iUseApple

Apples and Astronomy

Do you get excited whenever you have the chance to peer into the heavens through a telescope? Imagine peering into the universe virtually on your Mac! There are plenty of Astronomy Applications out there for OS X, since the academic scientific community often uses Macs for their research. In this post, I will cover the most popular Applications the beginners and professionals use on a daily basis for astronomical viewing.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Whether you are into learning about Astronomical Phenomena or just want an awesome looking wallpaper for your Desktop, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day website will fill your craving. Packed full of years worth of images from planetariums and even amateurs across the globe, the Astronomy Picture of the Day always delivers fascinating imagery straight to my computer.

Download the Astronomy Picture of the Day Dashboard Wigdet from Apple or visit the APOD website.

Stellarium

Stellarium is an excellent Planetrium Application for Amateur Astronomers that will deliver real time maps of the sky, making it possible to see anything you would be able to with the naked eye, binoculars, or a small telescope. This application is the perfect companion for anyone just getting into Astronomy and it’s free!

Download Stellarium from the Official Website.

Starry Night Pro

Starry Night Pro is the best astronomy software an amateur or professional can buy. My astronomy professor in college often used Starry Night to present data in class about different constellations, galaxies and the planets. “Starry Night focuses heavily on providing attractive, realistic imagery, although recent versions have also increasingly targeted the amateur astronomy community with features like observation planning, telescope control, and multiple-panel printing” (Excerpt From Wikipedia).

For a free and extremely stripped down version of Starry Night Pro for Dashboard Widgets check out this article.

A More Definitive Listing

For anyone looking for a different Application beyond those listed above, check out this excellent listing of Astronomy Applications for OSX @ pure-mac.com.

An Excellent Resource for Serious Astronomers

This link from Harvard.edu will reveal a plethora of Astronomy links for Professional Astronomers who need to calculate the big numbers and see the big picture using OS X.