On 14 Oct 2011, at 13:26, Chuck Hards wrote:
I'd like to see a list of everyone's favorite astronomy-related smartphone apps. Bear in mind that I'm a noob (as well as others) to all of this hi-falootin' techno stuff, so be sure to mention if they are proprietary to a particular brand/platform.
Well, I've been waiting to see what other have installed but no one has pipped up so I guess I'll start. I have these on my iPhone. All available from the Apple iTunes Store. Astro Clock: Provides not just the local time but UT, Julian date and Local Sidereal (the latter calculated for your location). Sun n Moon: Provides times for sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset and phase of the Moon, all calculated for your location on whatever date you specify. LunaSolCal: Provides much of the same stuff Sun n Moon does but also gives times of Civil, Nautical and Astronomical morning and evening twilight. Also gives ALT/AZI of the Sun and Moon at rise, transit and set. Moon Maps: Zoomable and very detailed photos of the Moon in each of its daily phases. Tap on a particular phase image and names of many of the features appear. Works nice on the phone but is really nice on the much larger iPad. Gas Giants: Shows Jupiter and the positions of the 4 Galilean satellites and Saturn with 7 satellites (each satellite is labeled). Comes up when launched at the current time but just by sliding one's finger left or right across the screen one can go 24 hours into the past or 24 hours into the future. As time passes you can see when Jupiter's GRS is visible as well as when the various satellites will transit, be occulted or ingress or egress eclipse. Image can be flipped and/or mirrored to match the view through a telescope. This is another one that works nice on the phone but is really nice on the much larger iPad. VERY popular at star parties on the iPad. Sidereal Time: As the name implies it calculates local sidereal time as we as displays UTC time and date. Star Charts by Wil Tirion: Many here have heard of Wil Tirion and his star charts. These are his charts. Works on the iPhone but specially nice on the iPad. 3D Sun: Current near and dark side images of the Sun in 4 selectable wavelengths as well as current Sun conditions. Exoplanet: Constantly updates the number of exoplanets confirmed to date (697 as of now) and gives information on each. Flyby: Advises of upcoming satellite flybys (it issued an alert earlier today of ROSAT's projected demise). Phases: Monthly calendar showing phases of the Moon and sub-pages containing more info on the subject than most will ever want. :) myLight: Multicolored flashlight ap. And then there are a few planetarium type programs I've installed. Useful but honestly, I still prefer Voyager which is why I still lug my MacBook to star parties. Astro WW Distant Suns Star Walk And then there's Emerald Observatory. Not available for iPhone so I got the version for iPad. Not terribly useful in the field but I think it's just drop dead gorgeous and fun to look at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/emerald-observatory-for-ipad/id364904759?mt=8 Ok, time to get back to some real astronomy (maybe tonight's the night I find a supernova). :) patrick