Introducing SkyMap for Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7 users can enjoy an increasing number of mobile applications available for purchase and download via the Windows Phone Marketplace, one of which is SkyMap.

Just as its name suggests, the application enables users, casual stargazers and amateur astronomers, to easily find objects in the sky. “SkyMap provides interactive sky maps for any time, viewpoint and location on Earth,” the company notes on its website.

The application would offer a wide range of details to users, including different names, coordinates, magnitude, astronomical rise and set times of over 110000 stars, messier objects, planets, sun and the moon.

The features list of this application includes:

- interactive zoom (dimmer stars are displayed based on the zoom level)
- night mode (preserves the eye adaptation to dark during stargazing sessions)
- gesture support (drag the sky map, pinch or double tap to zoom, tap to get sky object information, etc)
- telrad circles
- constellations, stars, deep space objects, planets, sun and moon informations
- autocomplete search function
- fast star data loading and initialization
- various map customizations and settings
- map animations
- map support for portrait and landscape orientations

According to the company behind this application, SkyMap can be easily used as an educational software that would offer people the possibility to easily learn info on constellations and objects in the sky, or to follow the movements of planets and other sky objects at day or night.

Moreover, the application would also provide users with info on the position of the sun, or that of planets or stars at various periods of time between 1900 and 2100.

Users can download a trial version of the app, though it comes with ads, and it also limits a few settings. The full version of the software would unlock all settings and will remove the ads.

The development team also notes that some enhancements are planned for the application (such as more stars, improved graphics, point the phone to the sky), and that they would be delivered at no additional cost to those who buy the software.