Category Archives: Software

Software, Solar Science

The Sun Live – a new app for Windows 8.1 and Phone 8

Here’s a message today from Jon Saalbach, the creator of the site and app The Sun Live:

TheSunLive

The Sun Live is released today as an app for Windows 8.1, for Windows Phone 8 and available for other units as a web app.

As an amateur astronomer myself, I started developing The Sun Live to have an easy and convenient way to see what the Sun is up to today, and decide if there are sunspots or prominences I want to study in the telescope.

Amateur astronomers, armchair astronomers and other people alike will enjoy exploring the Sun’s surface layers in detail and follow sunspots, prominences and flares as they appear on the latest images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. For more solar action, check out the Picks of the Week, showing the most spectacular past events, chosen by NASA’s SDO team and illustrated with images, descriptions and video clips (not all the video clips are accessible on Windows Phone).

The fascinating facts will surprise and entertain you and provide you with interesting subjects for conversation. Even most amateur astronomers might learn something new here. If you want to go more in depth, the Learn More section will take you through the basics of the Sun’s structure, life cycle and its influences on life here on Earth.

For those ready to take on the Sun themselves, The Sun Live will show what they need to get started observing sunspots, planet transits, prominences and solar eclipses yourself. Dust off your old binoculars or zoom enabled camera and learn how to get a cheap and safe solar filter.

From the Windows/Windows Phone apps you can pin the current views or the latest pick of the week on your live tile and, on Windows Phone 8, as your lock screen background. Secondary tiles let you go directly to the feature you want to see on your Windows phone.

The Sun Live 2.0 for Windows Phone 8:

Download Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=2ef562fe-db7b-4a3b-ba9a-02c5dfaf73ff

QR-code, screen shots and graphics available here: http://www.saalbach.dk/downloads/TheSunLive2WP.zip

The Sun Live for Windows 8.1:

Download Link:  http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/the-sun-live/c68916d4-c77c-4dbf-84f2-27c355f7b2a4

QR-code, screen shots and graphics available here: http://www.saalbach.dk/downloads/TheSunLiveWin.zip

Contests and Games, Software

“Putt the Planets” – space app for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire

Check out the game Putt the Planets: The way the future was supposed to be!

It is available for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire and sells for $1.

Putt the Planets banner

PUTT THE PLANETS

Take a grand tour of our Solar System, putter in hand! Travel from planet to planet, playing a few holes of mini-golf at each stop. It’s the way the future was supposed to be!

FEATURES:

  • BREATHTAKING mini-golf courses in exotic locales throughout the Solar System: planets, moons, comets, and more. Three courses — 54 holes in all!
  • SENSATIONAL golfing challenges featuring gravity, the forces of nature, astronomical phenomena, and historic space missions.
  • SPECTACULAR 3D planetary landscapes, based on the latest scientific discoveries.
  • THRILLING journeys from one planet to the next.
  • HYPNOTIZING Space Age bossa nova music.

http://youtu.be/lw4iQXgglV0

Satellite Watching, Software

Binary Space Satellite Tracking Tool – now available in standalone mode

The Satellite Tracking Tool from BINARY SPACE is available here at HobbySpace.  The Windows based program allows you to track a large set of satellites in both low earth and geostationary orbits. It comes free with many features and display options.

Up till now the Tool has only run within a browser but there is now the option to install it as a standalone program on your system. This avoids the various compatibility problems that crop up as browsers are modified.

When you open the program in your browser, if you can right click on the display a popup menu will appear and include the option: “‘Install Satellite Tracking Tool onto this computer…” Just select this and give the installer permission and the program should soon be up and running.

StandAloneScreenCap

Education, Simulators, Software

Eyes on the Solar System – a NASA JPL interactive program

Here’s an updated intro video to NASA JPL’s Eyes on the Solar System interactive program:

Welcome to Eyes on the Solar System — a new way for you to explore our cosmic neighborhood.

Eyes on the Solar System lets you fly to the planets, ride aboard our spacecraft and discover the wonders of robotic space exploration from right inside your web-browser.

It requires following a download and installation procedure.

Multiple media, Software, Space Arts

Video: NASA artist tutorial on photo-realistic drawing with PowerPoint

A cool video depicting the steps in photo-realistic drawing with PowerPoint by NASA artist Michael C. Jansen:

Caption:

The classic artist reaches for a brush, pen or pencil, or perhaps a pastel crayon to paint or sketch. Michael C. Jansen, for three decades an engineer at Johnson Space Center, sits before a computer display, stretches with his right hand for a mouse and begins to draw as though he was working with sketch pad or canvas. The inspiration for his space-themed creations flows as passionately through Microsoft PowerPoint as it once did through pencil and brush. Jansen’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease, which was diagnosed in mid-career, changed much in his life. He decided to switch direction and do what he felt was most important to him while he could—and that was art.

Thanks to his innovative use of PowerPoint to steady his artistic stroke, a painstaking commitment to realism in his imagery and a supportive workplace, Jansen creates NASA-sponsored creations in support of space station. His latest pieces include a commemorative logo, poster and patch in celebration of humankind’s first permanent off-Earth presence with the Russian element Zarya launch 15 years ago this November. This video shows Jansen’s creative process as he creates art with a computer.