Reach for the skies – with an App!

5 May 2010 by Graham Lyons - News Android, google No Comments

If you have an Android phone, you have access to possibly the coolest app ever.

Since the dawn of time, people have been staring to the night sky, for inspiration, for directions, for a sense of purpose or just to see what there is out there. Starting with the naked eye, mankind progressed from optical telescopes to radio telescopes to high energy particle telescopes, but save for those with a vested interest in astronomy, the mysteries of the night sky have been relatively inaccessible to the layman, until now.

Using the Android phones GPS, internal compass, and clock, Google Sky Map displays an annotated image of the area of sky you point it at. It shows the constellations and planets so that if there was a particularly shiny blob in the sky which you always wanted to know more about you can now aim your Android phone towards it and find out – oh it’s the Moon. It even works in the day time, or when it’s cloudy as the App doesn’t use the phones camera. You can also, as its Google, search the night sky for something in particular using a clever pointer.

This video can show you more of its features:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6znyx0gjb4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Phones are no longer just phones by any stretch of the imagination. With this app, you can navigate the high seas using only the stars; impress a lady/gentleman friend with your knowledge of the night sky, during the day; or look for UFOs.

To get this app, which is currently only available on Android, use your phones barcode reader to scan the barcode below or search the Apps marketplaces. If you are an iPhone user, sadly there is as yet no sign of the app being available to you as Apple seems to keep rejecting Google’s apps.