Solar Monitor is serious science on your iPhone. Get the near-real-time state of our sun with images and data. The current image of the sun, in several wavelengths, is worth the price alone. I once had a telescope and viewing the sun was very tricky at best. Now, you just need this app! You can zoom the image and count the sun spots. For the professional scientist, the Charts tab has many different data sets that should satisfy the solar wind forecasters and aurora monitors amoung us. Seriously, this app demonstrates the serious scientific possibilities of the iPhone and iPod touch.

For the budding scientist or the professional. Buy it now on

Arches National Park Geology Tour from Tasa Graphic Arts is an excellent example of an educational app. It provides extensive illustrations and photos of the geology of Arches National Park. And, it is fully narrated by the author, a Geology Professor. There is an interactive park map that can be changed to the corresponding topographic map. Park features can be accessed from the map or from a sequential tour of the park, as if you were driving the roads of the park. This app can be used to plan your visit to the park, or as an educational tour guide as you hike or drive the park. This is one of the best apps produced for the iPhone and iPod. It is completely self contained so you can use your iPod touch and you can use it in the park without a need for an internet conneciton or wireless.

This is a must have app! Available now on

Planetarium is the best solar system orrery in the App Store. This app has the best 'fly to' feature and the 3D view controls are much better than all other solar system apps. Version 1.1 adds the major moons for the planets, making this app is the best solar system orrery in the App Store. Version 1.1 also changed the controls and actually hurt the usefulness of this app. It was better when you could control travel to the planets. Their support site is excellent and you can download a user guide with information including the scale factors. This helps to understand the scale of the solar system and the relative orbital periods. Overall an excellent app!

Grand Tour: Solar System is another solar system orrery with many good features. The moons of the planets are included and are accurately rendered and simulated! The constellation names and shapes are really not necessary for a solar system orrery (they can be turned-off in preferences). Earth's cloud patterns are an impressive feature. Again, controls are an issue. I want to be able to 'fly' through the solar system entirely under my control (speed, orientation, field of view, etc.)

Planetarium is by far the best value; but if you can afford both, Grand Tour: Solar System is worth having too.

Mars Atlas, Moon Atlas and Venus Atlas provide high resolution surface images of the planets with extensive annotations. The surface is presented in two modes: Earth View shows how the planet would look from your location on Earth (uses GPS or Zip). Globe view wraps the surface around a 3D sphere that can be rotated for any view. The user interface makes full use of Touch features and the zoom, scroll, rotate are all intuitive. The phase of the planet can be shown and annotations can be selectively removed. And there is an excellent annotated search feature.

The best planetary atlas apps. Horsham Online Limited now has several apps on

There are many internet radio apps on iTunes. Finding the best one has been difficult. I believe that Internet Radio Box is probably the best value among many alternatives. It supports many different streaming formats, allows the entry of your own stations (if you have a URL), and has a large built-in directory. The only major draw-back is that the directory lists are not sorted! So, be prepared to explore the lists looking for your stations. The best way to use this app is to get a URL for the stream (from iTunes or by browsing the web) and enter the URL on the "favorites" menu. This has worked for all of the streams I listen to on iTunes.

Listen to the world, learn a new language. Buy it now on