another target.
- Tightens target availability checks so a target is rejected if any minute of the proposed segment falls outside the viewing window.
- Keeps checked targets visible while switching object types, making mixed nebula, cluster, galaxy, and other plans easier to build.
- Adds planner Fill Gaps suggestions for open windows between scheduled targets.
- Adds Quick Ref PDF or text export for fast field use at the telescope.
- Pads low-altitude ALT report values to two digits in plan, PDF, print, share, and Quick Ref output.
- Adds telescope-specific Home timing, including shared Vaonis smart telescope timing based on the calibrated Vespera II Singularity field window.
- Adds optional Weather Underground PWS current observations while Open-Meteo continues to fill unsupported cloud and forecast rows.
- Resolves GPS-captured observing locations into address fields when iOS returns a placemark.
- Warns before target database downloads begin because the dataset may be large.
- Improves Clear Sky filtering across multiple azimuth/altitude zones.
- Removes Hestia from smart telescope setup because it is a phone accessory, not a true smart telescope.
- Updates About, Help, manuals, website materials, release screenshots, and the iOS logic-flow diagram.

Also give the macOS version a look: https://bigskyastro.com/macos/user-manual.html

### 17 — 2026-07-14

Version 17 build 2 improves planning, filtering, and field use:

- Plan an observing night for a future date.
- Filter targets by catalog, object type, magnitude, time, azimuth, altitude, and multiple Clear Sky openings.
- Keep checked targets visible while switching object types to build mixed plans.
- Use Quick Ref for target name, first view time, azimuth, and altitude.
- Apply the less restrictive altitude where Clear Sky zones share a bearing.
- Merge duplicate Messier, NGC, IC, Caldwell, and common-name aliases.
- Restore older saved plans through improved target matching.
- Restore the Telescope to Targets workflow and improve plan startup behavior.
- Sort First View earliest first and Magnitude brightest first.
- Use refreshed About, Help, manuals, and screenshots.

### 16 — 2026-07-07

Version 16 improves target planning, filtering, field reporting, and release documentation:

- Plan a future observing night from setup instead of only using the current date.
- Filter targets by catalog, object type, magnitude, time, azimuth, altitude, and multiple Clear Sky openings.
- Keeps checked targets visible when switching object types, making mixed nebula, cluster, galaxy, and other plans easier to build.
- Adds a Quick Ref report with target name, first view time, azimuth, and altitude for fast use at the telescope.
- Improves Clear Sky filtering across multiple azimuth/altitude zones, including shared bearings where the less restrictive altitude applies.
- Merges duplicate catalog aliases into one target and restores saved plans that used older Messier, NGC, IC, Caldwell, or common-name entries.
- Restores the Telescope to Targets continue flow and improves last-plan restore versus clean-plan startup.
- Tightens sorting so First View is earliest first and Magnitude is brightest first.
- Updates the in-app About text, bundled Help, website manual, App Store screenshot set, and iOS logic flow documentation.

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-01.*