Orrery
| Category | Price | Seller | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education | $1.99 | jan frischmuth | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
Just sit back and orbit the planets or even land on some of them while listening to soothing background music…
Features:
- Smooth camera navigation
- Realistic planet radii (gas giants are proportionally downscaled)
- Realistic orbital speeds
- Explorable surfaces: Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars
- Wikipedia excerpts
- Speed slider
- Date input
- Autopilot mode
- Ambient music (optional)
- Optional asteroid fields
- Optional trails
- Optional lens flare
- Quality option
- Portrait- and landscape support
- Localized for english and german
Reviews
Music, Soundtrack?
ansielart
I love this app, which for a moment reminds us and invite us to zoom out into the solar system. I’d love to know the artist of the musical piece; I simply find it quite soothing..
The Solar System on a Golden Platter
Jabbadah
This is a beautiful app, inspiring awe for all of existence. It is a 3-D model of an antique orrery, showing the planets, Earth's moon, the sun and the inner and outer asteroid belts. I don't know how accurate it is, but for a basic understanding of the movements of planetary bodies, it is an elegant visual aide. And somehow, once you select to see the asteroids, the platter makes the solar system seem to hang adrift in the starry heavens, creating in my mind the mental leap of how, in reality, it must actually be--the planets naked in the heavens, and surrounded by the dusty universe. Especially seen from overhead. This is in some ways so much more true than seeing a realistic animation--ala NASA, or Star Trek's opening credits. Just beautiful. The music--of the spheres--is also very nice. Thank you for all your artistry.
Beautiful
Keystone72
This is everything you could want in a digital version of 18th century technology. Beautiful spinning movements.
So nice to watch
Opticell
I enjoy watching this and interacting with the model. Whether setting it to today, or advancing at any rate I choose, it is like having a copy of the ancient Orrery they found in the sea. Worth buying, I would recommend this version.
Beautiful app
tahmocha
I'm so glad the price was set low enough to just jump in for my five year old. How easy to explain days, months (lunar), and years plus seasons. There's just so much good about it. This is real craftsmanship! One thing I'm not sure I understand is the apparent precession of the earth. I suspect its axis should remain constant with respect to the starfield. Ah, one other thing is the earth's axis of rotation isn't colinear with the metal shaft it's mounted on. Some text explaining navigation wouldn't be bad. I love the Oort Cloud. Excellent!
Still a few bugs
Gunthar B
Visually, this app's display is beautiful. I've seen other astronomy apps try for a 'floating in space' type look, but this just makes it difficult to visualize the 3D relationship of the planets. By duplicating the look of an orrery with planets mounted on poles stuck in a large disk, it is much easier to see when a planet is close or far. I was disappointed to see that the date setting isn't fully functional. Although the controls allow you to dial back two thousand years to January 1 of the Year 1, the app will ignore any setting previous to December 13, 1901. I like the fact that you can zoom on all the planets, but it would like to do the Same to the clock dial on the main platform too. Tapping on each body in the system brings up some interesting facts about each. But some of these essays suffer from a number of typos. The mass of the sun is said to be "2 X 1030 kilograms" and the density of the moon is "181 of Earth." Undoubtedly the info on the sun was meant to be expressed in scientific notation and one of the digits in the figure referring to the moon was probably meant to be a percentile sign. There are many great features to play with on the app. With a little tweeking I would be happy to give it a full five stars.
Exactly what I was looking for
MarkESu
This app perfectly simulates a real Orrery. I was looking for one online and they were either cheap crap or $4,000. $2.00 is nothing to pay for something like this, especially considering the 3D engineering skill and time required to make all the simulated gears interact properly.
Beautiful
VonAcheron
This app really is lovely, and it's become one of my favorites ever since I discovered it. The orrery presentation is unique, reminiscent of a mildly steampunk aesthetic. My favorite feature is the ability to "visit" planets, where the perspective changes to simulate a view of the horizon on an alien world. There is substance in addition to the style - data on the different planets is readily available, in addition to a brief rundown of what exactly makes an orrery unique. That being said, I find this app is more relaxing eye-candy than learning aid, but it excels over other apps in that department.
This...
Sunscour
The effort that went into this application makes it beyond the 1.99 it's worth. Very good. I was mesmerized.
