A free astronomy toolkit built for curious minds
linkvane is a free, browser-based collection of astronomy tools designed for anyone who wants to understand the night sky with greater precision. Whether you are planning your first meteor shower observation, trying to figure out which planets are visible tonight, or calculating the field of view for a new eyepiece, linkvane gives you the tools to do it — without installing software, creating an account, or paying anything.
Every tool on this site runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server. No tracking. No ads. Just astronomy.
Astronomy has a long tradition of open knowledge. The algorithms that power our tools — from the Julian Date system to the distance modulus formula — have been developed and refined by astronomers over centuries and are freely available in the scientific literature. We believe the tools built on this knowledge should be equally accessible.
Many existing astronomy tools are either locked behind paywalls, require app installations, or are cluttered with advertisements and unnecessary complexity. linkvane aims to be different: clean, fast, focused, and permanently free.
linkvane is designed for a broad audience:
All calculations use established astronomical algorithms. Moon phase calculations use the Julian Date system and the synodic period of 29.53058867 days. Sunrise and sunset times use the NOAA solar calculation algorithm. Coordinate conversions use the standard transformation matrices for J2000.0 epoch. Star magnitude calculations use the Pogson magnitude scale and the distance modulus formula.
These methods are accurate to within a few minutes for solar times and a few hours for lunar phase timing — sufficient for all amateur astronomy and educational purposes. For applications requiring sub-arcsecond precision, we recommend consulting the JPL Horizons ephemeris system.
linkvane currently includes ten tools covering the major areas of observational astronomy: lunar phases, planetary visibility, constellation identification, eclipse prediction, solar times, stellar magnitudes, meteor showers, celestial coordinates, astronomical distances, and telescope optics. Each tool is paired with a detailed tutorial page that explains the underlying concepts and practical applications.
linkvane is built with plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — no frameworks, no dependencies, no external resources. The site works offline once loaded. We believe in transparency: what you see is what runs, and nothing runs in the background.
We welcome feedback, bug reports, and suggestions for new tools. Use the Contact Us page to reach us. We read every message, though response times may vary.