Screen sample of Landscape mode on VGA screen device with custom skin.
 

Star Chart Features
 

• Supports all PocketPC devices including WM5, WM2003SE, and all resolutions including QVGA, VGA, square, portrait and landscape modes.
   
• User interface optimized for simple and fast star, planet, Messier, and Caldwell object identification.  Single click on any body to get the name, designation, calculated altitude, azimuth, and magnitude.  Drag the cursor to scroll the chart.  Zoom in and out with a single click.
   
• 3D Orrery display of solar system and background stars and constellations.
   
• Display of orbital paths for inner solar system bodies showing daily positions for one year centered on current date.
   
• Animation of the sky in increments of hours, days, weeks, or months.
   
• Manual or automatic control of star magnitudes.  Simple control over which objects to display.  Overall, these features give great control of visual clutter given the limited screen real estate on the Pocket PC.
   
• Black, white, and red star chart colors for normal, bright, and night viewing conditions, respectively.  Complete skinning or customization of star chart colors.
   
• Chart can be rotated to any of the 16 compass points and also flipped along the North - South axis. This allows the either overhead (East and West reversed) or non-overhead (East and West normal) viewing. 
   
• Polar grid with hour angle and declination labels.
   
• Zenith grid.
   
• Search and scroll to constellation, body, star, or Messier / Caldwell objects.
   
• User location set by clicking on map, city selection, GPS, or by entering Latitude and Longitude.
   
• Chart can be "live, realtime", or static for any user selected time.
   
• Core positional calculation routines based on "Novas"  (Naval Observatory Vector Astrometry Subroutines Version 2.0.1).  
   
• Star data is from the Bright Star Catalog (5th Revised Edition), comprising the 9110 brightest stars using J2000 equatorial positions and the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF).  Corrections are performed for proper motions and parallax. 
   
• Planet ephemeris data from Jet Propulsion Laboratory using the DE405 database.  DE405  is JPL's latest planetary ephemeris with correction for both nutations and librations.  DE405 uses the J2000 International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF).  The portion of this database provided with Pocket Stars covers the years CE 2000 to CE 2020.  Other ephemeris date ranges are available for download here.
   

Celestial Navigation Features
 

• Reduction from sextant altitude to observed altitude for any of the 9110 stars, nine planets, and sun and moon.  Watch this movie to see how it's done.
  
• Corrections for observer height (DIP), refraction (temperature and atmospheric pressure), and vessel movement.
   
• Position from intercept and azimuth by calculation for multiple sextant observations following procedures in "The Nautical Almanac" by the United States Naval Observatory.
   
• Any number of sextant observations can be individually enabled to compute a best fit when computing a FIX.  Results may be plotted, showing the assumed position (AP), FIX, and observations with intercepts and amplitudes.
   
• Intermediate calculations for each observation can be displayed, with  selectable formats (DD.dddd, DD MM.mm, DD MM SS) for degrees, minutes, seconds.
   

Other Features
 

• Rise, set, and meridian times for all solar system bodies.
   
• Lunar Phase calendar and animation showing the relative positions of the earth, moon, and sun.
   
• Images and physical data for planets, moon and sun.  Optional display of all 110 Messier objects through separate free download.
   
• Calculators for Great Circle Distances, Range and Bearing, Horizon Distances, Julian Day, and degree minute seconds conversions.
   
• Full screen mode.
  
  

Reviews

• Sky and Telescope
  Targeted at casual stargazers, Pocket Stars is an easy way to carry a star atlas in your pocket — especially if you never go anywhere without your personal digital assistant (PDA) — and offers much more than the star-name database. While there is a “home base” edition for desktop PCs, the version for Pocket PC devices makes the best of the hardware restrictions of pint-size computers, providing easy-to-read graphics, day or night.
  
   
• PocketLand.net
  Pocket Stars should please users of many sorts, whether they be simple star gazers, astronomy students, or ship captains. The interface is intuitive and easy to use, and the program is thoroughly well designed. It comes as little surprise that the Pocket Stars has sold over 10,000 copies; the quality of the program is apparent from the first moment of use.
   
• Pocket PC Louisville
  An ex-Microsoft developer wrote the program, originally for his own use. It has matured into a commercial product with an enthusiastic following of customers. Users range from sailors to teachers to photographers. What makes this package stand out from the other astronomy programs is a very well thought out user interface, and a very rich set of features... Pocket Stars stands out, however, in how the features are implemented inside a very intuitive user interface. Tap & hold, drag, and hotspot features abound and act just like you think they should.
   

Unsolicited Customer Testimonials
 

• Fantastic Star Gazers Utility.
  This is a wonderful little program. The ability to easily scroll and zoom in on every object (including galaxies) and the flexibility of the preferences makes this a superb program. The simplicity of the user interface makes the product useable within a few seconds. The complexity of the design gives the user an extraordinary depth of capability and knowledge. What more can I say? It's a truly great utility. Thanks!!! A reviewer from New York, New York, January 30, 2003
   
• "What a wonderful program!  One of the reasons I bought my pocket pc  was because I thought I might be able to use it for celestial navigation.  I have been playing with your demo program for about a week and having a ball!  Thank you."   - Wade G, Waltham, MA
   
• "You have a great program!  I am a university astronomy instructor and Pocket Stars is EXACTLY what I was hoping to find for the Pocket PC.  The other programs I have run across have more bells and whistles, but they are mostly not functional given the small screen to view events and poorly designed navigation features."  M.J.
   
• "By the way, Pocket Stars is easily the best piece of software I have for my Ipaq. I’m a submarine navigator and I use Pocket Stars many times day for ephemeral calculations. Nothing comes close to it. Thank you for creating such a singularly useful piece of software." Paul O, UK.
   
• "I must say this is a very cool and powerful piece of software and I'm very impressed with it. It's the sort of software you'd go out and buy a PDA just to run!" - Mark S, Australia
   
• "I just downloaded Pocket Stars as a trial. Even with the limited experience with it I can see that it's an amazing program. Congratulations!" - Gary S
   
• "I've bought Pocket Stars.... it's the best so far for the handhelds....." - Joey
   
• "I've downloaded Pocket Stars from your website yesterday and really like it. It is very user friendly.  We operate a sailing school in both Maine and the Caribbean. One of the courses we offer is celestial navigation.  We will be using your software as "another" tool in our Celestial Navigation course." - L.W., Portland, ME
   
• "Anyway, as a navigator in the US Navy P3 aircraft for many years, as well as an interested astronomer, I find your software terrific." - Bob W, Chula Vista, CA
   
• "I am a navigating officer in the Canadian Navy. I recently purchased a copy of Pocket Stars which I use on my Jornada 540 - and the software has proven to be an excellent tool!  ... I look forward to throwing my celesti---- into the trash bin!" - Tim M, Canada
   
• "Pocket Stars is one of those apps that when you first use it you know that you have been waiting for it most of your life." Beverly H, Austin, TX
   
• "Pocket Stars was one of the few Pocket PC programs that really interested the Aymara Indians." - Scott Hibbs, travelogue in PocketPC Magazine.

More Pocket Stars Screen Shots

Awards

 
 Pocket Stars
is
Designed for
Microsoft® Windows®
for Pocket PC
Logo Certified

 

Demonstration Movies

  Introduction (.wmv)
    Windows Media Format

  Introduction (.rm)
    Real Format

  Sight Reduction (.wmv)
    Using a sextant to
    figure out your
    location.

   Movies require:
    

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03/06/2006 NomadElectronics.com