Solar Walk - 3D Solar System model
By Vito Technology Inc.
Open iTunes to buy and download apps.
Description
Enhanced for iOS 5 with the ability of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S to wirelessly mirror its screen to an Apple TV 2.
The first app in the AppStore with real 3D TV Support (*the feature works only on 3D TVs)
The NEW version presents 3D models of the most well-known man-made satellites like ISS, Hubble, Suzaku, Envisat, and others together with breathtaking impressions of flying over the Earth on the satellite (see our latest youtube video).
This 3D Solar System model enables you to navigate through space and time, observe all the planets in close-up, learn their trajectories, inner structure, history of their exploration, points of interest and more. Use 3D mode to get a more realistic experience and zoom out to view and spin the entire Galaxy!
WHAT EXPERTS SAY:
Instead of exploring the night sky and deep space, you get to tour our Solar system in luscious 3D graphics. The iPad version is breathtaking with crisp graphics and beautiful color. The smooth finger controls combined with the spectacular graphics make this a perfect demo for the iPad. Dragging your finger to fly around the planets is a bit intoxicating, and I'm impressed with the smooth animation. © Mel Martin, TUAW.
While Star Walk will help you find and explore information about the stars, Solar Walk is designed to do the same with planets. The app features a beautiful and accurate simulation of the Solar system, complete with all of the planets orbiting trails, and an adjustable clock so that you can see where Mars will be in 2029, if you so choose. © Mike Schramm, TUAW.
MAIN FEATURES:
• GALAXY view - absolutely magical zoom out to view the whole galaxy option.
• TIME MACHINE - set any date you want including even minutes and take a travel through space and time.
• 3D SOLAR SYSTEM model
• MOVIES - explanatory movie collection about the Earth’s phenomena.
• FLY to a PLANET - choose a planet from a far, tap an image and fly straight to the planet.
• SATELLITES - real-time trajectories of the most interesting artificial Earth's satellites.
• LOCATIONS - arrow will show your current position on the globe, plus names of the biggest cities of the Earth, as well as sights of the Moon, Mars and Venus.
• INFO about all planets - general info, its name, its mass, radius, distance to the sun, internal structure with the picture and science missions.
• MOONS of DIFFERENT PLANETS: select a planet like Earth, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars or Urano and observe how many moons they have and their track around the planet. Select one of the moons and learn.
*No Internet connection required*
--------------------------------------
ATTENTION!
Mind that to use the 3D mode you will need a pair of cyan-red 3D glasses. And, yes, we know that Pluto is no longer considered a planet, but by popular vote it has been added to the Solar System Model.
---------------------------------------
Vito Technology is a member of Moms with Apps, a collaborative group of family-friendly developers seeking to promote quality apps for kids and families.
Recommended Ages: all
Categories: Environment, Science
Join Star Walk Month of Astronomy to win free stuff and learn more about the Universe. Go to the developers website to find out how.
What's New in Version 1.9.1
- The Asteroid belt
- The Solar prominence
- The bug with 3D TV fixed
Happy Holidays to all!
We've added a little surprise for you, when you get what it is let us know on Twitter or Facebook!
--------------
Version 1.9
- Voice-over for educational movies
- Localized subtitles for movies in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish
- Uranus rings
- The clouds texture for Venus
- New texture for Mercury
- Minor interface tweaks
Did you like the update and expect more from us? Leave good reviews on the AppStore and let us know what features you miss in the Solar Walk app. We’ll do our best to meet your expectations.
Customer Reviews
How to use Solar Walk with iOS - The Missing Manual
Solar Walk is a scale model of the Solar System where you get to manipulate space-time, learn details about 39 celestial objects, and watch 7 fact-filled videos. This app contains: a handy search-and-visit menu, a beautiful Milky Way Galaxy, some of the Asteroid Belt, and a large thumbtack stuck into your location on Earth, where 3D satellites, icy poles, and city lights all look amazing.
The "menu" icon (lower-right corner) contains 5 items. "3D" turns on/off a red-cyan 3D effect (and hides the "i" icon), also providing true 3D output to 3D TVs. "Music" mutes/plays 30 minutes from a wordless Siberian iTunes album called "Solar Walk". The third item is the inactive Viewing Mode, either "True-to-scale" or "Orrery". (Orrery mode reduces the scale of the Solar System while enlarging Pluto and the planets. Select a planet to see its enlarged moons.) When this app first opens, it only recalls the Music setting and the Viewing Mode.
The fourth item, "Movies", contains 15 minutes of video in 7 parts: the Zodiac, sizes of 11 Solar System objects, the Moon's phases, and Earth's seasons, tides, solar eclipses, and important latitude lines. (A slider allows you to watch the videos at your own pace. Narration and subtitle icons allow you to enable/disable them for all 7 videos at once.) "Capture Screen" sends a screenshot to Twitter, Facebook, an AirPrint-enabled printer, the Photos app, or the Mail app.
