By When Google officially launched Sky Map a few weeks ago I was incredibly excited. The past few years I’ve really become interested in the universe beyond earth, sparked by the amazing images from (and story of) the Hubble Space Telescope. I enjoy looking at the night sky, and while deep/philosophical thoughts aren’t uncommon, sometimes I’m really just curious to know what the heck that ridiculously bright object in the sky could be.
With Google Sky Map it is easy (and fun) to find out:
I was/am deeply amused. Kind of funny considering one week before this, after being awake for 24+ hours (just like today) I had recorded the SAME EXACT THING! So why didn’t I publish this last week? The answer is simple… because the first attempt was a totally epic Google Sky Map Fail.
But instead of brushing it under the rug, I decided to edit it up and show it to you guys anyways. Those of you who have kind of grown to know me have learned that I poke fun and I call people out but it is usually all in good fun. So why not poke some fun at myself? I’m game – and this is totally moronic. But give me a break, I could barely keep my eyes open let alone think straight:
Somehow the “Nightshot Plus” feature was turned on but I didn’t realize it until after so I’m not sure how that affected either of the two videos. I’m eager to play with Google Sky Map when we go on our annual family beach trip to North Carolina this summer. Without bright city lights the stars seem a million times brighter and there seem to be a billion more of them.
I hope you enjoyed watching this as much as I enjoyed recording it!
Goggle Sky is a phenomenal app and one of the best demo vehicles for the phone and OS.
And, yes, your astronomy is a little rusty. That was Jupiter, of course….because Neptune is never visible to the naked eye. :)
On a side note, maybe it’s just me, but the compass feels more accurate and responsive now after Cupcake. Google Sky in compass-mode is almost dead spot-on. Cupcake rocks.
“A little rusty” would be putting it lightly. But in my defense, each time I recorded these I had been awake for 24+ hours!
Each film frame captured at a rate much slower than it will be played back = “time lapse”. :)
I’ve heard a few people say they want an Android phone, just so they can have the Google Sky Map application!
wow, to think my my next phone (currently bb 8310 owner) was going to be an iphone….eph that. Give me a magic or I7500!!!!!! these apps are amazing!!!!!!!!
awesome vid!
thx!
:D
That second video was great – so funny to watch…
“Where the hell are you moon?!” ;)
In order to get the “flower growing” effect but with stars, do what you did with your video camera. Place a camera on a tripod or whatever and have it point to the sky or star you want. Then set the shutter speed to about 15 minutes or so, because Baltimore is pretty light polluted. The shutter speed, being so lengthy, will pull out all the lights in the picture and actually make the star brighter. And you will get the star trail picture that you want. Its fairly simple and you can use a point-and-shoot. If you leave the shutter speed for too long, then it will really brighten up the picture because the camera will keep pulling in light from the street lamps and such.
Sometimes the G1’s compass is not calibrated. In the “About” area of Sky Map, they mention this and explain how to calibrate it. Knowledge is power.
The concept is cool, but the glitches, bugs, and fact that it doesn’t work sucks. G1 ~ $300, Sky Map ~ $somethings, watching some guy talk about an app that doesnt work… priceless.
Gotta agree with R. I bought the mytouch 3g just for this app, because I am an amateur astronomer and wanted to get this to aid in my night watches, and go figure, IT DOESN”T WORK!!! I am pissed! I have tried the “figure eight with your wrist” crap, and it still says the moon is on the ground. And searching for answers on the net is not helping. Apperently there isn’t anyone out there experiencing these frustrating as hell problems. This SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!