Solar Eclipse Live vs My Cosmic Compass
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Solar Eclipse Live
Explore all solar eclipses until the year 2200 for any location on Earth. Preview eclipses from your current or a selected location with highly accurate NASA ephemeris data. A countdown widget keeps you informed about the next celestial event.
- Explore solar eclipses until 2200
- Location-based eclipse previews
- Accurate NASA ephemeris data
- Countdown to next solar eclipse
- Home screen widget
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This app lets you explore all solar eclipse until the year 2200 for any location on Earth. You can preview each eclipse from your current location (or select a location manually). The app uses the most accurate research-grade NASA ephemeris data (DE440) to calculate the most accurate eclipse timings possible. The predictions have an error of less than one second. A new home screen widget shows you a countdown to the next solar eclipse based on your current location.
My Cosmic Compass
Discover celestial alignments with this tool that uses your iPhone's GPS, compass, and camera. It calculates which stars and planets rise or set along any line of sight, both today and historically. Explore ancient monument alignments or your own backyard's connection to the cosmos.
- Capture alignments with GPS, compass, and camera
- Calculate positions for 21 navigational stars
- Calculate positions for planets and the Moon
- Historical calculations from 3000 BC
- Detect lunar standstill alignments
- Sub-arcminute accuracy calculations
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The iPhone tool for discovering which stars and planets rise and set along any alignment, today and thousands of years ago. Reveal celestial connections hidden in ancient monuments, sacred sites... or your own backyard. WHAT IS COSMIC COMPASS? Point your iPhone along any structure: a temple axis, stone circle, pyramid edge, or garden wall. Cosmic Compass records the precise bearing using GPS, compass, and camera. Then it calculates which stars and planets rise or set along that line, and when they did so throughout history. Our ancestors aligned their monuments to the stars to mark sacred times, using the sky as an eternal calendar that would never fail them. Discover if that Neolithic monument aligns with Sirius. Find which star rose along a Maya temple axis in 900 AD. Reveal whether ancient builders oriented structures to capture Venus at dawn. Or discover which stars rise along your own street. A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME Calculate stellar and planetary positions from 3000 BC to present, all the way op to the year 3000 AD. Studying a Maya pyramid built in 800 AD? Set the observation year and see exactly where Sirius, Venus, or the Pleiades rose when the temple was new. Capture a line of sight from your house, set the date to the future and save any upcoming alignment to your calendar. You won't miss a thing. This matters because stars shift position over millennia. Precession slowly wobbles Earth's axis, causing star positions to drift about 1° every 72 years. Sirius rose at a different azimuth in 2500 BC than today. Cosmic Compass uses the IAU 2006 precession model for accuracy across 5,000 years. Planets shift too, but differently. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and the Moon wander against the fixed stars. The app calculates planetary positions using VSOP87 theory, the same algorithms used by professional observatories. THE MOON'S SECRET CYCLE Every 18.6 years, the Moon reaches extreme rising and setting positions, the lunar standstills. Ancient cultures from Scotland to New Mexico built monuments aligned to these rare events. Cosmic Compass detects lunar standstill alignments, revealing connections that occur only twice per generation. HOW IT WORKS Point your iPhone at any alignment. Tap to capture. The app stores your bearing with GPS coordinates and a photo. Results appear instantly: stars and planets that rise or set along your line, ranked by precision. "Celestial Convergence" reveals when both a star and planet share the same alignment. Calculations deliver sub-arcminute accuracy, more precise than your iPhone's sensors. We recommend calibrating your compass and capturing away from metal interference. FEATURES - Capture alignments using compass, GPS, and camera - Star calculations for 21 navigational stars including Sirius, Vega, Aldebaran, and the Pleiades - Planet calculations for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon - Historical calculations from 3000 BC with precession-corrected positions - Lunar standstill detection for the 18.6-year cycle - Celestial Convergence alerts when star and planet alignments coincide - Unlimited cloud-synced storage, included in price - Reference sites: Stonehenge, Uxmal (Maya site), Teotihuacan, Angkor Wat, Callanish etc. - Works online and offline during your field trip WHO IS THIS FOR? Anyone who looks at an ancient site and wonders: "What were they watching?" Heritage enthusiasts exploring temples and stone circles worldwide. Travelers wanting to understand the astronomy behind places they visit. Students and educators teaching archaeoastronomy. Researchers documenting alignments for fieldwork. Astrophotographers planning star-rise shoots. Anyone curious about the night sky above their own home. YOUR DATA, YOUR RESEARCH Your alignments are stored securely and anonymously in your personal cloud account, never shared. You own your research. START EXPLORING The ancients built with the stars in mind. Let Cosmic Compass reveal what they knew.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Solar Eclipse Live at Free against My Cosmic Compass's $6.99. Solar Eclipse Live also leads on ratings volume (20 vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.1). My Cosmic Compass's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On rating, review sentiment, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Solar Eclipse Live is free to download; My Cosmic Compass costs $6.99 up front. Solar Eclipse Live sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. My Cosmic Compass asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Solar Eclipse Live against 5.0 for My Cosmic Compass. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Solar Eclipse Live has 20 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
| Parameter | Solar Eclipse Live | My Cosmic Compass |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $6.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (20 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 20 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Daily | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 26.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hanno Rein | Adventuring B.V. |
Customer experience
Solar Eclipse Live
My Cosmic Compass
In-app purchases
Solar Eclipse Live
- Developer Appreciation Coffee$1.99
My Cosmic Compass
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Solar Eclipse Live free?
Is My Cosmic Compass free?
Which has better reviews, Solar Eclipse Live or My Cosmic Compass?
Do Solar Eclipse Live or My Cosmic Compass have ads?
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