23 Mobile Things: Thing 18 (Education)

For this app, I tried out a free astronomy (well, Western star knowledge -- I didn't see any other cultural constellation configurations represented) app, similar to Star Walk, called Star Chart. This is the kind of app that can interest anyone from the very young to the very old and the very novice to the experts.  You frame a space with your device, and it shows you the stars and constellations. You can point it at the sky, the horizon, the ground, and you'll get to see the stars, even if you physically cannot see them because of daylight or distance.

 

Constellations of Hercules and Neptune

This would be a fun app to have on a nighttime walk or a camping trip to identify heavenly bodies. It would also be great to use in a classroom or an amateur astronomy class to get people to start considering our place in the universe. It's fun, and one can learn about constellations she never dreamed had existed. 

There's a ship in the sky!

One of the constellations and corresponding images gave me pause.

Indian? Really?

There are tons of mythological creatures and individuals, and we get a generic, stereotypical Indian in there, too, somehow? I wish this app contained this history behind the finding and naming of these constellations when possible. 

Other fun things I "discovered" -- a big Zelda: 

And my favorite, the unicorn: 

Kindergarten-Melissa would have died of happiness from this.