Cosmic Watch vs NASA Eyes

Cosmic Watch combines a 3D planetarium, sky guide and clock, rendering Earth and the sky in real time. Point a phone or tablet toward the sky to identify constellations, stars and planets through augmented reality. Views cover the observer’s location, Earth and the solar system; the app also includes geocentric and heliocentric solar-system views, a 360-degree celestial sphere, astrology mode, retrograde motion, a world clock and astronomical-event notifications. A free plan includes the sky guide, views, layers, star names, world clock and notifications. Paid tools add options such as Moon Calendar, meteor showers, saved date, time and location, and Time Control. Cosmic Astro offers Western or Vedic natal charts with interactive 3D horoscopes and PDF export to subscribers and Cosmic Pro members. Cosmic Watch is available for Android, iOS and macOS. Optional self-hosted Matomo analytics can be disabled in settings; the maker says it does not store or share location or network information. The maker presents the app as an educational tool for astronomy concepts and Earth cycles.

NASA Eyes is a free suite of interactive 3D applications for exploring NASA data and imagery in a web browser. Eyes on the Solar System lets users move among planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft in a simulated view spanning 1950 to 2050. Eyes on Asteroids follows more than 30,000 asteroids near Earth's orbit and identifies the next five closest approaches. Earth views present data on topics including carbon dioxide, ozone, sea level, weather, precipitation, and soil moisture. Eyes on Exoplanets offers exploration of more than 5,500 confirmed systems, with filters for planet type, detection method, and observatory. DSN Now refreshes Deep Space Network station information every five seconds; Mars Relay Network visualizes communications involving Mars orbiters, landers, and rovers. NASA says the browser apps work on internet-connected devices with a modern browser, including phones, tablets, computers, and Linux systems. NASA also provides guidance for museum and educational use, website embeds, and kiosk setups. Older downloadable editions still run but are no longer supported.