OUR FAVOURITES
Explore the universe
Want to get lost in the stars for a moment? Fancy exploring what lies beyond our world and learn about the far reaches of the universe? Set the keys to your homemade rocket aside, these apps will help you do just that, without any of the unforeseen explosions.
Night Sky
Packed with some incredible features to feed your love of the cosmos, star-gazers everywhere need Night Sky.
Simply aim your device skyward to identify planets and constellations, or pull them out for closer examination. Double tap to view the object, then tap AR to place a 3D model in front of you before zooming in to take a closer look and understand its makeup or the depth and distance of the stars within.
Ask Siri ‘what star is that?’, with your phone pointed at what you want to identify and Night Sky does just that. And if that wasn’t enough, the app can even find your nearest planetarium.
Big Bang AR
Take things back to day one of space and time. Open Big Bang AR, and stretch out your hand in front your device; make a fist then slowly open your hand to reveal the beginning of the entire universe sitting in your palm. Wow, right.
Narrated by actor Tilda Swinton, this AR app takes you from those first mere milliseconds after the Big Bang, explaining how a thick soup of quarks, electrons, neutrinos and photons – the building blocks of the universe – jostled together to form matter and expanded to create existence.
The app’s soft, space-y soundtrack is definitely best enjoyed with the sound on.
NASA
Want to know what the astronauts are up to on the International Space Station? Keen for updates on the latest findings of the Curiosity Mars Rover? The NASA app gives you this as well as being a the best place to keep track of all of NASA’s current missions and projects.
Receive notifications when the ISS flies over your hometown. Explore information about all the planets (including the dwarf ones you might not have heard of) in our solar system and track their orbit around the sun. See imagery captured by the Huddle telescope.
This is a fabulous resource to feed your fascination with space.
Moon Walk AR
Augmented reality (AR) can offer you a window into another world, and this app goes one (small) step beyond.
Moon Walk AR enables you to walk in Neil Armstrong’s footsteps: tap Start, scan the floor and in moments the screen wipes from the real world to the lunar surface. We challenge you not to be bowled over by this moment alone.
Turn around and you’ll find that you’re standing at the bottom of the steps to the Apollo Lunar Module, with Armstrong’s famous words audible, along with his first impressions. You just follow the path he took and discover more about the mission.
What’s in Space?
Want to kickstart you kids’ love of space early? This educational app for little ones is a cartoony delight.
There are four sections to the app: Travel To Space, Live In Space, The Solar System and The Sky. Your child will learn what astronauts do, solve puzzles, take quizzes and loads more. What’s in Space? is a perfect introduction to science, stars and cartoon rockets.