SkySafari
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As the Cassini Spacecraft takes a faraway Earth picture, you can follow along
Earth will get a very not-too-close closeup today from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, now on the far side of the planet Saturn. The photo session will take place between 2:27 PM and 2:42 PM PDT. The Earth will be seen from 900 million miles away. It won't be a detailed image, but it is the longest-range photo ever taken of the Earth. This will likely be the one and only image the spacecraft takes of the Earth. You can follow along with a couple of iOS apps that will virtually take you there. First, SkySafari has just had an update to the iOS and Mac apps they offer. SkySafari's basic version will be free on the iTunes Store from July 19th through July 21st; it's normally US$3 at the iTunes Store. With SkySafari, observers around the globe can easily use their iPhone or GPS, compass and accelerometer to easily locate Saturn in the sky. A brand-new release of SkySafari Plus ($9.99 sale price) and Pro (3.8.1) ($29.99) lets mobile app users fly to Saturn, and simulate the view from Cassini. These powerful apps will be offered at up to 25 percent off regular price today, the day of the event, through Sunday, July 21st. Meanwhile, another great Astronomy app, Distant Suns (Classic) for iOS is having a half-price sale today at $1.99. Distant Suns Max is $3.99 down from a regular price of $9.99. Distant Suns can take you for a virtual view of the Earth from Saturn just as it will appear to the Cassini spacecraft. The Cassini mission has been pretty awesome. People around the world are gathering at planetariums and other public places to wave back at Saturn when the images of Earth are being taken. After the moon, I think my first views through my telescope when I was young were of Saturn. It's a beautiful sight. If you want to get a look at Saturn today and tonight here's a guide to help you. Saturn will be in the southwestern sky tonight from North America. With powerful binoculars or a small telescope, you should be able to see the rings. Here's another bit of trivia: Our own Steve Sande's wife Barbara was on the Cassini launch team. Well done! %Gallery-194190%
Satellite Safari gives you a unique vantage point for what is in orbit
Satellite Safari is a new iOS app from the creators of Sky Safari. Rather than look at the universe, Satellite Safari has more local ambitions. The app contains a complete database of what is orbiting the earth. It allows you to find what is overhead, then view the spacecraft from earth, from above the earth, or right next to the orbiting satellite with the sun's lighting at the correct orientation. You can easily find what is above you at any time, and try to locate it with binoculars or with the naked eye if the satellite is bright enough. The satellite positions are updated every second, and the position calculations are updated every day. This app packs a lot of power into an iOS device. It's just the thing to have when you are sitting out on our increasingly pleasant spring evenings seeing if you can spot some of the man-made traffic zipping by over our heads. My tests of the app were positive. No crashes, no surprises. Sometimes the animation could be a little jumpy. Lots going on in the background, but I never found it a problem. The app did everything I asked it to do, and worked quickly. Even better, Satellite Safari is the official app of the Sky Cube Mission, which is expected to launch and deploy from the International Space Station in September. When it does, you'll actually be able to request your own images from/of Earth, and even 'broadcast' your own messages from orbit as 'tweets from space.' %Gallery-183678% Like Sky Safari, Satellite Safari not only does good math, but displays its graphics in a compelling way. When you have the orbital view, you can zoom in to see details of the satellite, or rotate the image to see it from any angle. As you rotate, the light and shadows update in a realistic fashion. Satellite Safari is a universal app on sale until April for US$2.99. It's optimized for the iPhone 5 and requires iOS 4.3 or later. A very cool app, which will only become more useful this fall when the SkyCube features ramp up.
Check out tomorrow's asteroid close call on your iPhone or iPad
As you may have read, our home planet will have a close call tomorrow, February 15, with a 180,000-ton asteroid called 2012 DA14. There is no chance of a collision, but the space rock will come within 17,200 miles, closer than many of our communication satellites. You can follow the approach of the asteroid tomorrow from several of the Southern Stars apps for iOS. You won't be able to see the asteroid with the naked eye -- that will take a pretty large telescope with computerized tracking to get it into the correct position -- but SkySafari Plus and SkySafari Pro will do the job on your iOS device. The math it takes to display the space rock is tricky, so Southern Stars founder Tim DeBenedictis consulted with experts at JPL and added a solar system orbit integrator into the app. That means the app is not just displaying a canned animation of the fly-by, but actually computing the asteroid position in real time. I watched the asteroid in my version of SkySafari Pro. It's easy to find it in the sky by typing in its name, but the best views were from a few miles away from the asteroid where you can watch it approach the Earth and graze by. %Gallery-178864% The updated software is free for SkySafari owners, and people interested in getting the software are being offered a 30 percent off sale that lasts through Sunday. The folks at Southern Stars note that the OS X version of SkySafari did not get updated due to delays in the approval process at the App Store. With the sale prices, SkySafari Plus for iOS is US$9.99, and SkySafari Pro for iOS is $29.99. The basic version of SkySafari does not contain the orbit integrator. Southern Stars created a video showing the fly-by, which I've included below. Of course, the SkySafari software is not just for tracking asteroids, but it's a complete star atlas and planetarium app that can show you the sky from any place on Earth and any date up to a million years in the past or future. The apps are universal and optimized for the iPhone 5. They require iOS 4.3 or later.
