[Wavytone]

Crazy ideas department:
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Just tried emailing one of Taki's PDF starcharts to myself and opening that in the iPhone - they display quite well. It copes with the 1MB PDF's OK. The only downside is the lack a nightvision mode (there's an idea for an app, if anyone wants to do it).

To be useful they also need an index page as well - if you make one in HTML you can do the next step...

Transfer Taki's PDF files and the HTML index page to the iPhone using TouchFS (on the App store), and browse locally on the iPhone (I just tried it using a pretty dumb index page)... also works.

Make yourself a webpage in iWeb that does it nicely, anyone can access the atlas online.

Alternatively use Safari to access any of the online sky atlases if you don't mind the bandwidth, zoom/pan will be a bit slow.

On another note I received a reply from the developer of the Uranus app, apparently there's an update on the way with more DSO's, much more responsive UI, and changes to the way the UI behaves with lots of objects close together. Wait and see, I guess.

StarMap is growing on me, too, though its DSO's are limited to the Messier catalog + 14 other very popular objects - it would be useful though at a public star party (like the ones at Macquarie Uni) for showing people where the object is.

Lastly, there are some other odd apps tucked away in the store that some might be interested in:

A Level: a spirit level - very useful for those with tripods to level in the dark. With the iPhone on its back, you'll have an x-y bubble level. There's an update coming apparently with a calibration adjustment. Could also be used to set polar axis elevation as of reads to 44.9 degrees.

Emerald Chronometer - a fancy moonwatch on steroids - sun, moon and earth, lunar phase watch, sunrise/set, moonrise/set, day/night/twilight, the constellations of the zodiac, local and UTC, the equation of time, your lat & long...

Sol: Daylight Clock - little more than a digital sundial

GoSkyWatch Planetarium - limited to bright stars but has a nice UI, point at the sky and finds the object. Might be useful for kids.

Sun Compass - exactly what it is.

Locly - will reveal your lat/long/altitude, as computed by the iPhone without the need for maps etc from Google. Useful when you're out of coverage by your carrier !