Win ‘Star Walk’ and ‘Solar Walk’ Astronomy Apps

by Nancy Atkinson on September 7, 2010

I’ve had a couple of people excitedly show me the Star Walk astronomy app on their iPhones and ipads, and it really is great. You can hold your device up to the sky and it will show you a sky map of your exact position. Move your device around the sky, and it moves with you. It is a very high quality, dynamic and realistic stargazing guide, which — if you are a beginning or experienced astronomer — makes skywatching easy for everybody! There is also a “Solar Walk” app — which has very cool 3D images, so grab your 3D glasses to fully enjoy. See more about this app below.

With Solar Walk, you can find out more about the solar system, play around with them determining the speed of their rotation, etc, as well as learn about the moons of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Uranus.

Now comes the good news for anyone who reads this article all the way through! Universe Today has 3 free Star Walk and 3 free Solar Walk apps to give away.

Leave a comment on which app you would like to have, and why. I’ll pick the best answers and the top three for each app will win. You have to register to leave a comment, and make sure you register with your actual email address, as that is how we’ll contact the winners. Deadline for this contest is Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 12 noon CDT in the US, and the contest is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. Each winner can only win one app.

Nancy Atkinson is Universe Today's Senior Editor. She also is the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast and works with the Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy podcasts. Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador.

Tagged as: Astronomy, iPhone apps, Solar System, Solar Walk, Star Walk

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  • chuckc

    I would love Star Walk to help introduce my three year old son to the wonders of the night sky. We just ordered an Ipad so this would be perfect to use when we go camping this fall.

  • cheddar4

    I would love to have solar walk. I have started teaching an astronomy class and I think my students would love to see this.

  • cbmead@gmail.com

    Star Walk would be wonderful. I have just started to get my kids interested with a small telescope and they love seeing the planets. We live in an area with a lot of light polution so it would be nice to give them an idea of what they could see fi they would go camping with me to a remote area and then they can see it live too. Thank you

  • televue

    I would love to have Starwalk at my fingertips just so I could learn more about everything I am looking at. This would also aid me in teaching others about the night sky.
    Lets face it, when someone new to astronomy looks through your telescope for the first time their not all that impressed with what they see.General examples of what they say are I just see a smudge or thats it.
    Being able to show them what their really looking at would help them to understand
    the real beauty of the night sky.

  • SteveZodiac

    I would like the Star Walk app as then I would have a use for an iPhone

  • astefani

    I would love to have Starwalk since I have been looking at this app for some time. It would enhance my knowledge of how to identify what I am looking at in the night sky since I will be moving to a more sky happy experience soon. Thanks for offering this opportunity. I read Universe Today everyday

  • olgita58

    Back in my country (South America), 30 years ago, I worked as a High School Math teacher, and astronomy was the way for my students to get extra points. We did not have any computers or the internet. The only resource we had was an old library with a lot of encyclopedias. The conditions I gave the students were: 15 minute presentation on the universe, or solar system, on a topic that was new to the class, and visuals were required. Research from magazines or newspapers gave them the best marks. My students worked hard and used a lot of creativity. Their presentations were exhibited in the school auditorium for a week. I enjoyed the process of exposing them to something they didn’t see in their regular curriculum, but then also learning from them. All these years later I’m still learning and I’m still fascinated with the universe. I’m in awe of how much humanity has learned about our universe in the last 30 years and at the same time the immensity of our lack of knowledge.
    A few months ago I went to Virginia to visit my daughter, and her husband showed me the google sky map. What a revelation! For the first time the universe was more tangible and real. It was no longer something I could only read about in books. Instead it was now in my hand, in my backyard, and all around me. Every day I read about the universe and everyday I have something new to learn! For my 58th birthday I received, from my kids, a telescope and an android. The Star Walk or Solar Walk will be a perfect complement to these gifts. The universe will be at my reach. No more old encyclopedias!

  • http://www.vocationoffice.org fatherjeffrey

    Ever since I purchased an iphone 4, I have been praying my priestly night prayers (compline) out in a darkened field behind my Ohio monastery. At times I am surrounded by fireflies and an occasional deer will pass me by. However, as I recite the Psalms of David, I sometimes think, wouldn’t it be neat if I could identify the stars I see above me and know something about their names and natures. Star walk for an iphone would be perfect. The natural world colliding with the supernatural.

  • area51

    I hope I win the Star Walk app for my husband. His birthday is coming up and I think it would be a much more exciting gift then clean underwear!

  • Damir

    When I was a kid, I was looking every night into the stars before going to sleep. My mum laughed one evening and asked me ” Have you found your star?”. I replied” How would I know which one is mine?”, she laughed ” It is the most beautiful star in the sky and when you look at it, it will make your heart tick and warm”. That night I found one shiny star, it was the most beautiful star in the sky and I fell asleep very happy. Next evening I was looking for my star and there was another one, even more beautiful, and now fifty years afterwards I still look into the sky and every night I find my new star. And I hear my mum’s voice again” It is the most beautiful star in the sky”

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