As the world turns its attention outward with NASA’s 2009 Moon Shot and the International Week of Cosmos, Vito Technology Inc. is promoting Star Walk to unveil a new view of the heavens that is literally out of this world.
At $4.99, this educational iPhone app will cast a layout of the galaxy above you, with labeled constellations to help you find your way. It requires no Internet to dip down through the Southern Hemisphere or to peek at the planets all queued up as if waiting for their turn at sunlight.
But for those with 3G connections, this app works best as a pocket reference when perusing the night sky. It will read your current location via GPS, so you can hold up your iPhone and tilt it around to see an exact replica of what’s above. It even outlines the shapes of constellations so you can easily pick out Leo’s mane or Cancer’s claws.
A complete search function also let’s you type in the names of stars and constellations or browse an alphabetical list. It will point them out, along with an info tab that pulls up data about things like visual magnitude, co-ordinances and distances for each one.
Don’t forget that you’re gazing at a glimpse of the past, as the closest star is more four light-years away. With Star Walk, you can easily alter the date and hour so you can always know what’s occurring in real time. Better yet, go back as early as 1600 A.D. and check out what you would have seen back when there were other frontiers still undiscovered.
Now space all we have left and with Star Walk you can explore it right from you phone. Only, the more we seem to map this unknown, the more majestic it becomes.
