Find Your Zodiac Sign in the Sky

You don't need to be an astronomer to find your zodiac sign in the night sky. Forget the old-school star charts. Your phone is all you need. Point it at the sky, and an app can show you exactly where Leo is.

Most of these apps use augmented reality (AR) to draw the constellations over what your camera sees. You just hold your phone up, and the mess of stars gets names and shapes. You can see the ecliptic—the path the sun takes through the sky—which is where all the zodiac constellations hang out.

The Best Apps for the Job

A few apps can turn your phone into a guide to the stars. They all use your phone's GPS and compass to know where you are and what you're looking at.

• SkyView® Lite: This is the easiest one to start with. The free version does everything you really need. You point your phone at the sky and it tells you what you're seeing, day or night. The AR mode, which uses your camera, is the best part.
• Star Walk 2: This one also works well for beginners and looks great. The free version is good, but the ads get annoying. It has 3D models of the constellations and tells you the best things to look for on a given night.
• Stellarium: If you want to go a little deeper, Stellarium is what a lot of amateur astronomers use. It has a huge database of stars. The web version is free, and the mobile app is great for figuring out when to go outside.
• Night Sky: For iPhone users, this is a solid choice. You can use Siri to find things—"Hey Siri, where is Virgo?"—and it can even send you a notification when your sign is about to rise.

Here's something most people don't know: you can't see your zodiac constellation on your birthday. That's because the sun is passing "through" that constellation, so its glare washes everything out. The best time to see your sign is six months later, on your half-birthday, when it's high in the sky in the middle of the night.

I remember the first time I tried to find Sagittarius. It was a freezing November night, around 11:30 PM, and I was standing in a frozen field behind my friend's house. My fingers were numb. The app insisted Sagittarius was right there, just above the neighbor's hideous, brightly-lit inflatable snowman. I eventually found the "teapot" shape, but only after I got in my 2011 Honda Civic and drove to the other side of the field to get away from the snowman's glow.

It's more than a map

These apps are also little encyclopedias. You can tap on almost any star or planet to learn its name, how far away it is, and the mythology behind it. It's an easy way to learn something without really trying.

So just download one of the free apps and go outside tonight. You don't need a telescope. Just your phone. Point it at the brightest thing you see. Maybe it's a planet. Maybe it's a star halfway across the galaxy. The app will tell you.