Moana Skies

Kaikōura sits under an International Dark Sky Sanctuary — one of the darkest, clearest skies left anywhere on Earth. Moana Skies is the app for standing underneath it. POINT YOUR PHONE AT THE NIGHT Hold it up and the sky labels itself, live, over your camera. 2,851 stars, all 88 constellations, the planets, and the Milky Way arching exactly where it really is. Search for something and an arrow walks you to it. Tap anything to find out what you're looking at. BUILT FOR THE SOUTHERN SKY Most star apps were made for the northern hemisphere and had the south added afterwards. This one starts here — and it carries the Māori names and the stories behind them, not only the Latin. Māhutonga, the Southern Cross. Atutahi. Puanga, Takurua and Rehua. Matariki, and why its rising matters. KNOW BEFORE YOU GO OUT One glance tells you whether tonight is worth the cold. The app reads the cloud forecast, the moon and true darkness for exactly where you're standing, and turns it into a single score — plus the hours when the sky will be at its best. RED LIGHT, SO YOUR EYES KEEP WORKING A proper night-vision mode. Your eyes take twenty minutes to adjust to the dark and half a second of white screen to undo it. LEARN THE SKY Eighteen plain-English reads on what is actually above you — the southern showpieces, how to find them, and what makes Kaikōura's sky what it is — plus a glossary for every term that usually gets assumed. STARGAZE WITH US Moana Skies runs guided stargazing in Kaikōura, under that sanctuary sky, with real telescopes and someone who knows what they are pointing at. Browse the tours and book from inside the app. Free to use. No ads and no trackers — the app contains no advertising network and no analytics SDK of any kind.