App-O-Da-Week #3

In a galaxy, far, far away, there was this blog. And on this blog, there was this weekly post. And in this post, there was a review of an app that can be used in education.

(cue scrolling text).....

This week in our APP-O-DA-WEEK segment, we are going to discuss and review an app that will make even Trekkies jealous, its STAR WALK.

When I went to school, one of the best parts about learning science was astromnomy. For most kids today, that is still one of the best parts. Learning about planets, moon landings, stars, and places they have never heard of, let alone will ever visit or see.

With Star Walk, the Milky Way gets a little bit closer and more personal than ever before.

What Star Walk does is it allows the user to open up the app and point the device towards the sky. With some really intuitive engineering and real time GPS functionality, it can pinpoint where you are and transpose the nights sky onto your device. 

It will allow you to see everything that is up there (besides UFOs), Constellations; Solar System, Deep Space; Stars; and Satellites.

For $2.99 - (I know, two paid apps in a row? What are you doing to our wallets?!?), it is a steal and a great addition to the classroom for students who want to gaze at the stars during school. The best part? No internet or wifi is required. Star Walk shows visually appealing maps of the heavens (in the direction you're pointing your iPhone when Star Spotter is enabled), and has social media integration, image galleries, and more. 

Here is the official app description: 

Star Walk is enhanced for the new iPad

Star Walk is an award-winning Education app that allows users to easily locate and identify 20,000+ objects in the night sky. The 360-degree, touch control star map displays constellations, stars, planets, satellites, and galaxies currently overhead from anywhere on Earth. Highly praised and the winner of a 2010 Apple Design Award, the latest update allows users to enjoy unprecedented eye candy and interactivity of the star map, achieved with the new camera and high resolution of the new device. *No Internet connection required*

Come hang out with Star Walk fans on Facebook

Latest additions:

The new version includes comprehensive stargazing calendar that shows all visible celestial events for your area, explains their nature and sets a reminder in iCal for ones you chose to see. Other additions include comet tracking and iridium flares.

Augmented Reality allows users to point-and-display the sky as on any device with digital compass and camera. The same mechanism helps calibrate iPhone 4 compass to eliminate error margin completely.

Main Features:

• Stargazing Community - Twitter integration for iOS 5.1
• Augmented Reality
• Satellites Tracking - find out where exactly the ISS is right now! (8000+ satellites)
• Calendar of Celestial events
• TELRAD: advanced feature to help you measure angular distance between nearby stars. Can be turned on/off in Settings menu.

Until we can get interplanetary space travel down, use this app! Heres some tunes to get you in the mood while you download it!