Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Impressive breadth of astronomic data
- uses digital compass to identify what you are seeing
Cons
- Photo browsing interface is clunky
Our Verdict
The interface for browsing those photos is a little clunky – you can’t swipe to the next image if you’re viewing the first one full-screen, so there’s a lot of zooming in and out – but the photos themselves are amazing. Star Walk is remarkable to use and explore.
Star Walk for iPad is a virtual planetarium and big-screen successor to the iPhone app of the same name. Star Walk’s breadth of astronomic data is impressive: you can explore more than 9,000 stars, constellations, planets, and other celestial bodies.
The app shows you the stars in the sky as they look right now. As you swing your iPad around, Star Walk uses the digital compass to help guide your stargaze in the right direction, showing you where you can spot constellations in the night sky. Armed with your location and the current time, Star Walk does an impressive job of recreating approximately how the stars should look for you – assuming minimal light (and dirt) pollution and cloud cover. You can zoom deeper and deeper into the sky and pan all around; you can tap the info button to read more about the selected object.
Star Walk also provides a single-screen space dashboard, showing you when the sun (and potentially visible planets) will rise and set at your location, along with the current moon phase. In addition, the app sports a Picture of the Day feature, with photographs of planets, nebulae, and the like.
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