As an amateur astronomer and a volunteer telescope operator at the Flandrau Science Center observatory, I enjoy sharing the night sky with the public. My primary objective, when inviting the public to look through the telescope, is to encourage them to enjoy viewing the heavens and to ask questions. I recognize that not everyone wants to be an astronomer and I certainly understand the magnitude of what is required to pursue a career in this profession.
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As an amateur astronomer and a volunteer with Project ASTRO, I regularly use the concept of scale to help teach astronomy and engage our students in visualizing and grasping the immensity of our universe. I typically use examples scaled in the dimension of physical length, area, and volume to assist in illustrating the distance and sizes of planets, our solar system and neighboring stars and galaxies.
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I took a look at the original version of Star Walk some time ago, and at the time I liked the app a lot. Since then, Vito Technology hasn’t stopped improving the the app, with the latest version of Star Walk being the best iteration yet. Some of the new features that take advantage of the capabilities of the iPad 2 and the New iPad continue to make Star Walk a “must-have” app for any amateur astronomer or science teacher.
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As an amateur astronomer and a volunteer public observatory telescope operator, I regularly use astronomy related programs and applications. I have reviewed several of the iOS applications here on MyMac.com.
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The Mars Globe HD app is an enjoyable astronomy tool that you can use to learn about the planet Mars and the many space missions that have landed on its surface. The application has been recently updated to run at full resolution on the new iPad.
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Solar Walk – 3D Solar System model App Developer: Vito Technology Inc. Version 1.9.1 License: US$2.99 Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires
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As a member of the front end of the “baby boomers” I can still remember learning that our sun was just an average star and we were one of nine planets orbiting it. I also learned that our Milky Way was one of several hundred billion galaxies that made up our known universe, each containing hundreds of billions of stars. That begged the question: if our star had planets then should the rest of the stars have planets too?
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Star Walk is an app that is a skywatcher’s dream. When you first open the app, the first thing you notice is the impressive quality of the graphics. There is a tremendous amount of detail and resolution that helps make your experience on an iPad so noteworthy. The opening screen provides a wealth of astronomical data that most stargazers can appreciate. The rising and setting times and elevations of the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn accompany the impressive graphics of each of these celestial bodies. Further information on the day length is also provided with the Sun’s data. The lunar phases from yesterday to two days from now are also presented in an impressive three-dimensional view.
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