Stars and Planets - Astronomy 4+

Name: Stars and Planets - Astronomy
Rating: 4.7 (735 reviews)
Author: Andrei Nistorescu

3D Universe simulator

Andrei Nistorescu

Designed for iPad

- 4.7 • 735 Ratings

- Free
- Offers In-App Purchases

Description

Experience the captivating wonders of the cosmos with Stars and Planets, an interactive 3D planetarium powered by precise data obtained from NASA and ESA space missions. Delve into a profound expedition through the infinite expanse of space, where an abundance of knowledge is readily available, directly sourced from the forefront of groundbreaking space research.

Traverse the vast expanse of the galaxy, soaring through the stardust as you journey to millions of stars. Land on alien planets and exomoons, where breathtaking landscapes and untold wonders await your arrival. Embrace the thrill of plunging into the turbulent atmospheres of gas giants to reach their elusive cores.

Push the boundaries of exploration as you venture closer to black holes, pulsars and magnetars, where the laws of physics are stretched to their limits.
With Stars and Planets, the entire universe becomes your playground, providing an unmatched platform for discovery and enlightenment.

Features
▶ Immersive spacecraft simulation allowing users to fly to different planets and moons and explore the depths of gas giants
▶ Land on exoplanets and take command of a character, exploring the unique surfaces of these distant worlds
▶ Daily updated information on exoplanets from multiple sources, eliminating the need for manual application updates
▶ Extensive online database encompassing approximately 7.85 million stars, over 7400 exoplanets, 205 circumstellar disks, 32868 black holes, 3344 pulsars and over 150 moons in our Solar System
▶ Comprehensive search system for efficient data retrieval of stellar and substellar objects
▶ Global accessibility with support for over 100 languages

Data imported from various sources including: SIMBAD, The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia, NASA Exoplanet Archive, Planet Habitability Laboratory
Join my discord server so you can see what new features are planned in the future or if you simply want to talk about space related stuff:
https://discord.gg/dyeu3BR

If you have a PC/Mac you can also access Stars and Planets from your browser here:
https://galaxymap.net/webgl/index.html

Nov 1, 2024

Version 3.7.0

V3.7.0
- improved search results - now when you choose a system from the search results, all its stellar and substellar objects will show up and you can warp directly to them
- fixed a bug where the main menu would be hidden after a connection issue (clicking on "Try again")
- fixed a bug with the sound system where you couldn't change the track (using the Next and Previous buttons)
- changed animations for Alien soldiers and Cyborgs (Idle and running) so that they look more aggressive
- added Invincible mode in settings, default is set to Off, but if set to On - you won't die in lava; same goes for landing on a jovian core, but you can't run and you move really slow

4.7 out of 5

735 Ratings

Close up look at distant stars

One caveat: the app only lets you view a 10-parsec cube at a time; no giant overview to give a clear idea of how far from the sun the area you're looking at is.
However, this is only the second 3D map I've found of our corner of the galaxy that's not stuck centered on the sun! If you'd like a closer view of the area around a particular star, from any angle (what do the Pleiades look like from the back?), this is excellent. Selecting any star gives some basic information: other names, type, magnitude, temperature, a diagram comparing its size to the sun, and a map showing its position in the night sky. There's also a Wikipedia link, though some star pages don't exist yet. Ads generally stay out of the way at the top of the screen, though sometimes they get in way of the back button on star pages (just rotate your phone). Search function hasn't failed to find the stars I'm interested in, but I don't know enough to look for anything really obscure, so I don't know how thorough it is. Very pleased with the app overall!

Thanks for the great review!
I've split the map into 10-parsec cubes so that it works on older models with no significant lag. It is possible to view more than that, I was thinking of adding a "zoom out" feature that shows the adjacent sectors, so instead of viewing a 10 parsec cubes, you will be viewing 30 parsec cubes. I will have to test how much more can be zoomed.

But my first major update to this app will be a highlights section with a list of famous stars, weird stars, multiple star systems.

Explore the Stellar Neighborhood

I’ve greatly enjoyed using this app to traipse across the local area of the galaxy and see where stars are near each other in 3D space. The ads in the free version are unobtrusive and I’m considering upgrading to the full version just because I like enjoy it so much, even though the free version fulfills my needs without issue. The 10-parsec sectors would be perfect for making a map in a sci-fi roleplaying game.

One feature I would like to see, however, is a setting to change from xyz equatorial coordinates to uvw galactic coordinates so I could know whether I was getting closer to the galactic core or farther away, above or below the galactic plane, or in the direction of spin without having to do calculations in my head. Maybe an option to rotate the +Z into the vertical position instead of the +Y too, since I instinctively associate the North star with “up” when working in equatorial coordinates.

I hope you like this new version, I've completely redesigned the app, and new planets are added daily without needing an update (if new ones have been confirmed). Thanks for the review!

Broken

I really liked this app, but the last 2 updates have completely broken it. The background has changed to white instead of black, I can’t see the stars anymore. It’s effectively unusable. Really hoping it gets fixed soon

EDIT 1/3/22: The white background has been fixed, and this app is now back and better than ever! So glad to see it working again - 5 stars! This is the best 3D star map program I’ve been able to find anywhere, which is why I was so bummed out when it turned into a blank white screen. It looks great again now!

Should be fixed now in 2.4.14, sorry!

The developer, Andrei Nistorescu, 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 Used to Track You

The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:

Usage Data

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

Usage Data

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

Information

Seller

Andrei Nistorescu

Size

802.5 MB

Category

Education

Compatibility

iPhone: Requires iOS 12.0 or later.

iPad: Requires iPadOS 12.0 or later.

iPod touch: Requires iOS 12.0 or later.

Mac: Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.

Apple Vision: Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.

Languages

English, Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chichewa, Corsican, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Frisian, Gaelic, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Maori, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian Bokmål, Oriya, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Serbian, Sesotho, Shona, Simplified Chinese, Sindhi, Singhalese, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Sudanese, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Turkmen, Uighur, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba, Zulu