Explore the Solar System with iSolarScape!
iSolarScape is an interactive "astronomy clock" for the casual stargazer, while still providing plenty of detail to satisfy the seasoned observer.
The main feature of iSolarScape is the ability to tell you, in plain language, when and where to look for the most common objects easily visible in the night sky.
Easy-to-understand language is used, not just a jumble of scientific numbers, such as "The Moon is High in the South". Casual information is displayed in bright easy-to-read colors, while detail is shown in dimmer colors. Many "pages" include a button at the top to display extra information with just a touch.
All information for your current location is calculated instantly with no Internet connection needed. Simply select your city from over 600 world cities, or let your device determine your location automatically.
The appearance of many heavenly bodies is displayed using a series of images such as the Moon transitioning through its phases. You can control and animate these displays by moving "sliders", showing them at faster or slower rates.
Containing 30 pages of colorful images, animations and information, iSolarScape offers the following features:
Sun
This first page displays an image of the current sunlit side of the Earth. As the day progresses, this image rotates to follow the Suns motion through the sky. At sunrise, your location appears on the far left side of the globe, in the center at mid-day, and on the far right side at sunset.
Below is the current view of the Suns position in the sky, shown as a diagram presented in different colors based upon the time of day. An orange Sun is shown rising against a dark blue sky at sunrise, a bright yellow Sun appears against a light blue sky at mid-day, and the diagram is drawn in shades of gray at night.
A slider controls the animation of both of these views, causing the Earth image and the Sun diagram to change in synchronized fashion.
Moon
The Moons current phase is displayed from 30 striking spacecraft images, and a slider controls the animation! Can you see the "Man in the Moon" and the "Old Lady in the Moon"?
Planets
The Planets page is a "Solar System simulator" that displays and animates the relative positions of the planets. The classical symbols for the nine planets are displayed in a row across the bottom of the screen in unique colors, with their orbit positions represented above as dots.
Touching a symbol displays an information page, a slider beneath changes the number of planets shown, and another at the top controls the animation. The planets can be made to move through time, from a slow day-by-day pace, to a much faster one-year-per-second rate!
Mercury and Venus
Where to look for each of these Inner Planets in plain language, such as: "Visible High in the Evening Sky".
Mars
Current image and features on Mars visible through a telescope
Jupiter
A "Galilean Satellites" button offers another animated "simulator" page for Jupiters 4 major moons, namely Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Asteroids
Symbols and detailed information on the 4 largest asteroids: Ceres, Vesta, Juno and Pallas.
Zodiac
Symbols and diagrams of the 12 constellations through which the Sun, Moon and planets appear to move, along with information for each "sign" in Western astrology.
NASA Missions
Real-time information is available for the MESSENGER mission to Mercury, the Dawn mission to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, and the New Horizons mission to Pluto including elapsed and arrival times.
iSolarScape has a wealth of useful and interactive information at your fingertips, much more than can be listed here, and its all presented in a fun and easy-to-use style. With iSolarScape, you control the entire Solar System in your hand!