Celesiq

Celesiq shows the live subsolar point: the place on Earth where the Sun is directly overhead. The map also shows the day and night side of Earth, making it useful as a live sunlight map, day night map or world daylight tracker. If you are wondering where daylight is happening right now, where sunset is moving across the planet, or which countries are currently in darkness, the map gives a visual answer without needing to read tables of sunrise and sunset times.

The Moon marker shows where the Moon appears highest above Earth at the selected moment. You can also open the Moon details to see the current Moon phase and a visual phase illustration. This is useful for searches like "where is the Moon now", "Moon position today" and "live Moon map", because the map connects the Moon's sky position to a real location on Earth.

The answer above uses the Moon phase calculation in this app for tonight around local evening time. Moon phase is essentially the same worldwide at a given moment, although moonrise, moonset and the Moon's angle in the sky depend on your location. Open the Moon details for the selected map time, or choose a future or past date to inspect the Moon phase for another night.

Yes. Set your viewing location and use Visibility Check to find dark-sky windows when the ISS is above your local horizon. This helps answer searches like "when can I see the ISS tonight" or "ISS visible from my location". Real sighting conditions also depend on clouds, brightness and whether the station is sunlit. The best visible passes usually happen shortly after sunset or before sunrise, when the sky is dark for you but the station is still catching sunlight high above Earth.

Turn on ISS in Tracked objects to see its approximate position on the live world map. The ISS icon marks the station's current ground track, and Show paths displays its recent and upcoming path. Because the ISS circles Earth roughly every 90 minutes, its marker moves quickly compared with the Moon, planets and most deep-space objects.

Yes. The satellite and spacecraft list includes ISS, Tiangong, Hubble, James Webb, Chandra, XMM-Newton, Landsat, Terra, Aqua, Vanguard 1 and Starlink. Some spacecraft use approximate map positions because their real mission geometry is more complex than a simple low Earth orbit. This makes the app useful as a visual spacecraft tracker and space map, especially when you want to compare human spaceflight, space telescopes and Earth-observing satellites in one place.

Enable James Webb in Tracked objects to see an approximate marker and open its detail window. Because JWST operates near the Sun-Earth L2 region rather than circling Earth like the ISS, its map position is best understood as an educational sky reference instead of a precise ground track. The detail window also includes recent James Webb imagery, so visitors searching for "James Webb images" or "JWST photos" can connect the telescope's mission with the live sky map.

Enable Hubble to view its approximate ground track on the world map. You can also open Hubble's detail window to browse recent space images connected to the telescope. Hubble is in low Earth orbit, so unlike James Webb, it repeatedly passes over different parts of Earth as it circles the planet.

Yes. Enable Starlink to show a representative train of satellites. The map is meant as an educational satellite tracker, so exact Starlink visibility from your street still depends on current orbital data, sunlight, local darkness and sky conditions. A Starlink train is usually easiest to spot shortly after a launch, when the satellites are still relatively close together in the sky.

Yes. Celesiq can show Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The marker shows where each object appears highest in Earth's sky at the selected moment. That means the app is not showing the planets orbiting Earth; it is showing their apparent direction from Earth translated onto a world map.

Set your viewing location and choose Venus in Visibility Check. The app searches for moments when Venus is above your local horizon while the sky is dark or in twilight. Venus is often seen as the bright "evening star" after sunset or "morning star" before sunrise, so local time and horizon direction matter a lot.

Use Visibility Check with your viewing location and select Jupiter, Saturn or Mars. The result shows a dark-sky window when the chosen planet is above the horizon, which is useful for planning casual skywatching. Jupiter and Saturn are often bright enough to see with the naked eye, while Mars changes a lot in brightness depending on where Earth and Mars are in their orbits.

Set your viewing location and run Visibility Check for the planets you care about. Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are often the most useful choices for casual observing, while Uranus, Neptune and Pluto usually need darker skies, binoculars or a telescope. For the best answer, check several planets one by one, because a planet can be above the horizon but still too close to twilight or too low in the sky for comfortable viewing.

