Version 7 brings a new and immersive stargazing experience including one of the largest databases of any astronomy app, extreme accuracy, advanced planning and logging tools, and high performance telescope control. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, extensive information is displayed along with options to centre or orbit the object.SkySafari 7 Pro has been released by Simulation Curriculum offering support for iOS 15 and iPhone 13. The ability to search for anything, either by entering its name in a text box or using short-cut options, adds functionality to any software, and Sky Safari Pro 5 allows you to do both. It turns the screen dark red to keep it readable without destroying your night vision. Unless you’re observing the Moon the screen can be quite bright, so in keeping with many astro software applications Sky Safari Pro 5 has a very useful night mode. We did find the zoom function appeared smoother when using the latest iPhone 6s Plus compared to an older iPad 2. The sky display can show the whole 360° view or, if you manipulate the +/– controls either side of the screen, you can zoom into a selected centred object until it fills the screen. There are a few oddities where the tabulated data and the written notes don’t quite match up but these appeared to be few in number and didn’t spoil our enjoyment in using the app. We naturally couldn’t check the accuracy of every entry but, by and large, the information presented matched the main sources we could confirm. The amount of information available in the Pro version is staggering and you may wonder whether it is all really necessary, but it does mean it is impossible to run out of things to discover in the app. The Basic version of Sky Safari displays enough to keep the casual user happy, while the Plus version ups the ante with 2.6 million stars and 31,000 deep-sky objects, thousands of asteroids and comets, plus the option of telescope control.īut the Pro version is stargazing at the extreme with a whopping 25 million stars, 740,000 galaxies and 630,000 Solar System objects. If you love having as much information as possible then it should keep you busy for a very long time indeed. There’s so much to Sky Safari Pro 5 that we could have happily explored its possibilities if the skies had been clear every night. We found it accurate in taking us to any selected object above the horizon but the accuracy does depend on the precision of the initial Go-To alignment of the mount.Įquipment, cameras and CCDs can all be added to the Sky Safari Pro 5 app allowing you to customise to your own setup. This latter function is usually automatic but can be manually done from the Solar System menu, which also updates asteroid and comet elements too.īy purchasing the wireless SkyFi unit or the wired SkyWire accessory, any Go-To telescope listed in the Telescope settings page can be controlled as long as a star alignment has been performed first. Satellites can be shown as long as their elements have been updated. The compass button in the main menu allows you to hold the display up to the sky to match and identify what you can see, which is ideal for novices learning their way round the sky or for anyone trying to identify a planet or object. Horizon panoramas from 18 sites around the world add an extra touch of realism or you can choose to show the ground as translucent, opaque or not at all, which can feel strange when you have stars all around you. You can also search for named, brightest or nearest stars – the latter makes a good guide to our local neighbourhood and can be quite revealing in the range of brightness from dazzling Sirius to much fainter red dwarves. The search function is particularly useful in that it breaks down into a huge range of categories to make your search more specific.Ī nice touch is the ability to choose from a range of deep-sky objects, including the Messier or Caldwell catalogues, and it’s good to see popular asterisms included even if the Plough has become the Big Dipper. This lets you choose whether to display them or confine your view to a particular type of object, which is good if you’re planning an evening of planetary nebula hunting, for example. The level of detailed info for display can also be adjusted so that objects such as double or multiple stars can be marked for easy identification.ĭeep-sky objects can be highlighted by selecting various categories on the settings menus, such as galaxies, bright nebulae, open clusters and more. The sky simulation is adjustable to show deep-sky objects as images (where images are available), constellation lines or artworks. The full menu can be displayed in landscape mode for both iPad and iPhone but in portrait mode it becomes swipeable to reach all the menu items.
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