On July 20th, 1969, I was an 11 year-old nerd who loved space. Along with billions of other people in the rest of the developed world, I sat in rapt attention in front of the family TV set watching the ghostly figures of Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin taking the first steps on the moon.

Now I'm a nerdy 51 year-old who still loves space. This weekend, my wife and I are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing by presenting an Apollo retrospective at the Lookout Mountain Nature Center near Denver. If you're in the Denver area, drop by at 7 PM on Saturday, July 18th to learn more about the incredible challenges that were surmounted by the U.S. space program to land men on the moon and return them safely to earth.

For the majority of you who aren't in the Denver area, there's another way you can celebrate on Monday, July 20th, 2009. On Monday, Carina Software will offer free download-only versions of their SkyGazer software for Mac OS X on the Carina website. iPhone and iPod touch owners won't be left out of the fun, as Carina's SkyVoyager app will be free on Monday from the App Store.

Be sure to pass along the information to your friends and join in the free fun on Monday!

[via The Mac Observer]

Starmap 1.1 (iTunes link) is a pocket-sized map of the sky that packs a great deal into a small package.

One thing that strikes you immediately is the challenge of incorporating all the options available into the iPhone's limited UI space. The button panel at the bottom of the screen is a 3D object that you can spin round to reveal more controls.

And you need them, because there's a lot Starmap can show you. Not just the stars and constellations, but also planets, expected meteors and "deep sky" objects like galaxies, clusters and nebulae.

Features I particularly like include: the night-vision mode (tints everything red to minimise your iPhone's own light pollution); the fact that, by default, only objects you're likely to see are shown in lists of stars and planets (you can toggle this on and off if you'd rather see a list of everything, below the horizon or not); and the general feeling that a great deal of thought has gone into building the app from the outset.

The main issue with Starmap, and it's one you'll notice pretty quickly, is speed. Right now, the app does not use any accelerated graphics and subsequently, the frame rate is 3 FPS. Dragging the night sky around beneath your finger is slow and the animation jagged; as a result, it can be a little frustrating to use. Consider this before you buy.

This is a known issue, though, and work is under way on a fully optimised 3D version running at 20 FPS. It might be released as soon as October, we're told.

That (and one or two crashes) aside, Starmap is a fantastic educational app and very good value for the price ($11.99). Existing users should hold out for future updates -- if they deliver what's promised, Starmap will be an almost irresistible purchase.

Oh, and one other thing would be nice: a function that controls the appalling British summer weather, and clears away the almost permanent cloud cover so that we actually have a remote chance of seeing some stars.