Use Alignment / Eclipse Finder with the Sun and Moon selected. Celesiq searches for close Sun-Moon alignment candidates and can show an approximate Moon shadow on Earth when you jump to a solar eclipse candidate. The result is useful for exploring possible eclipse geometry, but official eclipse maps are still the best source for exact path width, totality duration and local viewing times.

Solar eclipse candidates can show an approximate Moon shadow on the map. The soft outer area represents the broader partial-eclipse region, while the darker center appears only for closer alignment candidates. This gives a more realistic visual cue than the normal day/night overlay, because a solar eclipse is not simply "night"; it is the Moon's shadow crossing a small part of Earth.

The Alignment / Eclipse Finder can search Sun-Moon opposition candidates, which are the geometry needed for lunar eclipses. A lunar eclipse is different from a solar eclipse: Earth's shadow falls on the Moon, so the world map is mainly useful for showing where the Moon is above the horizon. If the Moon is below your horizon during a lunar eclipse, the event may be happening globally but not visible from your location.

A conjunction or alignment means two objects appear close together in the sky from Earth's point of view. An eclipse needs a much more precise geometry, so Celesiq treats Sun-Moon results as eclipse candidates rather than official eclipse predictions. For example, the Sun and Moon can be close in the sky near new Moon, but a solar eclipse only happens when the Moon also crosses the right part of Earth's orbital plane.

Yes. Discover Rare Events scans for unusual apparent configurations, including close planetary conjunctions, eclipse candidates and Moon-planet close approaches. This helps explore searches like "next Jupiter Saturn conjunction" or "closest Mars Jupiter alignment". You can scan 100, 200 or 500 years forward or backward from the selected moment. If a viewing location is set, the scan can also include local dark-sky visibility moments. The results are approximate search results intended to help you jump to interesting moments and inspect them visually on the map.

The world map shows subpoints on Earth, not a telescope view of the sky. Two planets can appear close together from an observer's sky perspective while their subpoints are separated on the map. The alignment illustration shows the apparent sky view more directly. This is why a conjunction can be real even when the object labels do not sit on top of each other on the world map.

Planet markers show the subpoint: the location on Earth where that object appears highest in the sky at the selected moment. It is a helpful way to understand the sky from Earth's point of view, but it is different from a solar system diagram. The planets still orbit the Sun; the map shows where they are overhead as seen from Earth.

Yes. Enter a city, country or coordinates to set your viewing location. Local visibility uses that location to estimate whether an object is above your horizon and whether the sky is dark enough. A local viewing location makes searches like "when is Venus visible from Amsterdam" or "ISS pass tonight near me" much more meaningful than a global result.

A country can be enough for a rough reference point, but a city or coordinates are better. Visibility changes with latitude and longitude, especially for the Moon, planets, ISS passes and low objects near the horizon. For large countries, two people in different regions may see very different rise times, pass directions and horizon conditions.

Celesiq includes satellite and spacecraft markers, path lines and details. It is useful for learning and planning, but exact pass predictions should be checked against fresh orbital data when precision matters. Satellite orbits can be adjusted, and low Earth orbit objects move fast, so the app should be treated as a visual guide rather than a mission-control-grade tracker.

Yes. Choose a date and time, apply it, or drag an object across the map to move through time. The other tracked objects update with the selected moment. This makes it easy to explore what the sky looked like in the past, preview future Moon phases, or jump forward to a rare alignment.

The app uses approximate astronomical calculations that are useful for exploration and planning. For official eclipse timings, occultations and safety-critical observations, compare results with a dedicated astronomical ephemeris or an official space agency source. Celesiq is designed to make the geometry understandable first; exact observing plans should always be checked with a specialist source.

Yes. The app is designed as a visual astronomy tool: click objects for details, turn paths on or off, inspect Moon phases, compare alignments and see how day, night and object visibility relate to Earth. It is especially useful if you want an intuitive explanation before diving into more technical astronomy charts, ephemerides or telescope planning tools.