Astronomy Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Daily Mac App: Saturn

by Mel Martin (Jan 31st, 2012)

I've just spent a pleasant hour exploring Saturn, which is free for a short time in the Mac App Store. The GUI is based on LCARS (Library Computer Access/Retrieval System) featured on some of the Star Trek shows and films. The app has a massive amount of data, and it's more than 1 GB to download. ...

Daily iPhone App: Pocket Universe

by Mel Martin (Jan 25th, 2012)

Pocket Universe has been one of my favorite astronomy apps for the iPhone. Take it outside to easily identify what's up using the charts and the built-in augmented reality features. With an update that hit the app store yesterday, you can now talk to Pocket Universe, using Siri speech recognition ...

Daily iPhone App: SkySafari

by Kelly Hodgkins (Dec 27th, 2011)

SkySafari from Southern Stars is an app for the astronomy enthusiast with an iPhone. It's the perfect companion for a new telescope owner, who can use the app to help locate celestial bodies in the sky, or the casual observer who wants to know the name of that bright star cluster overhead. It's ...

Daily iPad App: Solar Walk

by Mel Martin (Sep 2nd, 2011)

Want to tour the Solar System? Solar Walk is a just-updated universal iOS app that allows you to do just that. The new version has support for 3D, so you get some rather stunning renditions of planets and satellites that are more realistic than what's available in a 2D presentation. I reviewed ...

OS X Lion wallpaper missing a few astronomical bodies

by Mike Schramm (Aug 12th, 2011)

Just like the default iPad wallpaper comes from a real lake called Pyramid Lake (which is supposed to be in Nevada, though I'm sure I pass signs for it every time I drive up to San Fran from here in LA), so too is the default Lion wallpaper based on a real picture of a real galaxy, specifically ...

WWDC Interview: Southern Stars

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jun 22nd, 2011)

Southern Stars made the first RS-232 dock connector interface, which we saw at MacTech last year, but they also make a really awesome stargazing app called SkySafari. I sat down with Tim DeBenedictis of Southern Stars to talk about their apps, the cable and how WWDC announcements will affect ...

Distant Suns celebrates 50th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's epic ride with a free app

by Mel Martin (Apr 12th, 2011)

It was 50 years ago today that the son of a Russian farmer rocketed into space and became the first man to orbit the earth. Yuri Gagarin's 108 minute trip in his Vostok spacecraft ushered in the era of manned space flight, as the US followed up with the Mercury, Gemini, and later the Apollo ...

Macworld Expo 2011: Vito Technology updates the Walk apps

by Mike Schramm (Feb 1st, 2011)

Russian company Vito Technology was in one of the booths around the Mobile App Showcase at Macworld 2011 last week, and they kindly sat down to show off new versions of their apps, all coming up in the next month or so as free updates on the App Store. Popular astronomy app Star Walk was first. ...

First RS-232 to dock connector interface controls telescope

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Nov 4th, 2010)

In the video on the next page you'll see a demo of the SkySafari app from Southern Stars. It's a great app for astronomy buffs, complete with gorgeous renderings of the night sky and an illustrated astronomy textbook in one neat little package. You'll also see a product called SkyFi, which is a ...

Cosmic Discoveries is a great free demo for your iPhone

by Mel Martin (Oct 28th, 2010)

Every so often I see a free app that is just dying to be used as an iPhone demonstration. The candidate for today is the American Museum of Natural History app called Cosmic Discoveries. When you open the app, you see an image of Saturn. It's a bit crinkly, so you dive in for a closer look, dragging ...

Tonight is International Observe the Moon Night so grab your iPhone

by Mel Martin (Sep 18th, 2010)

Tonight is the first-ever International Observe the Moon Night. If you have an iOS device, you can get even more out of observing our nearest neighbor and learning about what its made of, how it came to be, and how to observe it. Free apps like Moon Globe will allow you to explore the lunar service ...

Pocket Universe updated with iPhone 4 gyro support

by Mel Martin (Aug 1st, 2010)

Pocket Universe has always been one of the best of the astronomy apps, and I reviewed the earlier version positively. I like the use of augmented reality to overlay a star chart on the real sky, and there are lots of features like astronomy news, a planning module for any particular night, and quick ...

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

by Mel Martin (Jun 29th, 2010)

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 ...

Mars Globe HD: It's like looking out a spaceship window

by Mel Martin (Jun 11th, 2010)

Those are the first thoughts I had as I began to explore Mars Globe HD for the iPad. The app is a virtual, high-resolution globe of the red planet which you can explore by using your fingers to move and magnify the image. The images are uncannily realistic. While this app is available for the ...

Take a planetary tour with Solar Walk

by Mel Martin (May 21st, 2010)

Solar Walk is a nifty astronomy romp from the folks who did the popular Star Walk iPhone and iPad app. Instead of exploring the night sky and deep space, you get to tour our solar system in luscious 3D graphics. While the app is universal for the iPhone and iPad, the iPad version is breathtaking ...