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Parents' Guide to

Solar System for iPad

By Marc Saltzman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Well-written interactive book with lots of multimedia.

App iPad Books
Solar System for iPad Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this app.

Community Reviews

age 7+

Based on 1 parent review

age 7+

Stunningly beautiful app for space enthusiasts

This app is absolutely beautiful. Both of my kids--even the pre-reader--have spent hours going through it just to look at the rendered and animated images of the planets, stars, and other celestial bodies. I do wish there were a voice-over option for pre-readers and kids with reading difficulties, because the info here is really dense, but the app is so well done that I think the publisher should widen the net to include enthusiastic younger space nuts. That's the only reason it gets four stars instead of five in my book.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

SOLAR SYSTEM FOR IPAD is an extraordinary – and extraordinarily attractive -- resource for amateur astronomers with text provided by best-seller author (and former radio astronomer) Marcus Chown, along with interactive 3D imagery of the sun, planets, moons, and more. You can "touch" Saturn's rings (based on images from NASA's Cassini mission), flick through the icy rubble of the Kuiper Belt (rocky bits left over from the birth of planets), or pinch and zoom into Earth to study the continents from above (with or without cloud cover). Along with an opening song set to space imagery, this app features dozens of articles; high-resolution galleries; extensive videos and animated sequences; and key data for each planet or moon (diameter, mass, volume, gravity, atmosphere, and so forth). While relatively pricey at $13.99 as of the time of this review, Solar System for iPad is an out-of-this-world pick.

App Details

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