Redshift now available for iDevices

[Omaroo]

Redshift has been around for ages on desktop machines, and is now available for your iThing. First impressions are good, with plenty of options available and the display easily configurable. It has a decent night mode and can be set up with a semi-transparent horizon like SkySafari which I find very useful. It utilises full accelerometer and compass functions as well.

AU$12.99

Below are screenshots directly from my iPad.


Blurb from App Store:

[JethroB76]

I like the look of this one. Which planetarium app would you rate as the best for the ipad, Chris?

[Omaroo]

I think that it depends what you want it for Jeff. If you need to search for objects and control your goto scope directly then I much prefer SkySafari. It will talk to most scope controllers via SkyFi over WiFi OR via a serial RS232 cable called SkyWire. This is killer in my book.

If you wish to plan a session and find out what is available at a given time during the night then Starmap Pro wins out. Starmap incorporates some complex options to allow for your particular optics, as does SkySafari in the way it will simulate your CCD camera's field of view - including rotation. Nice.

The main problem with Starmap is its poorly designed interface, with far too many options in a mobile application. As a desktop app it'd be fine, and as a human interface designer I'd be making it much simpler to use. Complex isn't good - its interfering. SkySafari will sport similar planning capabilities soon I believe, and then it will in my opinion overtake Starmap Pro for the serious user.

I also really like Starwalk and pUniverse (Pocket Universe). They're both excellent and simple apps to show in a public night setting, and are more designed to look fantastic to a noob than be useful to the astronomer.

[JethroB76]

I have a dob with Argo, so it would be more for basic planning and showing the kids stuff, though it sounds like Star Map Pro may get a little annoying

[Osirisra]

Starmap is usually my first choice when I boot up the iPad but I sure agree with Chris, awesome functionality but the interface is total crap.

[gb_astro]

Saturn seems to be covering half the sky in that Red Shift screen shot.
???

gb.

[Omaroo]

That's what you get when you zoom in close to Jupiter, which is what I did. I could go in closer if you like... :)

[gb_astro]

Chris, it's just a bit unusual to be able
to zoom in on a planet independent of
the background sky.
Here it looks like a close up of Saturn
superimposed on a wide field background.
Is this just the way Redshift works?

gb.

[TerminallyTired]

I think it's supposed to be a 3d solar system type arrangement. As in when you zoom in on a planet it takes you on a little virtual journey to it. The point of view is no longer Earth based. The stars being distant don't change much.

L8r

TT

[Omaroo]

Golly. LOL. Yes, it's a fly-to feature that lets you inspect the planet at close range. Nothing nefarious or misleading about it. All of the major applications do it these days.

[wmzaphod]

Redshift is my fav although I like Distant Suns too.......

[rogerg]

I've been playing around with Redshift the last few days. It's very nice to use, very easy. I have been surprised it hasn't had a few NGC's that I've searched for - perhaps I'm doing something wrong, as I don't see why they wouldn't include all NGC's.

[RS_team]

For variety of reasons we limited list of NGC's as well as other objects. The objects' list will be gradually expanded in future updates.

[RS_team]

- most of NGC's included + noticable objects from PGC (~70000), new images of well-known deepskies
- significantly improved search
- improved filters for stars/deepsky objects/labels
- TV/VGA-out with adjustable aspect ratio & labels' size

v1.1 doesn't work properly on devices with locale other than en/de/fr/es/ru. v1.1.1 fixes this.

[rogerg]

I've been using the update for a little while, since my iPad notified me of it. It's a great improvement!

I have really enjoyed the control over the labels and the extra objects in the database. I instantly noticed both of those improvements.

I used it the other night to find M104 on a manually controled C14 and was impressed with the night vision red screen too.

I'm not sure if it's a setting I've changed, but I've noticed that when I come back to RedShift from using another app or from the iPad going to sleep I need to click the time icon to kick it on to the current time. I can see good and bad in this so don't have a problem with it, but I think it's different behaviour to before. It caught me out a few times initially when I didn't realise it hadn't updated to current time.

[RS_team]

It's definitely bug. Will be fixed in next update.

[Spanrz]

Is there any interface in these apps, for Satellite Tracking, or even the ISS?

[RS_team]

No satellite tracking in Redshift. There are much things we need to implement for 'natural' sky before adding artifical objects.

[RS_team]

- 3D-flight to asteroids. The real shapes (models from NASA JPL) are accessible in Tools->3d-flight->Asteroids menu.
- Eclipse shadows are rendered now for Earth and Moon
- New localizations: italian, dutch, portuguese. Ability to switch language on the fly independent of iOS locale.
- Some interface enhancements: Find/Cities/Timezones lists are opened in popover windows (iPad); more graphics in retina quality (iPhone4/iPod4)

[Omaroo]

Thank you sirs - will check it out. :thumbsup:

[RS_team]

- iOS5 compatibility
- Eclipse shadows for any Planet<-->Moon pair
- Many invisible things for better performance and for future updates
- Background from rear camera in Follow Sky mode (not very usefull feature, just for fun)

[rogerg]

Is there a way to add comets to Redshift on the iPad?

[Omaroo]

Doesn't look like it Roger. Pretty limiting.

SkySafari:

[RS_team]

No at the moment and this is not forever ;)


Ok, too little space for SkySafari screens in native threads.
Want to motivate us? I think this http://users.tpg.com.au/vtabur/2011w3/2011w3.htm works better :hi:

[Omaroo]

That's great, but Roger was looking for it in an iPad app and the comet is here - today. I put up the screen shot because it shows the comet in question, and this could help Roger out with his immediate requirement.

[rogerg]

Thanks Chris & RS_team. Every app can't do everything, I'm happy to accept each has its limitations, always room for more than one. Just like astro clubs and forums :)

[RS_team]

:welcome:

[Polmear]

They still have Distant Suns?
Wow - I had that umm close to 20 years ago on the Amiga.

[rogerg]

Feature request for Redshift on iOS:

I often want an equatorial grid displayed. Ideally the grid would continue all the way to the poles to show exact north & south.

[RS_team]

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/redshift-astronomy/id515282894?mt=12

It's based on iOS version with some additions:
- extended date range 1000AD - 3000AD
- 2.5M stars (Tycho)
- Object download/update (bright satellites, comets, asteroids)
- Sky Diary (events, solar & moon eclipses at arbitrary date range)
- Dictionary (offline info)
Supported languages at the moment: English, Deutsch


Planned but I can't promise the grid will appear with nearest update.

[gb_astro]

re. screenshot in post #27

RS_team, I don't think your screen shot is going to win over too many people without further explanation.
All I see is a lot of objects(?)/labels(?) that shouldn't be near each other.
What's going on there?

gb.

[RS_team]

We've added 3D-models of some nebulas in the recent update (version 1.4). That screenshot shows the Redshift's sky when the observer is near Orion Nebula. To the right of the screen you can see the part of the nebulas list for which such models were created.


The observer was out of the Solar System when taking this picture :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZS4-yvjIu8

[gb_astro]

Ok, thanks, that video explains it all.
Quite impressive.

gb.

[rogerg]

I have mentioned it before but just a reminder - it would be great to have the ability to add comets ;)

[Bendy777]

I wish it were free for a day... :'(