Southern Stars has launched version 3 of SkySafari, a major upgrade of its sky simulator/planetarium software for iOS. It now comes in three versions, Basic, Plus and Pro.
This astronomy app for iOS provides a real-time display of the sky at any time, a virtual planetarium in your hand. In addition, the Plus and Pro versions can function as a telescope controller.
New features in version 3 include:
- Spectacular new horizon panoramas.
- Improved sun glow and sunset effects.
- Artistic illustrations of the constellations fade in and out as needed.
- Momentum added when swiping the sky chart.
- Gyroscope support for iPhone 4, iPod touch 4G, and iPad 2.
- Adjustable label intensity for deep sky objects.
- Sky and Telescope’s “SkyWeek” included.
The basic version of SkySafari 3 can display 120,000 stars, plus 220 of the best-known star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies in the sky. It displays the Solar System’s major planets and moons using NASA spacecraft imagery, and includes the best-known 20 asteroids and comets.
The Plus version adds a hugely expanded database — and wired or wireless telescope control — to the basic version. It can display up to 2.5 million stars, and 31,000 deep sky objects - including the entire NGC/IC catalog. It includes over 4,000 asteroids, comets, and satellites with updateable orbits. And it can point your GoTo or “Push-To” telescope anywhere in the sky, using your iPhone/iPad/iPod’s built-in WiFi, and our SkyFi or SkyWire serial accessories.
The Pro version adds 15 million stars from the Hubble Guide Star catalog to magnitude 15 and 740,000 galaxies to magnitude 18.
Southern Stars has published an extensive comparison chart for the three versions.
All versions of the app, which require iOS 4.0 or later, are Universal applications and are half price until June 21.