Planets – Review

Our rating:

By: Dana Peters

Version #: 1.0

Date Released: 2009-02-17

Developer: Planets

Price: 0.00

User Rating:

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I’m not an astronomer.  While I like PBS as much as the next guy, I’ve never frequented planetariums.  But, when it’s dark out and there are lots of stars out, I’m always staring at them transfixed.

"Which one is the big dipper?" Is probably the most commonly asked question at night. The second most popular phrase I say is “What’s that? Oh, it’s an airplane.”

The iPhone comes to the rescue once again with a handy-dandy free app–Planets.

The application boils down all that "space stuff" to the very simple things: When are all the planets visible, and what do the planets look like.

When the app starts up, it shows you the relative position of all the planets in the sky. The button labeled ‘visibility’ shows you the times when all planets are visible, and there is a globe button which allows you to see a 3D version of any planet.

If you are a "true" astronomy nut, this app isn’t for you; a lot of information is left out such as position in the sky, “technical” names of what you are looking at, a map  of the heavens.

All these things may be great—but for somebody like me that has just a passing interest in the sky, this app is close to perfect.

Quick Take

Value: High

Would I Buy Again:  Yes

Learning Curve:  Hardly any, very intuitive

Who Is It For: People with an EXTREMELY LIGHT interest in the night sky

What I Like:  Doesn’t have so much information that I get confused.

What I Don’t: It’d be nice if it had the constellations

Final Statement: Planets is a very easy to use, and extremely basic astronomy program. If you have anything more than a passing interest in the night sky, this app isn’t for you.