Comparison

Space Orbit vs Astrarium

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Space Orbit

Features
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・自由に宇宙船を発射してその軌道を眺める、ただそれだけのアプリです。 ・画面のどこかをスワイプすると宇宙船が発射されます。 ・発射された宇宙船は地球と月の重力に従い運動を続けます。 ・好きな場所から宇宙船を発射し、その軌道を眺めて楽しんでください。 ・詳細は以下サイトをご覧ください。 https://zenn.dev/ta168/articles/space-orbit_app - This app is just for enjoying watching orbits. - Swipe anywhere on the screen to launch a spacecraft. - Once launched, the spacecraft will continue to move under the gravity of Earth and the Moon. - Launch spacecraft from anywhere and enjoy watching their orbits. - Check out the homepage below for details. https://zenn.dev/ta168/articles/space-orbit_app

About

Astrarium

Explore the cosmos with an offline planetarium and sky atlas. View stars, nebulae, constellations, planets, and more with detailed information and adjustable time settings. Includes augmented reality features and export options.

Highlights
  • Offline sky charting
  • Detailed star and object catalogs
  • Adjustable time and location settings
  • Augmented reality view
  • Meteor shower calendar
  • Satellite tracking
  • PNG/PDF export
Features
Read full description

Choose a place and a time, and Astrarium draws that sky. Every position is computed on the device, so the whole app works where there is no signal. IN 11 LANGUAGES Japanese, English, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Czech and Polish — the interface, and the names of constellations, stars, places and countries with it. The sites in the countries where your language is spoken come first in the list. CATALOGUES (all bundled) • 9,096 stars — Yale Bright Star Catalogue, to about magnitude 8: everything the naked eye can see • 155 nebulae, clusters and galaxies — the Messier and Caldwell objects, with photographs and descriptions • The 88 IAU constellations: 752 line segments from the official IAU figures, and the classical constellation art • The Milky Way, from NASA's Deep Star Maps 2020 — the accumulated light of 1.7 billion stars • Planets and the Moon from JPL DE421, with surface maps, libration, lunar age and the traditional full-moon names • 16 major meteor showers, the MPC observatory codes, observing sites worldwide WHAT IT DOES • Whole-sky and horizon views, pinch zoom down to a one-arcminute field • Jump to any date, run the clock at up to 6000x, step by the synodic month • Planet close-ups: apparent diameter, phase, geocentric and heliocentric distance, orbital elements, and the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars — tap one for its own figures • Meteor shower calendar: maximum in local time and UT, radiant altitude, moon conditions, and an expected hourly rate from the ZHR and the radiant altitude • Comets and asteroids from the MPC and JPL, plotted on the chart • Satellites: the space stations (ISS and Tiangong) on the chart, with visible-pass predictions. The orbital elements (TLEs) come from CelesTrak; they go stale in a few days, so refresh them with “Download / update TLEs” (everything is computed offline once fetched, and the same group is re-fetched at most once every two hours) • Four coordinate grids, the ecliptic, celestial equator, galactic plane and meridian, and field-of-view frames for smart telescopes and camera lenses • Switch each layer on its own: constellation lines and names, stars, star names, the Sun and planets, deep-sky objects, the Milky Way and the constellation figures — turn the stars off and the figures stand alone • Limiting magnitude that follows twilight and moonlight, a red night-vision mode, PNG/PDF export, a captioned demo, and screen recording LOCATION Your position is used only to compute the sky where you are, and never leaves the device. If you decline, pick a site from the list or type in the coordinates: nothing is lost. No ads, no in-app purchases, no account. AR — the chart drawn over the camera image — is included as well. Every source and licence is listed in the app under Credits. APPLE WATCH Install it on iPhone and it goes to the watch with it. Tonight at a glance — when it gets dark and light again, the Moon's age and rise and set, which planets are up and where, the next satellite pass, any shower running — and a star chart holding the whole sky in one disc, which the Digital Crown moves up to twelve hours either way. The bottom line says how old the figures are, and says so plainly while the iPhone is out of range.

Screenshots

Space Orbit1 screens
Astrarium4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Space Orbit at daily against Astrarium's every 9 days. Space Orbit also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Space Orbit ships an update daily, Astrarium every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 12, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 6 level
Space Orbit versus Astrarium: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpace OrbitAstrarium
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews—50.0% of reviews
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB71 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTOSHIYA ARAIShinsuke Abe

In-app purchases

None

Space Orbit

No in-app purchases

None

Astrarium

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Space Orbit free?
Space Orbit is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Astrarium free?
Astrarium is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Space Orbit or Astrarium have ads?
Neither Space Orbit nor Astrarium shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Space Orbit or Astrarium?
Space Orbit ships an update daily, and Astrarium every 9 days. Most recently, Space Orbit was updated on September 12, 2026 and Astrarium on September 21, 2026.

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