*USING OBJECTS*
To select an object and instantly zoom into it, touch it (not distant stars or surface features) or choose it in the search-and-visit menu. To repeat the zooming action, touch the "rocket" icon (lower-right corner), which contains the object's name. (Selecting a surface feature actually selects its celestial body.) The selected object is your center of zooming (pinch/spread) and rotation (rotate two fingers, drag your finger, swipe with your finger to keep it going).
Touch the "i" icon (upper-left corner) to: hide other icons, zoom in on the selected object's lit side, and open its vertically-scrolling "in-app facts" (some need updating). The iPad uses a drop-down box to display these facts - swipe sideways inside it to switch columns, and touch outside of it to close it. The iPod touch and iPhone use an "arrow" icon to switch columns, and an "x" icon to close it. To open the "search-and-visit" menu, touch the "magnifying glass" icon (lower-left corner). It contains a text-accepting search box, 666 listed objects, and touch the arrow next to a planet to reveal moons. (61 Cygni is absent, and 2 of the 4 entries for Kingston/Victoria lead to the wrong cities).
*OBJECTS*
Objects include: the Sun (with animated prominences), the 8 planets (their shadows may cover rings but not moons), Pluto (an image of Ganymede is used in its place - see planetpixelemporium.com), 9 Earth-orbiting satellites (their surface shadows do not move, and the ISS is shown with a few not-yet-connected modules), the 20 moons that scientists have detailed surface maps for (multiple resolutions are poorly combined - see Iapetus - and Hyperion is not spherical), 53 distant stars (select one and the "i" icon vanishes and the star turns red - if not, zoom in a bit), and 575 surface features on the Moon, Earth, Mars, and Venus (Venus has heavy clouds that hide its surface, not thin wispy ones).
All objects (excluding surface features) are "points of light". Zoom into an object (excluding distant stars) to view its surface map, which matches the color of that object's label and orbital path (excluding satellites). All labels, paths, and icons vanish when you touch where nothing is selectable, or after 10 seconds of inactivity as frost (!) appears onscreen. As you approach the ecliptic plane, the orbital paths of Pluto and the planets vanish, and for a moment around 4000.01, the paths go haywire.
*TIME*
The time display (upper-right corner) includes the "now" icon (returns you to the present), 3 date units, 2 clock units, and the little lines along the screen's right edge. To go forward (limit: 7000 AD) or backward (limit: 0 AD, where the app crashes) in time, touch 1 of the 5 units, and then swipe/drag either up or down on the little lines. To time travel faster, select the Sun or Pluto, and to limit it to less than a year, select a satellite.
The "analog clock" icon (upper-right corner) hides/shows the time display (the 3 date units are included only if you are at the present). Beyond 630 au, the analog clock icon and the time display are hidden and paused. Also, time is paused by touching 1 of the 2 icons on the left. Choosing a satellite or surface feature from the search-and-visit menu returns you to the present - choosing other objects from that menu stops time.
*SPACE*
At the bottom center edge, the distance from the screen to the selected object's surface is shown. (Io's distance is 2,200 ml too large.) This measurement is hidden in Orrery mode, and when a satellite or distant star is selected. The measurement starts in miles ("ml" is the British abbreviation), shifts to astronomical units (1 "au" is the distance between the Sun and Earth), and then to light years (1 "ly" is the distance light travels in 1 year). There are 3 levels to look at: our galaxy (130,000 ly to 300 ly), distant stars (labeled: 2,500 ly to 650 au, unlabeled: 1,200 ly and closer), and the Solar System (630 au to the selected object's diameter - when Earth is selected, you can get much closer).
To approximate the measurement of the 53 labeled distant stars, select something else and zoom out to them. They are located between 4.1 ly and 1,200 ly, and have an average error of 3 ly if you omit 6 specific stars... Too distant: R Leporis (-400 ly), Situla (-350 ly), Beta Librae (-90 ly), and Iota Carinae (-40 ly). Too close: Betelgeuse (+173 ly) and Lambda Draconis (+24 ly). Also, 30% of these distant stars have uncommon labels, and the 3 most notable are: Kruger 60 is labeled DO Cep, TZ Arietis is TZ Ari, and Alpha Pegasi is Markab.
Another huge improvement!!!
This is that rare app that's not only updated regularly but is constantly improved in huge ways. When it came out it was already the most beautiful of the planet apps but there have been at least three major updates that added huge improvements and new features to it! The latest one have completely new surfaces for all the planets and moons regardless of the fact the the description only mention ions mercury and venus and all the satellites are much more highly detailed too. Truly amazing. My suggestion for the next update is to make the limbs of the sun rotate in 3d instead of just being around the edges and I'd like to be able to keep the turn off the interface so I could explore around the solar system without all the words being laid over the beautiful planets, especially the labels of the features on the Earth and it's two neighbours. Edit: Unbelievable, a couple weeks later a new update adds that request I just made for the solar flares! They look amazing!
Very Good!
This app is perfect!!...i love!!...recomend!
- $2.99
- Category: Education
- Updated: Dec 16, 2011
- Version: 1.9.1
- Size: 180 MB
- Languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish
- Seller: Vito Technology Inc.
- © 2009-2011 Vito Technology Inc.
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1 or later
