![]() The app's author, Marcus Chown, quips in the About section, "No expense has been spared in the production of Solar System. Nearly all of the photos and illustrations are exquisite. Clicking on a gallery thumbnail gives you a full-screen version of the image. Solar System includes a gallery for each planet, moon, or class of objects (asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, Oort Cloud, etc.). To the right of the WolframAlpha button is an icon that takes you to an image gallery. The spinning red crystal icon at the page's lower left is WolframAlpha clicking on it takes you to information on the planet or moon from that search engine, including physical properties, orbit, and current position in the sky. Clicking on Done takes you back to the Io opening page. For instance, clicking on the orrery from the page for Io takes you to Jupiter, where its four largest moons, including Io, are in motion their speed can be controlled through the slider. ![]() Pressing the Orrery button now takes you to the object. The opening page for each planet or moon contains the rotatable image, plus a brief description of that world. Swiping on the image of the globe takes you through an animation showing 400 million years of shifting land masses. My favorite 3D depiction is one of our own world, titled Wegener's Jigsaw, after Alfred Wegener, who came up with the theory of continental drift after noticing that the coastlines of Africa and South America. In addition to Wegener's jigsaw and the introductory page, Earth pages include one called Water World one called Earth's aura, about the atmosphere Living planet details the development and nature of life on our planet Earth's umbrella, about the protective effect of greenhouse gases and the Earth's magnetic field and lastly, How do we know the Earth is round?Īs planets and most of the moons depicted are spheres (more or less), the 3D functionality consists of the ability to rotate these worlds to see their entire surface area (or cloud belts, as the case may be.) Irregularly shaped asteroids look more dramatic when rotating. The About button describes the app, a collaboration between Touch Press and British publisher Faber and Faber, with the imagery processed by Planetary Vision Ltd., and includes a Credits button.Įach orb accessible through a home-page icon has at least one page devoted to it, and some (the Moon and Mars) have as many as nine pages, each page covering an important aspect of that world. Pressing on Song takes you to a slideshow of space images set to an instrumental version of Biophilia, by Björk. Displayed under each world are icons for its moons (if any) or other relevant objects Ceres, Vesta, and other asteroids appear under Asteroid Belt, Comets under Oort Cloud and Pluto, Eris, and other icy so-called dwarf planets under Kuiper Belt. The home screen displays a grid of icons across the top are the Sun, Earth, and planets, as well as the asteroid belt, Kuiper Belt, and Oort cloud. The app is a good choice for students up to high school students and interested laymen alike. Its image galleries, featuring pictures from NASA missions and elsewhere as well as artist's impressions, are exquisite. It has the same excellence in design and content as two Editors' Choice iPad apps made by Touch Press, The Elements: A 3D Exploration and Pyramids 3D, including similar virtual reality rotatable 3D figures. Solar System ($13.99), an iPad app, lets you explore the Sun and its retinue of planets. Text, although relevant and focused, is somewhat succinct.How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.
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