Distant Suns : Unleash your inner astronaut
By First Light
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Description
In 1987 Distant Suns first put the universe on your desktop. In 2009 it puts the universe in your shirt pocket.
Originally started in 1985, it has become one of most venerable software titles around.
Sporting a database of over 130,000 stars, along with nebula and galaxies, Distant Suns has earned the reputation of both having one of the most realistic displays of the night sky, while being one of the easiest to use astronomy programs available for the most casual sky watchers and serious astronomers alike.
• CNet Video Review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgXQiXKosaw
• Staff Favorite in the US App Store, Feb. 2010
• http://www.tuaw.com/2009/08/06/distant-suns-for-iphone-update-sky-no-longer-the-limit/
• 5 Stars from ituneappreview.com, http://www.ituneappreviews.com/2008/11/12/distant-suns.htm
• 5 Stars in iphoneapplicationlist.com
• 4 Stars from AppVee.co: http://www.appvee.com/t/distant-suns
• http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-talk_iphone_starsmay02,0,7829171.story
Features include:
• Compass aware for the 3GS. Just aim and identify.
• Over 130,000 pinpoint stars scintillating like diamond dust in the palm of your hand
• Realistic ghostly band of the Milky Way
• All 88 constellations with images and articles on their mythology
• Preference panel to change the way stars are rendered in over a dozen different ways.
• The Messier catalog of galaxies, nebula and star clusters
• Dozens of photos from the Hubble Space Telescope
• All 8 planets (Pluto is optional)
• GPS aware
• Red interface to preserve your night vision
• What's Up? Gives a quick one snapshot overview of where all of the important stuff is
• Landscape panoramas from observatories to ancient Greek ruins
• Easy one-handed operation.
• Point and Identify mode reveals a wealth of hidden data for each star, planet or deep-sky object
• Planetary data and information
Why settle for eye-candy when you can settle for mind-candy.
Twitter: distantsuns, lazyastronomer
AIM : lazyastronomer
Support: www.distantsuns.com
What's New In Version 2.1.3
▪ The date and time is no longer automatically reset when the clock widget is closed
▪ The point&identify cursor is now positioned with the fingertip for a more intuitive means of picking an object
▪ The Whats Up? window will now center on North when used in the southern hemisphere
▪ Fixed two missing images in the Quickstart file
▪ Fixed some issues when setting the longtitude to 0.0, and a memory issue with the checkmark used in the "clear" button.
Customer Reviews
Packed with features and information
There are now seven serious star-charting apps in the iTunes Store (as of 30 January 2009). Each is good in its own ways, and each has its weaknesses.
Distant Suns is one of the more serious of the seven apps. It's loaded with features, and it provides far more text information about astronomical objects than any of the others. It also provides screen-size photos of planets, clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, and has lots of built-in help screens with instructions and explanations for beginners.
Compared to some of the other apps, the sky chart in Distant Suns looks rather plain. The developer considers this a benefit, because the display is trying to realistically mimic a naked-eye view of the actual sky. Many users, though, will be disappointed by the dimness of the stars. If you observe from a rural area or use binoculars (or a telescope), you'll see far more stars in the actual sky than in the images drawn by Distant Suns. On the other hand, no other app will tell you the distance, velocity, and spectral class of every star in its database.
Other nice features include a "What's Up?" screen that shows planet positions at a glance; a "Clear" button that clears the lines and labels off the chart with one tap; and an "Alert" mechanism that checks a server for notices of upcoming astronomical events.
Because there are so many features, the user interface is a bit complex: four crowded toolbars plus extra popups with lots of buttons that take you to screens of additional information. My fat fingers often miss the right button, causing some frustration. At least everything is easy enough to find.
If you want a prettier and simpler app, you might instead consider Star Walk or iStellar. For an app that will show you the whole sky at once, consider GoSkyWatch or iAstronomica. And if you want more stars and deep-sky objects, consider Starmap or Uranus. But for many users, Distant Suns offers the right combination of depth and accessibility.
(This review is of version 1.2.0 of Distant Suns.)
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke
I still use the DOS version of Distant sun on my Macbook :)
I was a user of the package from the first day it had arrived.
It is one of the best s/w package ever.
I've downloaded this version for iPhone without a second of thinking and I like it very much.
It was my dream for the last 5-8 years to get a s/w for PDA with ability to identify sky objects any time I need to do it.
There a few bugs - yes! - but I am sure they will be fixed in the next version. I have a few suggestions how to make the s/w even better, but - as is - it is a very clean, nice, fast and easy to use s/w.
Congratulation! Great job!
Very well done.
I had been looking for a good astronomy program, the ones out so far just didn't quite appeal to me. This one does and works as advertised. Very nice for a first release. Great to see all the Messier objects. I Like the Whats Up view for the planets. Hopefully more good things to come.
Suggestions: Tapping object on screen takes you to info on that object. More objects, maybe the easier to see from the NGC, more stars. All the objects in set groups, ie Messier, stars, NGC with individual option to display those sets or not. Rise, Zenith and Set information of the Messier Objects, Planets and other objects you may add. Customizable Whats Up view.
Keep up the good work!
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$6.99
- Category: Education
- Updated:Mar 09, 2010
- Current Version:2.1.3
- 2.1.3
- 17.4 MB
- Language:English
- Seller:Mike Smithwick
- © 2009 Mike Smithwick
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later.
