Velastar App Lets Users Stargaze From Mars and Europa

The article says Velastar’s name combines “Vela,” the constellation, and “Star.” The developer wrote the app as a personal project that grew from childhood memories of lying in a yard in rural Shandong and learning to spot Altair and Vega. The sky view responds when the phone is lifted, and users can search for stars, constellations, planets, and Messier objects to see names, distances, and mythological backgrounds. A time-scrolling control ranges from 999 BC to AD 3000, allowing users to simulate skies from the past or future.

Velastar includes a three-dimensional solar system with planetary models and selected satellites built from NASA and ESA imagery. Users can land at locations such as Mars’ Gale Crater, Jezero Crater, Olympus Mons, or Valles Marineris; at the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility; or on Europa, where Jupiter hangs large in the sky. Each world has its own horizon, daylight cycle, and local solar time.

For photographers, the app provides a planning timeline that combines sunrise, sunset, golden hour, blue hour, and Milky Way visibility. A “Milky Way planner” evaluates darkness, core height, and moonlight to suggest the best windows. An offline light-pollution map and home-screen widgets for observing windows and twilight are also included. The source notes that the app cannot replace real-time cloud, haze, and terrain assessments during field observations.