OwlPlot: Astro Photo Planner

Plan the shot before you drive.

OwlPlot tells you when the light will be right, where the sun and moon will be standing, and whether tonight is worth staying up for. Free, with no account and no ads, and the astronomy works with no signal at all.

KNOW WHEN TO GO
• Golden hour and blue hour, morning and evening, to the minute
• Sunrise, sunset, solar noon and every twilight phase
• Moonrise, moonset, phase and illumination
• A 0-100 score for right now, from cloud, rain, visibility and wind
• The coming nights ranked, so you can pick the good one

FOR THE MILKY WAY
• When the galactic core rises, where it will be, and how high it gets
• Astronomical darkness — when the sky is genuinely dark, not just dim
• Moon interference, because a bright moon ends the session
• Bortle sky darkness estimated for every spot you save, from
satellite light-pollution data, so you know what you are working with
• Seeing and transparency worked out from the forecast model

POINT YOUR PHONE AT THE SKY
• AR view places the sun, moon, planets and the Milky Way on the real scene
• Scrub forward or back twelve hours and watch the arcs move
• Draw your lens's field of view on the sky before you unpack the bag
• Plan a panorama: overlap, frame count, sweep

WORK OUT THE SHOT
• Tonight's Recipe — ISO, aperture and shutter for what is actually up
• NPF and 500-rule star trails, ND filters, timelapse intervals
• Hyperfocal, depth of field and focus stacking
• Moon framing: how big the moon really is at your focal length

LINE IT UP
• Alignment planner: the next 30 days of the sun or moon behind a landmark
• Shot plans with a leave-by time, calendar export and a reminder
• Eclipses for two years, ISS passes, meteor shower peaks

ON YOUR WRIST AND HOME SCREEN
• Apple Watch app and complications with the next event
• Widgets in three sizes with a live countdown
• Live Activities on the Lock Screen through golden and blue hour

ON THE COAST
• Swell height, period and direction, with wind read against the beach
• Tide state and water temperature from the nearest reporting buoy
• Ten-day outlook, day and hour picking

BUILT FOR THE DARK
• Night vision turns the whole screen red so a glance at your phone does not cost you the half hour your eyes spent adapting
• Dark throughout, with extra dimming below the system minimum

HONEST BY DEFAULT
• Free. No account, no ads, no subscription
• Sun, moon and Milky Way maths runs on your device and works offline
• When the weather service is unavailable, OwlPlot says so rather than showing you yesterday's numbers as if they were today's

Weather by Open-Meteo. Light pollution from VIIRS / Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines. Sky darkness is an estimate and you can override it on any location.