If you're going to check out the Venus transit try to capture it with your iPhone
On Tuesday, Venus will pass in front of the sun for the last time until 2117. Southern Stars Group, LLC, makers of SkySafari for iOS wants people to use their iPhone or iPad cameras to capture the transit and have a chance to win an iPad, iPod touch, or a Samsung Galaxy tablet (which most of our readers would probably pass on). To enter, here's the catch, you must own a copy of one of the editions of SkySafari, which is on sale for this event starting at US $0.99. Rules for the contest can be found on the Southern Stars website. Contest aside, this is a good excuse to get SkySafari if you don't have it already. It's a great way to get out under the summer night skies and see what is up there. At transit time, which is of course a daytime event, you'll be able to see a simulation of what's happening in real time. Let me emphasize that just like an eclipse, you DON'T want to look at the sun. Make a pinhole camera, or get some solar viewing glasses, and don't look at the sun with a telescope or binoculars unless those devices are properly protected. Frying your eye is simply no fun and can ruin your day. Here's some NASA information about the transit and some general photography tips, although they don't apply specifically to your iPhone camera. If you want even more information, the Bad Astronomy website has a good collection of facts and tips. Enjoy the transit, if you can see it. It will be visible in about 2/3 of the world, so if the weather cooperates you should have no trouble seeing Venus glide in front of the sun. Most of us won't have a chance to see the next transit, so good luck. Check the gallery to see how SkySafari simulates the event. %Gallery-156672%
Daily iPhone App: SkySafari
SkySafari from Southern Stars is an app for the astronomy enthusiast with an iPhone. It's the perfect companion for a new telescope owner, who can use the app to help locate celestial bodies in the sky, or the casual observer who wants to know the name of that bright star cluster overhead. It's also useful for the seasoned astronomer who wants a pocket reference that's chock full of information. The basic app (US$2.99) displays over 120,000 stars and has images of all the major planets and their moons. It also includes information on well-known asteroids and comets. SkySafari lets you look up details on each heavenly object including its catalog number and its coordinates in the sky. The app also explains the history and mythology behind each celestial object, so you can learn about the object as well as find it in the sky. If you have an iOS device with a compass or gyroscope, you can point the app at the sky and use an augmented reality view to locate stars and planets. It even includes a night mode which preserves your dark-adjusted vision when you're out stargazing at night. One of the best features is "Tonight's Best," which lists the best celestial objects to observe that night. The app generates this list based on your location and the local date and time. The app also has SkyWeek, a list of notable astronomical events pulled from Sky and Telescope Magazine's popular weekly column. Both Tonight's Best and SkyWeek are fantastic places to start if you're new to astronomy and don't want to miss an important event. SkySafari is also available in a Plus ($14.99) and Pro ($59.99) version which includes information on millions of stars, deep sky objects and every comet or asteroid ever observed. If you have a motorized GoTo mount, the Plus and Pro versions also let you control your telescope using the iPhone app. SkySafari is similar to Star Walk, another iPad and iPhone-based astronomy app. Both apps give you an augmented reality view of the sky and have information on the objects that you see. SkySafari, though, has additional features like SkyWeek that'll appeal more to the serious hobbyist than the casual observer. The depth of the information available and the option to control your telescope make SkySafari one of the leading astronomical apps available for iOS.
First RS-232 to dock connector interface controls telescope
In the video on the next page you'll see a demo of the SkySafari app from Southern Stars. It's a great app for astronomy buffs, complete with gorgeous renderings of the night sky and an illustrated astronomy textbook in one neat little package. You'll also see a product called SkyFi, which is a WiFi dongle that connects to telescopes using an RS-232 port (sometimes old school is the best school, yes). Finally, you'll see a first: the very first 30-pin dock connector-to-RS-232 port cable used by SkySafari to control a telescope. It's called SkyWire and seeing an iPhone control a telescope is a treat. We're told the cable starts shipping in December and will be sold as an Apple-approved, Made For iPod product. (Editor's note: SkyWire is currently in the final stages of Apple's certification process.) While SkySafari is awesome, I'm kind of hoping to see this cable put to more uses, like robotics or electronics hobbyist tools. The RS-232 port has been around for a long time, and while newer technologies have surpassed it in speed, it's an accessible tech for the amateur electronics buff. Check out SkySafari for iOS on the App Store or try the Lite version here. Both are on sale during the MacTech conference (ending November 5). Please note the picture above is of a prototype unit. TUAW is a media sponsor of the MacTech Conference 2010.
