Sky Safari 5
Enjoy the solar system from your desktop
$29.99 Developer Simulation Curriculum, skysafariastronomy.com Requirements OS X 10.6.6 or later, 64-bit processor
Featuring a huge database full of responsive OpenGL-powered renderings for nearly every object in the Solar System, this app lets you simulate the sky from the comfort of your Mac. SkySafari packs 2.5 million stars, 31,000 deep sky objects, and more than 4,000 asteroids, comets, and satellites into a 379MB app. No internet connection is required, so it’s perfect for MacBook users, but if you own the iOS version, iCloud Drive keeps all of your settings in sync.
SkySafari includes several lifelike images of real-world locations, and users can import
their own panoramic photos. You can also view the sky from any location by dropping a pin on a map or choosing a city.
Although SkySafari takes advantage of fullscreen mode, the view is slightly obstructed by the status bar across the bottom, which can’t be disabled like the toolbar at top. “Tonight at a Glance” is like a cheat sheet for junior astronomers with a list of the day’s best views, or users can flow forward or backward through time with a press of the Spacebar to watch the sky move hours, minutes, days, or years in an instant.
Plus is the mid-tier version, offering an online repository and tour mode, more comprehensive databases, and enables control over wired or wireless telescopes. We’d recommend investing in the $59.99 Pro version, which expands available content to 27 million-plus stars and adds a new 3D Galaxy view.
the bottom line. SkySafari 5 Plus is a perfect way to put the heavens on your desktop, but the more robust Pro version is the best value. J.R. Bookwalter