Night-time apps for the great outdoors

I would like to offer nocturnal equivalents of Larry Mitchell’s recommend apps (Letters, Issue 512) to use outdoors with kids. His apps are great for daytime use, but as the nights draw in you’ll need others to keep you occupied.

The best one is called Night Sky (IOS www.snipca.com/25875, pictured), which I use on my ipad. If you hold the screen up to the sky, it shows you which stars, planets and constellations you can see. My grandchildren love seeing the stars magically transform into animals and mythical figures.

Next there’s the ‘Moon’ app (IOS www.snipca.com/25878), which shows you the current phases of the Moon. It has helped my grandchildren understand how it appears to change shape, although explaining what “waxing gibbous” meant was totally beyond me!

Finally, we also use the ISS Spotter app (IOS www.snipca.com/25887), which tracks the orbit of the International Space Station, so you know when to look skywards to see it. Just wrap up warm, take a flask of hot soup, and venture outdoors this winter! Charles Shaw