Skymap Pro for iphone

[Frank Ryan]

For a time last night it became clear and steady so I took
the opportunity to try out a nice little application for a recently
acquired iPhone called 'Starmap'
http://www.star-map.fr/

If your not familiar with these phones
(it seems an insult to call these things a
phone because they are and have the potential to be so much more.)
the screen is around the same size as a satnav,
it is touch sensitive, has an tilt sensor and also the resolution is just
amazing.
I don't generally like Apple products but this is really something.

Basically this independent application is a cross between starry night & a sky scout.
At first I thought it would be gimmicky but the functions on this
app are as good as many full planetarium progs out there.
In fact it really is a full prog in its own right.
It has an excellent database and perfect for deep sky object hunters.
The tonights visible / planning / eyepiece function / scope functions
and all the rest of the tools are very easy to use.
http://www.star-map.fr/starmapProScreenshots.html

I spent quite a while with just this and my binos last night
simply 'star' hopping from object to object.

I would say I have a good knolowage of the sky for an amateur astronomer and can find my way around easily enough but this
little tool is going to be a real help in learning more.
Not like a go to where you let the computer do the thinking,
this is essentially a mapping / observational tool and you still must do
the work to find the objects.

The zoom & tilt functions are addictive in that you can hold up the screen to the sky and zoom out to the level that matches your field of view and
then you can pan up down left right and it will match the area you are looking at. Great fun altogether!