Cosmic Watch vs Solar System Scope

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.

Solar System Scope models the Solar System, night sky and outer space, showing object positions alongside related facts. Its 3D encyclopedia covers planets, dwarf planets and major moons with visualizations. The night-sky view can show stars and constellations from a chosen location on Earth and simulate skies from past or future times; the mobile version also lets users point a device toward the sky to find celestial objects. The maker says its calculations use NASA-published orbital parameters, and its planet and moon maps use NASA elevation and imagery data, with colors tuned against spacecraft and Hubble imagery. The Android encyclopedia is available in 19 languages. Solar System Scope runs on Android, iOS, macOS, web and Windows. The online version is free, as are mobile apps with optional in-app purchases. The Windows and Mac desktop app costs $9.80, paid once and includes fullscreen and offline modes. The maker also provides embed code for websites and textures for image viewing or 3D rendering.