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iStellar app for iPhone and iPad


4.8 ( 9328 ratings )
Navigation Education
Developer: AstroArts Inc.
3.99 USD
Current version: 2.9.6, last update: 6 months ago
First release : 14 Oct 2008
App size: 36.72 Mb

iStellar is a planetarium App that shows the starry sky seen from the place and time of your choice. It is optimized for Multi-Touch control, allowing you to operate intuitively; drag to move the star chart, pinch to zoom in and out, and so on.
The star chart can be rotated from portrait to landscape, and you can even fix the location via GPS (only for iPhone 3G).

FEATURES
- Over 16,000 star data, with name for 254 stars
- Twinkles like actual stars
- Simulates distortion (atmospheric refraction and extinction) at low altitude
- Displays the Sun, daylight, twilight, the Moon (with shape and phase), 8 planets, Pluto
- Shows name, line and picture for all constellations
- Milky Way with real tone
- Plots Messier objects and their names
- Comets with accurate position and magnitude. Data can be downloaded whenever available
- Meteor Shower Radiants
- Solar eclipse simulation with high accuracy
- Adjustable moonlight and light polution
- Landscape and azimuth / direction grid
- Beautiful animation (real-time, adjusted time, reversal)
- Simulates every second between 1 Jan 1900 to 31 Dec 2099
- Switches screen according to the devices orientation
- Zoom by pinching(3 to 180 degrees)
- Easy moving through the sky by dragging, and centering by double-tap
- Object Search function
- Free choice of location and time zone, instant setting with GPS

Pros and cons of iStellar app for iPhone and iPad

iStellar app good for

Visually beautiful display. Might not be enough technical "stuff" for some, but it is a lovely view of the stars and planets in your pocket.
This App wins full marks for its visual appearance, especially the twinkle of brighter stars. I love the ability to activate the images for the constellations and have them appear as you center in on each one. The drawings are clear and beautiful! The addition of being able to download the orbital elements for current comets proved to be highly accurate and handy as I observed Comet Lulin with my telescope during its journey through our Solar System. This is the only astronomical software that I have found so far for the iTouch with this ability. I also use this App when teaching about constellations during public observing sessions. Very well done. I do wish that we could select the whole sky, thereby allowing the user to explore the southern constellations as well. I hope that this feature will be added soon, then I can add the other rating-star!
along with starwalk, this is my favorite application on my touch. i love it. i love the twinkling stars and the graphics. i just wish everything was antialiased for a smoother look - but its an amazing app anyway. one of the rare ones i use just about every day, if only out of curiosity!
The "Light Pollution" setting is a brilliant feature for deciding what you could actually see in-town. This is also one of the only apps Ive seen that includes the Constellation Picture/Artwork so you can try to visualize what you actually see. The app feels very light-weight and not prone to crashing from heavy use. I can go stargazing anytime and anyplace using this app! Search for a constellation, check the name of a star, or simply admire the sunset, twinkling stars, the Milky Way, etc. iStellar is no less functional than an actual star atlas/planetarium, and far more easy to control!

Some bad moments

I actually purchased this app by mistake. I wanted to view more details and read the reviews, but the apple store just starts the purchase without a confirmation. Now for the app. It shows stars, it shows constellations. Ok, big whoop. You cant search for objects, you cant adjust magnitude to relate to your actual human eye view. The app doesnt track your position relative to the direction your facing. So basically, Im not impressed and actually quite put out that I paid 9 bucks for this app which should have sold for 99 cents. I believe they have a nice solid foundation on which to build and make improvements. But for now, this app is one to either avoid, or maybe the developer will rethink the price. Bottom line. Look somewhere else.
I have been using Planetarium for Palm OS for years. It has 2 million stars, full object databases, Alt-Az and sky view, rise/set times and much more. It is a professional grade tool. Its $30. This app is a fun toy but not worth the price.
Thats the message I get after the most recent upgrade to iStellar. Tech Support at AstroArts gave the typical non-response: Were sorry that you got trouble. iStellar works any iPhone/iPod touch with iPhone OS 3.0 or later. So you try re-sync application using iTunes. I resync at least once a day, and Im running the latest OS on an iPhone 3G.

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