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Emerald Observatory for iPad is stunning to look at, and it's useful too

by Mel Martin Jun 29th 2010 at 9:00AM

I can't think of another iPad app that looks quite as striking as Emerald Observatory. This US $0.99 app is the kind of thing you'd be proud to display if it was a physical object; even when it's running on the iPad, I'm tempted to leave it on as a conversation piece.

The single display gives you your local time, the position of the sun, the rise and set times of the sun and moon (and the 5 brightest planets), twilight start and end times, the current moon phase, a display of day and night on a world map, the current day and date (with a leap year indicator), and the ability to move forward or backward in time in order to see different planetary alignments and sun positions.

The app is certainly nice for star gazers, and it's also handy for photographers who may be looking for the best time of day to shoot outdoors.


The app runs in either portrait or landscape mode, and it looks great either way. In some ways, the app reminds me of the wonderful Spilhaus Space Clock that was sold in the 60's by Edmund Scientific. It didn't display as much as this clock does, but it was pretty on a desk or a mantle, and it was something that everyone wanted to look at and interact with.

So, here's a modern day space clock, combined with an orrery, and it costs less than a dollar. I find the information presented by Emerald Observatory to be very useful, and it is beautiful to watch as it changes during the day. I'd love to see an iPhone version of this app as well. The developers have done a beautiful iPhone app called Emerald Chronometer that emulates several very complex watches on screen, and some of them include the features in Emerald Observatory.

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I can't think of another iPad app that looks quite as striking as Emerald Observatory. This US $0.99 app is the kind of thing you'd be...
 

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Kfk

Fantastic app! As a retired professor I would predict that the few people who give it a bad rating are those who flunked my astronomy course. Very much information in a beautiful package.

June 30 2010 at 1:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
RobbyT

@mack +1 but for £0.59 I'm happy for now

June 29 2010 at 5:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dsdevries

Now here's something really stunning to look at:
http://www.planetarium-friesland.nl/engels.html
It's made by hand between 1774 and 1781 in an old frisian house powered by an old frisian tail clock!

June 29 2010 at 5:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
soxneon

Gazer is right.

June 29 2010 at 12:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mack

Emerald Observatory is a beautiful app to look at, but I wish it made use of the multi-touch capabilities of the iPad to give more information. Like @Gooberosity I find there are plenty of things I would like to know more about.

I want to be able to touch the different parts of the screen and have an explanation pop-up for anything I'm looking at.

For example, I want to be able to tap the "Sidereal" dial and have some information appear that tells me what sidereal time is, how it is being calculated and why it is different to the other clocks on the screen.

Similarly, although I can see from the various dials when Mars rises and sets, where it is in the sky, and so on, why can't I simply tap on Mars and have all that presented to me in a neat tabular format along with some more textual information about the planet?

There is no doubt that Emerald Observatory is a feast for the eyes, it's a shame it is not also a great learning tool.

(@sharkync - you don't know what you're missing - iPad is amazing - no more heaving laptops around for me. I've retired my 15" MacBook Pro and replaced it with an iMac and iPad combination for about the same price.)

June 29 2010 at 11:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to mack's comment
karl

And you want this for 99 cents???

June 30 2010 at 1:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mack

@karl, hi, I think you missed my point. I didn't comment on the price at all - to me that is neither here nor there. There are great apps in the App Store for free and there are others that cost quite a lot. I don't download an app because it is cheap - I download it because it appeals to me in some way.

Emerald Observatory appealed to me, so I bought it, and I don't feel ripped off or want my money back. But I do think the developer missed a trick in not making it a learning environment as well as just a visual experience. So I wrote as much. (Perhaps I shouldn't have skipped so many of @Kfk's classes!)

The developer may take my comment as criticism or as incentivization. Either way, I hope the people reading this blog know more about what to expect from the app if they are undecided. Bottom line - you do get what you can see in the screenshot (and it is very nice) but nothing else and no interactivity.

June 30 2010 at 3:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sharkync

That's still not going to make me run out and get an iPad.

June 29 2010 at 10:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Maria

This is a GREAT app, although it can be a bit overwhelming. I use it extensively for sun, moon, and time into. I do wish, however, that it's access to a network time server would automatically update my WiFi iPad's clock.

June 29 2010 at 10:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gooberosity

This is one of those apps I have but really wish I understood better. It's neat to look at but darned if I can tell what's really going on there.

June 29 2010 at 9:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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