Star Walk HD — Night Sky Map a great AR star gazing guide for the iPad

By Aaron Lee

Vito Technology’s Star Walk HD — Night Sky Map is an augmented reality stargazing guide for spotting over 200,000 stars, planets, constellations, satellites and galaxies. Designed for the iPad, it looks fantastic on the new pro editions.

Star Walk is a handy astronomy guide that shows celestial objects (stars, constellations, satellites, etc.) in the exact positions on the sky above you, providing information about them. It helps you find your way across the sky, determine where to look for any chosen object, rewind or fast-forward time to see how celestial bodies move.

A stargazing widget tells you about the upcoming visible celestial events with respect to user’s location, current phase of the moon, time of sunset and sunrise, and even alerts to the closest iridium flares. It helps you be aware of the upcoming events and have the info at your fingertips. By tapping the event on the widget you can open up Star Walk, go to Calendar section and set a reminder for the event in the Calendar app.

Iridium flares are the reflections of sunlight caught by Iridium communication satellites orbiting the Earth. They happen as the satellite turns to a specific angle to the Sun and the viewer on the ground and these position can be calculated allowing Star Walk users to see the flares. The Star Walk HD widget will inform you on the coming Iridium flares that can be seen from your location.

Star Walk HD — Night Sky Map requires iOS 8.0 or later. It costs $4.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Apple App Store.

Apple World Today Rating (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★