Orion StarSeek 3 Max 3.8.1
Device: iOS Universal
Category: Education
Price: $59.99 -> $39.99, Version: 3.8.1 (iTunes)
Description:Some call it the astronomy app on steroids! We just call it the biggest and best astronomy app in the entire app universe. The all-new StarSeek 3 Max boasts the largest database of stars and deep-sky objects of any astronomy app – hands down. It’s a super-sized mega-app for the amateur astronomer who wants to go deeeeeep!
StarSeek 3 Max enables control of Orion computerized “GoTo” telescopes (and many other brands) from your Apple device, with the optional Orion StarSeek Wi-Fi module or (coming soon!) Orion StarSeek Telescope Control Cable.
NOTE: Orion is the exclusive licensee for distribution of the Southern Stars SkySafari apps, sold by Orion under the name StarSeek. The current versions of StarSeek 3 Pro and StarSeek 3 Max are largely identical to SkySafari 3 Plus and SkySafari 3 Pro, respectively. StarSeek 3 (standard edition) is a smaller, 50MB edition that differs substantively from SkySafari 3.
Weighing in at over 400MB, StarSeek 3 Max contains everything in StarSeek 3 Pro, but also includes over 15.3 million stars from the Hubble Guide Star catalog, plus 740,000 galaxies down to 18th magnitude, and over 550,000 solar system objects, including every comet and asteroid ever discovered! Yet it runs just as fast and smoothly as our basic version.
With an iPhone 3GS, 4, iPad or iPad 2, or 4th-generation iPod Touch, just hold it up to any portion of the sky and StarSeek automatically displays a matching star map that moves as you move your iDevice! Identify stars and planets by holding your phone next to them. Pinpoint any object in the sky by simply following the guiding arrow! The red "night vision" mode preserves your dark adaptation while you explore.
StarSeek 3 Max accurately shows the sky from any place on Earth up to a million years in the past or future. It includes 1100 descriptions of constellations, stars, and planets written by professional astronomers. And it contains over 800 astrophotographs. The Time Flow animation feature lets you compress up to years of time into seconds!
StarSeek also includes SkyWeek from Sky & Telescope magazine. It's a week-at-a-glance summary of sky events featuring interactive sky charts.
StarSeek 3 Max’s gorgeous, streamlined user interface and seemingly infinite content takes exploring the night sky to an exciting new dimension - and turns your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch into a futuristic telescope controller. Get it today!
WHAT'S NEW in StarSeek 3 Max:
1) Hubble Guide Star catalog; PGC galaxies to mag 18; complete solar system database of 550,000 objects.
2) Spectacular new horizon panoramas, improved Sun glow, horizon glow, and sunset effects.
3) New scrolling toolbar gives you easy access to common functions.
4) Artistic illustrations of all 88 constellations, which fade in and out of view as you pan around the sky chart.
5) Animated panning to selected objects now provides better sense of where they are located in the sky.
6) Support for the gyroscope built into the iPhone 4, 4th-gen iPod Touch, and iPad 2 for smoother tracking motion.
7) SkyWeek from Sky & Telescope magazine!
8) "Tonight's Best" list of objects, customized for your location, date, and time.
9) Comets are now rendered more realistically, with tails.
10) Orbits of the planets and their moons illustrate their paths through space.
11) Constellation labels are brighter for improved readability.
12) Night vision mode has numerous improvements, including a Night Vision toolbar button.
13) A new "Center" button in the main toolbar makes it easier to center the selected object in the sky chart, and keep it locked there.
14) A "local Align" (sync) function for Orion, Celestron, and SkyWatcher telescopes.
15) For computerized "push-to" telescopes, StarSeek now does a 2-star alignment, eliminating the need to level the telescope mount base.
What's New
1. Added 3D models of Cassini and Voyager spacecraft, the International Space Station, and Hubble Space Telescope (Pro/Max only)
2. Fixed new bug where the Sunset, Sunrise, Moonset, etc. buttons in the Time & Date setting didn't work on iPad.
3. Fixed crash that could happen when doing a two finger tap in the Object Info screen.
4. Fixed reversal of the Date/Time label and its value in the Observation Edit screen.
5. Added ability to save telescope communication log files for debugging problems. Telescope communication log files are saved on your iPhone or iPad, and you can transfer them to your computer using iTunes file sharing.
6. Improved performance when drawing many faint solar system objects. Default solar system magnitude limit is now 20, as opposed to unlimited; settings files now restore unlimited (infinite) magnitudes correctly.
7. Now displays orbit epoch for satellites and solar system objects in Object Info. Conjunction, opposition, eclipse dates in Object Info now show the first such event taking place any time in the next 2 years, and the math runs much faster now.
8. Added support for telescope axis encoders on SiTech controllers in Push-To mode.
9. Implemented fix for alignment problems with encoder systems on clock-driven equatorial mounts.
10. Fixed problems drawing orbits with eccentricity very close to (but not exactly) 1, like that of comet PANSTARRS.
11. Super-hi-res Earth/Moon/Mars maps now appear when panning or zooming is finished; no more jerky performance while panning/zooming in progress.
12. Asteroid and comet positions are now precisely computed with gravitational perturbations of the major planets taken into account. Simulate near-Earth asteroid flybys like that of 2012 DA14 with NASA-like precision!
13. Object Info for satellites now shows satellite latitude, longitude, altitude, and velocity.
14. Includes default solar system database with asteroid and comet data current as of mid-January, 2013.
15. Fixed failure to import data from asteroids and comets that are not already in the default solar system object database.
16. We now display the last time the Orbit Data was updated, under the "Update Minor Body Orbit Data" button.
17. Fixed problem where a newly created observing list's name wasn't editable until you had put an object in the list.
18. Added ability to highlight object in an object list or observing list. When turned on, the sky chart draws circles around all objects in a list, and displays an icon that lets you quickly return to that list.
19. Reorganized the Solar System settings to include a new Orbit & Path display. You can now show a single planet's orbit or path. "Update Minor Body Data" button removed, since orbits are now updated automatically every week!
20. Tapping Orbit button returns you to default distance from the object you're orbiting if you're already in orbit around it (instead of just doing nothing.)
21. Added Jupiter's Moon events and Red Spot transits to Object Info for Jupiter. Fixed bug displaying erroneously-cached solar system object info.
22. Implemented Recal command (:CMR#) instead of Sync (:CM#) for AstroPhysics GTO mounts. Added Orion StarSeeker telescope type.
23. New maps of Mercury, a few of Saturn's moons, and asteroid Vesta. Renders solar system bodies without surface textures using "Default.jpg" surface texture.
24. Preserves asteroid and comet diameters from default solar system data file when updating with new data from Minor Planet Center.
25. Asteroid, comet, and satellite orbits are updated automatically every week. You can still update them manually from Settings -> Solar System -> Update Minor Body Orbit Data button.
26. Other assorted bug and database fixes
Orion StarSeek 3 Max