Sky Academy: Learn Astronomy 4+

Learn constellations and stars

Xiang Dong

Designed for iPad

    • 4.9 • 119 Ratings
    • Free
    • Offers In-App Purchases

Screenshots

Description

Effectively learn all the 88 constellations, 150+ brightest stars and 110 Deep Sky Objects by progressing through 450+ levels and train & test your knowledge with fun.

Features:
- 123 levels teach, train and test your knowledge of all 88 constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union.
- 180 levels teach, train and test your knowledge of 150+ brightest stars of the sky.
- NEW! 153 levels teach, train and test your knowledge of 110 Deep Sky Objects (Messier Objects).
- Create your own list of constellations, stars and DSOs for learning and practice.
- 7 default presets (e.g. zodiac constellations & navigational stars) ready for use.
- Three training and testing modes for each level (easy, medium and hard) to help you progress smoothly and guide you to eventually recognize the constellations, stars and DSOs in the real night sky.
- Opportunity to review your mistakes after completing each level.
- Device-specific pronunciation for constellations, stars and DSOs.
- Realistic night sky simulation and beautiful illustrations and animations.
- Combination of learning and gaming. Learn while having fun.
- Explore the mysterious night sky on your own on the Explore screen.
- Completely configure the game according to your preference. Adjust sounds & vibrations, change appearance of the sky (stars, illustrations, constellation lines, borders of constellations, equatorial grid lines, focus ring, Milky Way, etc.) and so on.
- Night mode to reduce the strain on the eyes.
- Absolutely no ads.
- Works completely offline.

Game
The game is designed to teach the user to recognize all the 88 modern constellations, brightest stars and 110 Messier Objects by taking them through a number of levels. Levels are divided into categories (constellations, stars & DSOs), regions (north, equator, south) and difficulties (easy, medium, hard). Each level teaches only a small number of objects and then trains the knowledge in a quiz game to aid memorization. Later levels also review and retest the knowledge of previously learnt objects.

Levels
In each level, you're first given an opportunity to see and memorize the objects (constellations, stars or DSOs) of that level. Use the arrows to go through all of them, and click 'Start' once you're ready. The description of each object is displayed on the panel at the bottom of the screen. The panel can be expanded by dragging it up to show more details about the object. After clicking “Start”, an object will be shown and you’ll be presented with 4 options. The level ends when you answer a certain number of questions (shown in the top-left corner) correctly. At the end of the level you'll have the opportunity to review the mistakes you’ve made before progressing further. Please note, in challenge levels, no hints are available and you are given only a limited number of lives to pass them.

Difficulties
Each level is available in 3 difficulties: easy, medium, and hard.
Easy levels show the lines of the constellations, making the experience less similar to the real night sky, but it's the first step of learning.
Medium levels hide the lines of the constellations, but show their precise borders and the lines of the surrounding constellations to help the recognition.
Hard levels are closest to the real night sky: they only show the approximate location of the objects, instead of the exact shape (the borders), and randomly choose the orientation each time, so that you learn to recognize the objects from another angle.
We recommend going through each difficulty, from easy to hard.

Explore screen
The explore screen (third button on the main screen) allows you to explore the sky on your own. Tapping on the objects (e.g. names of the stars or constellations) shows more information about them (e.g. abbreviation, brightest star, area of the sky, distance etc.). You can also use the same double-tap gesture to quickly hide/reveal all the decorations. The search icon (top-right corner) allows you to quickly find a particular object you're interested in.

Privacy Policy: https://www.dong.digital/skyacademy/privacy/
Terms of Use: https://www.dong.digital/skyacademy/tos/

What’s New

Version 3.0.1

- Besides constellations and stars, now the app teaches and trains 110 Deep Sky Objects (Messier Objects).
- Bug fixes and performance improvements.

Ratings and Reviews

4.9 out of 5
119 Ratings

119 Ratings

Lars of the stars ,

Very fun and effective

I’m a university senior majoring in astronomy and physics and decided to download this to learn the constellations while waiting for clouds to clear while taking data. I’ve been playing it a bit each day for a little while since then and absolutely love it. It has been very effective in teaching me the constellations (just about done with the northern hemisphere) and it is super relaxing. The app is also very well polished, with a ton of good settings to configure.

Also, I know most people might not care, but THANK YOU FOR LISTING SPECTRAL TYPE FOR THE STARS!!!!! And also visual magnitude, and parallax, and color index, and MULTIPLE catalogue names?? It’s as if this were literally made for me.

The one thing I’d love to see added is an option to display the constellation lines as drawn by H.A. Rey in his book “The Stars: A New Way to See Them.” Those are the lines the professors here tend to prefer. The standard IAU lines are fine (and definitely the “official” lines, and a good default) but Rey’s are more fun in my opinion.

Overall, fantastic app, and astronomy researcher approved!!

Developer Response ,

Hi fellow astronomy lover from the US, thank you SO MUCH for your detailed and passionate review and for supporting Sky Academy! It is exactly this kind of encouragement that keeps me motivated. I’ll keep improving and updating the app. :) I’ve taken a note of your suggestion and depending on how difficult it is to implement it and how many users are interested in the constellation lines drawn by H.A. Rey, I’ll think about implementing it in the future versions. Btw, if you know someone who’s interested in astronomy, I’d really appreciate it if you could recommend Sky Academy to them. Many thanks in advance! Have fun learning! ❤️

Johnodon ,

Learning that makes sense

At first, I didn’t think this app was really teaching me anything more than how to recognize a few patterns with the assistance of borders and lines, but after getting through some of the beginner lessons, I see the patterns are starting to burn in. The lines and borders start to go away the higher the difficulty. I also like being able to simulate my light polluted sky and see the same challenges with fewer stars. Absolutely the best tool for any hobbyist looking to try astronomy.

TheGambler. ,

Love it

I have gone down the Astronomy rabbit hole. I was looking for something to quiz and teach me the constellations and stars and this app is great!! There is no app better at teaching you the constellations and their locations. Thanks to the developers. I love that I can make my own custom quizzes.

App Privacy

The developer, Xiang Dong, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

  • Purchases
  • Location
  • Identifiers
  • Usage Data
  • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

More By This Developer

Morse Mania: Learn Morse Code
Education
Brick Mania: Fun Arcade Game
Games
Braille Academy: Play &  Learn
Education
Morse Chat: Chat in Morse Code
Social Networking
Chinese Checkers Online
Games
Greek Alphabet Academy
Education

You Might Also Like

Astronomy Game
Education
Luminos Pro
Reference
ASGuide
Education
SkySafari 7 Pro
Reference
Stellar Tour - AR Stargazer
Education
The Sky – Enjoy Astronomy
Reference