Common Sense Media Review
By Chris Morris
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Incredible amount of information in stargazer's dream tool.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Redshift - Astronomy
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's It About?
REDSHIFT - ASTRONOMY includes detailed information about all celestial objects, including name, type, luminosity, size, and rise and set times. Kids can choose their home location using a GPS automatic search or by manually entering the location on Earth's globe. This allows kids to use the Follow Sky feature, which shows a current view of the sky to help identify constellations and planets.
Is It Any Good?
Astronomy isn't a scientific path for weaklings, but with Redshift - Astronomy by your side, you'll be better armed to explore the mysteries of the cosmos. With an incredibly deep catalog of heavenly bodies and more data about each than you know what to do with, this app is an exciting, interactive way to learn about the universe. Rather than just being a data dump, it's also an interactive tool, showing you what's above you in the night sky and helping you identify constellations and planets. Kids who want to learn more about planets and stars can use the app's "travel" mode to "fly" to a location and orbit the planet or star. It's a bit pricey, but it's a perfect companion for stargazers -- and an embarrassment of riches for students looking to learn more on their own or for a tricky homework assignment.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about different ways to use the app. For example, have kids point their device toward the sky and discuss any stars or planets that appear. Ask kids to sketch what the sky might look like at night, and them have them do nighttime observations to try to identify what they saw during the day.
You could also use the app as a resource for taking notes about the planets or other celestial bodies. For example, have kids use the Observatory or the 3-D Flight feature to visit all of the planets and make a chart showing each planet's distance from Earth or each planet's magnitude.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Science : astronomy
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : investigation , memorization
- Pricing structure : Paid
- Release date : January 23, 2014
- Genre : Education
- Publisher : USM
- Version : 1.9
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 4.3 or later
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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