Where Exactly Will the Milky Way Be? There’s an App for That

© Adobe Stock/mahod84

My buddy Erik Kuna turned me on to the PhotoPills app and it’s absolutely brilliant (and pretty indispensable for finding where the Milky Way will appear in the sky). But, it doesn’t just add an arrow that says, “It’ll be over here.” You can point your phone’s camera at the scene where you want to shoot and it uses augmented reality to superimpose an image of the Milky Way onto your camera screen right where it will appear in the sky at that location. It’s really something to see, and incredibly helpful in planning where to set up when you’re scouting your location while it’s still daylight. The app is available for Apple iPhones (iOS) and Android phones. It’s $9.99, but worth its weight in gold for the night sky photographer.