Telescope Reviews: Scope Nights: New Stargazing Weather Forecast App

Hi,

I'm an amateur astronomer & software developer and have just written my first app called "Scope Nights". It's a dedicated 5-night stargazing weather forecast for U.S.A and U.K. that runs on iPhone, iPod touch & iPad via Wi-Fi, 4G, 3G or 2G networks.

Here's the app website:
http://www.eggmoonstudio.com/scopenights

And here's the App Store download:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scope-nights/id540120977?ls=1&mt=8

There's a few promo codes available for those who are willing to test it and provide constructive feedback and an app store review.

It's a fairly basic app at the moment, but I'm looking to add more features, hence the need for feedback from fellow astronomers.

Hope you find the app useful.

Best Regards,
Martin

Scope Nights:

Find a Night & Use it Right... Use your telescope or binoculars wisely and find the clearest nights first. A really handy weather app for planning observing sessions or star parties up to five nights ahead!

Scope Nights provides a quick and easy night time weather forecast for telescope and binocular owners. Accurate weather data is gathered direct from national weather sources and weather conditions essential to stargazing such as cloud, wind and rain are analysed and rated to show which nights will have the best stargazing conditions.

Scope Nights currently provides weather for the United States and the United Kingdom using public domain data services. United Kingdom data contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government License. Scope Nights currently provides stargazing weather forecasts, not astronomical seeing conditions caused by atmospheric turbulence or light pollution.

Scope Nights is an indispensable tool for astronomers and a welcome relief from sieving through conventional weather apps for clear skies. It's designed to be quick and easy to use whether at home or at an observing site, and more features will be added in future updates, so it's going to get even better.

Features:

Stargazing Weather Rating
- Shows which nights are best suited to stargazing using a simple red, amber, green activity rating system

Accurate Weather Forecasts
- Weather forecasts direct from national weather services updated every hour

Smart Weather Analysis
- Automatically gets weather forecast for your current location
- Filters weather data for forecasts during hours of darkness
- Analyses weather type, cloud cover and wind strength and creates stargazing conditions rating

Location Search
- Find stargazing weather forecasts for any other national location

Detailed Weather Conditions
- Nightly summary and detail views
- Sunrise and sunset times
- Overnight humidity
- Overnight minimum temperature in celsius or fahrenheit
- Overnight wind speed and direction in mph or knots

Simple Design
- Summary screen shows in one glance which nights are best for stargazing
- Stargazing weather ratings makes it simple to see the best nights
- Realistic animated weather graphics

Requirements
- Requires a device with iOS 5.0 or later
- Downloading weather data requires Internet access over a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection