More astronomy software for iPhone

In a previous post, I wrote about two different planetarium programs that I’ve tested out for the iphone.  In this post I’m mentioning two programs are for studying the Moon and Mars.  They are called Moon Globe and Mars Globe (from Midnight Martian) and are both really awesome.  They sport beautiful graphics, high resolution imagery, intuitive controls, and a wealth of information both in-program and in outside-link form.  The interactivity is a lot of fun- flick the planet to rotate it, study phases, or select surface features.  There are dedicated sections for landers (from all nations) as well.  You can read a thorough review here, but my opinion is that these programs are not just about pretty pictures.  They were clearly written by a programmer who has paid a lot of attention to the issues surrounding how to effectively deal with the huge amount of imagery and information available to students interested in the Moon and Mars.  Moon Globe in particular has features that are really useful for an observer at a telescope: Left-Right and Up-Down flips. Video below of Mars Globe.  They are on sale for $1.99 each at the iTunes store.

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