Learning Ecosystems

Free App Fridays: Astronomy – from Mac Life

iPad

Astronomy Picture of the Day
When you’re bored on your commute home and you need some visual stimulation, the Astronomy PIcture of the Day application not only houses some of the most epic photos of the sky we’ve ever seen, but it could also inspire you to spend a little time on the roof top this evening admiring the atmosphere up above. You can easily cycle through images from days before, and there’s an info button that lets you know from where the photo was taken and what you’re looking at.

Mac

Stellarium
You probably never thought about having such a gorgeous application installed on your MacBook, but Stellarium has some pretty neat features. For starters, it’s used in Planetarium projectors around the globe. The program pulls information from GPS satellites to show you exactly where the stars and planets are aligned at any given moment, regardless of time of day, though you’ll have to select what city you’re currently in. This is definitely one of those free apps that you should have installed on your computer because not only is it pretty to look at, but it’s also very educational. Fire up the app before nightfall and then head outside to see if you can match the constellations on the application with the ones up above.

Free App Fridays: Maps — by Florence Ion

One example:

iPad:

History: Maps of the World
This is one of those apps that’s best before bedtime. Not only are the high resolution maps something to gawk at, but they’re educational as well. You can pinch to zoom in and check out the surroundings of your favorite countries and continents during varying years. The app contains maps dating all the way back to the 4th century.