“This week, the No. 1 bestselling app on the iPhone app store is an augmented-reality stargazing app called Sky Guide AR ($2.99),” David Pogue blogs eponymously. “It’s a dazzling piece of software, with an amazing 4.8 rating on the app store.”
“The moment you open this app, you understand it: Your phone is now a viewer for the sky above you. It depicts all the stars, planets, and even satellites that you’re pointing the phone at, and labels them, and draws the appropriate pictures for the constellations,” Pogue writes. “You match up what you’re seeing with what’s on the screen: that’s Andromeda, that’s Venus, that’s the International Space Station, and so on.”
“You can install a Sky Guide widget on the iOS 11 Today screen (which hangs out to the left of your home screen) that shows you what cool astronomical events or satellite fly-bys are happening today,” Pogue writes. “You really have to watch the video [see full article] to appreciate how lovely and magical this app is. If you’re curious, scientific, or fascinated by the stars, $2.99 is well worth it…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: One of our favorite all-time apps and the “night vision” setting is also very useful when out stargazing.
I’m baffled. Astronomy apps have been able to do that years ago, before the AR hype. I remember showing it on my iPhone 4 to my father-in-law from NZ when they visited in 2014 …
What are you baffled about?
He reviews the #1 app, whatever it might be. And that’s it, at the moment.
And he acknowledges exactly what you are commenting, i.e.
“It’s been around for years, and it’s very similar to other, even older apps, like StarWalk. But since Sky Guide AR did land at No. 1, it’s fair game to be this week’s Rated:App!”
There’s no principle of quantum mechanics than says the #1 app has to be recent. And, no doubt, this particular AR-type app and others were boosted by the current fuss around AR. Nothing baffling to see here, folks.
Yea. I got Starwalk on my iPad 1st gen. That was in 2010. Great app.
I find this more interesting.
Not sure what I’m looking at. “iPad app” on a Samsung?