Dave uses the following Astronomy apps on his iPhone and iPad. He has included some comments about the apps.
1. SkyWeek - Events going on in the sky
described with an option to view what each item would look like from your
location. Provided by Sky & Telescope.
2. 360 Science - News/videos from the National Science
Foundation. Wide range of topics including astronomy.
3. Startracker(HD) - Planetarium app with LOTS
of options. Nice music too…
4. Star Rover - Similar to #3, but without the
music.
Both 3 & 4 use the iPad’s camera to locate
objects in the sky at night to provide an enhanced experience. That is, it’ll
find stuff for you, so basically you don’t have to know anything.
5. Earthviewer - Not exactly astronomy. Runs
through the last half billion years of tectonic activity interactively. Want to
see what California looked like 200 million years ago? This app is for you. Since tectonic activity has a great deal to do with life on our planet this is particularly appropriate especially for the Feb and Mar 2018 sessions.
6. Satellites - Uses tracking data to show the current location of all the space
junk/satellites/spent boosters, etc. To keep from overwhelming the user, the user is allowed to select among the following categories for display: Favorites
(you pick), Space Stations, Brightest, Weather satellites; Miscellaneous,
Communications, Navigation, Scientific, Military and lastly, Rocket Bodies and Debris. Presents a globe with green dots. Tap the dot, get the info on
that item. Pretty neat. Lotsa junk up there. Similar to Heavens-Above.com satellite tracker for PCs.
7. Stellarium - Runs on iMac as well as other common operating systems. It’s a FREE, open
source planetarium app. Comes with a
350 page manual (.pdf file, 28Mb). The whole package has been under development
since 2000. Has
the capability of running the sky backwards and forwards in time. Provides a
few “canned” events, e.g., historical supernovae.
We will eventually consolidate a list of apps using everyone's input.
