Yes, please use the feedback form to get in touch. I don’t respond to all feedback, but I do read it.

I like Android and use it on my daily phone. Technically I've targeted the build to work on Android 5.1 and higher, which means it can run on tens of thousands of different devices. Unfortunately it is not possible for me to test all of these configurations so I've placed a few blocks on certain devices to ensure a better user experience.

• The device must be on Android 5.1 or higher.
• The device must have at least 1GB of RAM.
• The device must be running a Google approved version of Android which passes attestation tests. Devices that have had the base Android OS modified (rooted, custom ROM, etc) will likely not pass. If you have a device meeting the above requirements but Google Play reports the app isn't compatible with your device then it's likely an attestation test failure.
  Note: I do not get data on why your device has failed an attestation test so I can not help in figuring out why the app isn't compatible. The example here is just one of many tests the Google Play store runs to verify device compatibility.

Without these basic tests in place, I found I was spending well over 90% of my development time fielding Android issues. This cuts into my development time for other aspects of the service (iOS, browser, backend services, etc).

The bulk of the data shown on Astrospheric comes from the Canadian Meteorological Center (CMC). Other data sources include the GFS model as well as the experimental RAP model which provide values such as Smoke and Aerosol optical depth. The Seeing model is pulled from Allan Rahill's model (which is based off of the CMCs model). I'm constantly investigating other weather models for interesting variables to help improve the overall forecast on Astrospheric.

I get this question often. Users tend to think that because the primary data source is the same between Clear Sky Charts and Astrospheric that they give the same results, which isn't accurate. Here are a few big differences.

• Astrospheric process raw model data from the CMC 4 times a day. This is why Astrospheric updates 4 times a day instead of twice like Clear Sky Chart. Processing the raw data also allows Astrospheric to produce high quality map overlays to visualize the data.
• Astrospheric dynamically generates a forecast for your exact location instead of working off a predefined set of locations. Even with thousands of locations available on Clear Sky Chart, that only represents a tiny fraction of the CMCs forecast data. By generating the forecast dynamically, Astrospheric can take advantage of the high resolution CMC data and get you the best results.
• Astrospheric is upgrading its astronomy variables to better reflect current conditions. For example, Astrospheric’s Transparency forecast integrates the latest smoke and aerosol data to produce a more realistic forecast of sky transparency. Astrospheric's cloud forecast looks at trends in cloud movement in the area to produce a more accurate forecast.

There are many other functional differences between the services. Clear Sky Chart is obviously still a valuable resource and some users may prefer it given Astrospheric's higher system and bandwidth requirements.

While there are forecast models that do update very frequently (NOAA's HRRR model for example), they generally lack the data necessary to produce high quality astronomy variables. Models are constantly improving though and I'm always investigating new models to include. Until then, Astrospheric will update 4 times a day, which matches the frequency of CMC's RDPS, NOAAs GFS, and many other models.

Not at this time. Processing worldwide data to build accurate astronomy variables is prohibitively expensive at this point, nor could I support that many users.

No. Astrospheric process raw weather model data on its own servers instead of repackaging other company's weather APIs. However, astronomers using apps such as Clear Outside or the myriad of other weather apps that state "Powered by Dark Sky" or "Powered by Forecast" may notice changes as those app developers find new sources for their data.

There are thousands of weather apps and websites available, but it can be tough to know if they will work well for astronomy. Here are a few tips that can help in picking them out.

• Go to the source of the data and know what weather model you're looking at.
• Check more than one weather model.
• Look at the data on a map since it's still the best way to understand the weather patterns.

Weather.gov is a great resource for those in the USA since it gets you access to the primary US weather models (GFS, NAM, HRRR, etc). If you’re feeling adventurous, you can access raw model data at https://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/

Short answer - no. Every 6 hours the Candian RDPS model generate well over 200 million predictions for an area covering most of North America. It will be wrong at times. The model is constantly ingesting new data from thousands of automated sources in order to correct and generate the next set of predictions. Observations from individuals are not incorporated into the model and therefore would be a waste of time to send. However, if you notice something completely out of the ordinary (eg. a dew point of absolute zero), then it's worth letting me know, because an error may have occured in my code which parses the data.

Technically yes, but precipitation data won't be added to Astrospheric.

Astrospheric shows the local time for the current forecast location. This includes any adjustments for timezone as well as daylight savings time. If you notice that the time is an hour off, please first check that your device's operating system timezone is set correctly. If it is set correctly, then please contact me

Most likely. Check out www.astrospheric.com/embed for more information and the rules for using it.

• Financially - The best way to support Astrospheric with money is to purchase a subscription. Not only will you get weather alerts, but the money helps fund current and upcoming improvements to the service.
• In the community - Tell your friends about Astrospheric! If you’re part of an astronomical society then consider using Astrospheric and Subspace!
• Scientifically - If you are a meteorologist or astronomer (or in a related scientific field), and you have an idea to improve or expand the data Astrospheric is using then please get in touch with me!

Not yet, but I'm working on it!