What others say

• PalmGear
• Eurocool
• Handango

The alt/az conversion from RA/dec is a wonderful part of your program for the DOB users!  By simply installing a large plastic compass ring on my alt bearing, and by marking 360 degree lines on my cabinet base, I can find the objects in your data base as quickly as the Meade computer users!

Last year I was visiting in northern California. During the fireworks on July 4, someone asked what is that star? I just whipped out my Pilot and fired up Planetarium. Within a few seconds I was able to identify the star (actually a planet, Mars) and was instantly the hit of the night. 

Last Sunday I was setting up to do solar observing... In attempting to do a rough polar alignment of my mount, I discovered that there were strong magnetic fields in the area (possibly due to power lines in the ground?), so I couldn't get a good reading from the compass. So what to do? I whipped out my trusty Palm Pilot, started up Planetarium, and lined up on the sun... Presto, due North! Must have been right, because there was no drift for over 2 hours... 

I notice that you've included the southern constellations! Thank you. When I went to Brazil for a vacation, I could not find a simple map or wheel for the Southern sky.

You've written a wonderful program, and I used it to entertain a 9 year old boy last weekend by showing him Planetarium, and then pointing to the same things in the sky. Now he wants a Palm Pilot with your program on it for Christmas! 

I'd like to thank you for writing Planetarium for Palm Pilot. It is one of the reasons, why I bought Palm IIIx organizer. Well it was not the first one, but it was one of them. 

I am a director of an outdoor education school. This is a wonderful tool to have for our night hikes. The kids think I am very smart because of Planetarium. Thanks, I needed the help.

Congrats for this wonderful piece of software. It´s like the legendary swiss-army officer knife. You don´t want to miss it after you tried it once :-) This was my first pilot program which I had to register immediately....

The other night on the commuter train home I sat with a person who was drawing what appeared to be the design for a flag. She said she was trying to sketch the sunset she had seen, which included two bright stars. I said I would look them up on Voyager II on my desktop computer and let her know the next day. And then I remembered having a trial version of Planetarium on the Palm Pilot in my pocket. I keyed in the date, time and direction and Jupiter and Venus appeared in exactly the positions the young woman had drawn them.

I have fallen in love with your compass view. The view packs so much information into such a small space with clarity. I like elegance. Your programs satisfies my astronomical needs perfectly.

Years ago astronomy was a hobby of mine. While spending time outside with a telescope was part of this, the other half (which probably led to my eventual interest in computers) was sitting for hours with a calculator working out the orbital mechanics of various bodies (the moon in particular) to see just how close I could get when compared to the tables in the ephemeris. What struck me about Planetarium is just how much this one program does, considering the calculations it has to go through.

I just have to tell you, on Friday evening I had a great deal of fun at a star party we put on for a local school in Los Altos, CA. There were 15 telescopes set up, and probably about 150 kids and parents... I set up my Starfire 180 EDT early on purpose, and just at sunset, I used Planetarium on my Palm to locate Mars. Of course I was the only one there that could find it before it got dark, and the views were fantastic! I couldn't help but chuckle and enjoy the fact that this little tiny device in my shirt pocket was able to do what I used to need a laptop computer for...

Thanks for the OUTSTANDING product. I've been an amateur astronomer most of my life and have built and bought (too many! :)) telescopes through the years. I've also used and tested many pieces of astro software and I can say that you have a very nice piece of software here. It's a joy to use!

I just returned from a backpacking trip. I took my palm pilot with me, so that I could use Planetarium while I was in the wilderness. Of course, we used it to enjoy the stars at night, but it helped me in another way also... I needed to wash my sleeping bag, and I needed to know whether there was going to be enough direct sunlight left to dry out the bag if I washed it. Since we were in a deep canyon, the important question was "When will the sun drop behind the mountain?". After I used my compass to determine the alt/az of the mountain top, Planetarium made it easy to determine that we had only 20 minutes of direct sunlight left. Good thing I didn't start washing the bag! 

I'm an amateur astronomer, and I just wanted to compliment you on this GORGEOUS application for the palm pilot. It's extremely friendly, self-explanatory, and comprehensive. It's one of the nicer astronomy programs I've seen, including desktop versions, AND it's portable. Thank you so much for creating it.