Intel invited me to contribute a post to their "My Life Scoop" site, and I decided to do a roundup of astronomy-related apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. I really and truly do dig these apps: I use them to check on solar storms, to learn about exoplanets, to figure out when I can view the Space Station flying by overhead, and to help me and my family navigate our way through the night sky on star-watching nights.
I first learned to love the stars through my grandfather, an amateur astronomer born in 1903 who fashioned telescope lenses from glass and aluminum scavenged in Pittsburgh factory trash-heaps. My "pop-pop" imparted his knowledge of astronomy, and the tools of astronomy, without the aid of any digital devices, but I like to imagine that if he were around today, he'd really enjoy the wide variety of mobile applications for amateur astronomers, and star-curious kids like I was back then.
(Special thanks to Maggie Koerth-Baker and Miles O'Brien for turning me on to some of these apps!)
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Awesome apps!
An honourable mention might go out to Stellarium, a free planetarium app like StarWalk that works on iOS, Mac, Windows and Linux. It’s not as polished as StarWalk, but it is free and cross platform.
But then there are so many possible honourable mentions :)
this is also pretty cool!
I like APOD’s free app for those days I forget to check the regular site in the morning.
Star Walk is just amazing. I can’t imagine what I’d have thought if I saw it years ago when I was a kid with a 6″ reflector in the back yard at night.
Oh great, now they track space, too! Damn you, you bastards!
I like Solar Monitor. It’s not free, and it’s just a collection of free data, but it’s a great collection. Aurora forcasts, the sun in 4 spectra (Fe, He, etc), LASCO C2,C3 and other images, costello predictions, aurora oval, etc. I could go to all the sites, but what I like is having it right there.
I’m surprised that SkySafari wasn’t included.
What do you think of the Distant Suns 3 app? It is $9.99 but seems to have a long history in this area dating back to the 80s I believe?