Tag: Astronomy »
Star Walk 2 is Like Stargazing with Neil DeGrasse Tyson in Your Pocket
Star Walk 2, by Vito Technology, aims to bring constellations to life. Users can point their iOS device at the stars and watch as the app identifies and renders 3d models of the celestial bodies that can be turned and enjoyed from different angles.
Star Walk 2 acts as your guide to the night sky by using your current location to find what stars will be visible. You can also search for specific stars, constellations, or satellites and the app will identify where you have to look to find them. Then there's the Sky Live window, which can show you all the relevant data for your stargazing adventure including sunrise and sunset times, moon phases, and the rise and set times for 4 main planets: Venus, Mercury, Saturn, and Jupiter.
Star Walk 2 also includes functions such as coordinates on each image to make locating your favorite constellation easier, a soft red-mode that preserves your night-vision while using the app, and a Time Machine mode that allows users to see stars in their calculated past and future positions.
You can pick up Star Walk 2 for $2.99 on the App Store.
Track Santa With Updated Star Walk Astronomy App for iPad or iPhone
Astronomy guide, Star Walk, shows stars, constelleations, satellites, and the like in the correct positions in the sky. Just hold your iOS device up to the sky, any time of day, and you'll see what's out there. This new update brings new additions to the astronomical data, optimization for the iPad mini, and a special visit from Kris Kringle himself. There's even a contest with an iPad mini prize to enter, so get to it!
The latest update includes new additions to Star Walk's night sky. Complete information as well as detailed 3D models of satellites are available for GLAST, Ajisai, COROT, Genesis I and Genesis II, INTEGRAL, and GPS Group, and others. Major internal optimization reduced the size of the app by half and allowed it to work and look stunningly on the iPad mini.A special holiday surprise from Star Walk developers awaits for stargazers on December 21st when Santa will appear on the night sky on his yearly journey over the world.
APODViewerHD Review
Emerald Observatory Review
Learn About The Moon With Deluxe Moon HD
Recently released by Lifeware Solutions comes an absolutely stunning looking moon application for the iPad. Deluxe Moon HD is an app that provides comprehensive information on all things moon related.
Amongst other things it provides gardening advice that differs depending on the current moon phase, precise timings of each moon phase, the moon horoscope and zodiac circles and the ecliptic longitude and latitude. A countdown timer also resides ensuring you can keep an eye on sunrise and sunset as well as moonrise and moonset.It covers a lot of things, ensuring there's both scientific advice in the form of the gardening information, and more mystical news thanks to the Moon horoscope and how it may affect your health, business and personal life. You can also learn plenty through things such as an explanation of each moon phase's full name and how much of the moon is illuminated at any time.
Plus, it's a great app visually, looking immediately attractive.
Priced at $4.99, Deluxe Moon HD is available for the iPad now and should suit all your moon based interests. While you make up your mind, take a look at the video below of how it all works.
108 Minutes Flight Celebrates The Life of Yuri Gagarin
It's quite astonishing to think that it was 50 years ago, on April 12th 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter space. Thanks to that 108 minute flight, our perspective on the world changed in a way that people of this generation probably can't fully comprehend. It's a pivotal moment in history and rightfully deserves its place on the app store in the form of 108 Minutes Flight.
The app, soon to be released on the App store, promises biographies of Yuri Gagarin and Chief Designer Sergei Korolev, a diagram of the flight plan and a photo gallery. It also comes with a counter that displays how much time has passed since Gagarin's flight and the ability to send old fashioned Soviet style holiday postcards dediated to the date in question.Even better, the app in question will be entirely free to download, making this surely an ummissable purchase for space and history fans.
We'll be sure to keep you updated on the release of this app.
Happy Birthday Star Walk, Presents For Our Readers
VITO Technology's award-winning astronomy application for iPad and iPhone turned two years old yesterday, and to mark its birthday there's a major update revision on the line as well as a promotional code giveaway right here.
Star Walk, which holds the title of official Apple Design Award (iPad Developer Showcase) 2010 Winner, remains the top-paid application in the Education section of the App Store, based on its ability to show the true workings of the Heavens above through the iPhone and iPad's in-built GPS in an easy to use interface. View constellations, stars and planets in new ways by holding your device up to the sky. It's a very impressive application - awarded 4.5 stars by 148Apps - and was marked by Apple in the Best of 2009 Applications.
Version 5 of the application, available soon, offers four new major features and a plethora of updates, including compass calibration and a new "general catalogue" that adds even more deep sky objects, galaxies and nebulae. Augmented Reality becomes a reality in version 5 of Star Walk for the new iPod Touch, as does a new "big screen" feature which allows you to connect your iPad to a second display through VGA, just in case the iPad's 9.5" screen wasn't big enough. In addition, over 150 satellites including the International Space Station can be tracked in live time. Finally, a new feature called Telrad can "help you measure angular distance between nearby stars" in order to gauge the true extent of deceivingly small distances in the universe.
There's more birthday celebrations, too. Prices for VITO Technology's entire "Walk" series (Solar Walk, Star Walk and Geo Walk) have been dropped for 24 hours, and some lucky commenters today will receive free promotional codes that allow you to redeem these applications for free. In order to be in for a chance, just make a comment below. We have six codes available - 2 for Star Walk on iPad, 2 for Star Walk on iPhone and 2 for Star Walk (universal, iPhone and iPad compatable natively).
So happy birthday Star Walk!
Redshift Review
Redshift for iPhone and iPad Puts the Galaxy at Your Fingertips
Redshift looks somewhat similar to Star Walk, but don't be fooled: this new planetarium app provides much more than a view of the stars. Redshift instead presents a 3D model of our slice of the galaxy, complete with major and dwarf planets, constellations and bright stars. You can travel on 3-D "flights" to the Moon and other planets in our Solar System, too. Meanwhile, its "Follow Sky" mode lets you track the current sky through Redshift—so you can identify the stars you see in the real sky. (This feature relies on GPS positioning, positioning sensors, and the compass.)
There's more to the feature list, of course. Redshift has won awards on other platforms for good reason. The developers claim that there are over 100,000 stars and other celestial objects in the catalog, and a lot of functionality is crammed into the app. Talk about taking astronomy apps to a new level.
If you've got a taste for astronomy, check out Redshift on the App Store. It's a universal app, meaning that one purchase covers both iPad and iPhone owners. Redshift is currently on sale for $11.99. (A premium price, perhaps—but knowledge is worth something, right?)