3D Sun (for iPad)

What with recent headlines about solar flares, coronal mass ejections, geomagnetic storms, and spectacular auroral displays, many people have been wondering what the heck is going on with the Sun. 3D Sun, a free app for iPhone and iPad, provides answers in semi-regular updates on the state of the Sun, replete with dazzling images and/or videos.

The app is the brainchild of Tony Phillips, Ph.D., an astrophysicist who writes the Spaceweather. website, a key resource on solar activity and its effects on Earth. Released in February 2010, 3D Sun has only increased in its importance as the sunspot cycle nears its peak; ?solar max? is expected in about a year.

I chose to review the iPad version (which I tested on an iPad 2) as it best shows off the app?s stunning visuals, but most of what I write here applies to the iPhone version as well. The one difference I noticed between the versions is in the organization of content. The iPad version has four tabs along the bottom: SDO Gallery; 3D Sun; News; and Help. The iPhone adds a fifth tab, Conditions, in which current solar-terrestrial conditions are shown; in the iPad, Current Conditions are displayed under the News tab.

Gorgeous Imagery?

True to its name, 3D Sun provides three-dimensional images of the Sun in each of 4 different wavelengths, courtesy of NASA?s twin STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft, currently on opposite sides of the Sun from each other. Multiple images are combined to form a rotating solar globe, with the bright active regions around sunspots marked. Representations of the two STEREO spacecraft in their current positions relative to the Sun are also shown.

The SDO Gallery tab contains 9 different images and videos taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which was launched in early 2010. SDO takes ultra-high resolution images of the Sun in every second, so they can be combined to make videos. All of the images in the gallery, however, are from the spacecraft?s first couple of months of operation. Although all are spectacular, as far as I can tell, they don?t ever seem to be updated. The site does provide a link to the SDO web site, which has more extensive galleries and information, but one has to be online to access it.

All the Sun News that's Fit to Print

The News tab provides bulletins of noteworthy events related to the Sun: flares, auroras, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), geomagnetic storms, eclipses?even comets that stray too close to our star. They?re accompanied by images or video (usually spectacular), in some cases even audio files (for instance, of radio noise accompanying a solar flare). Each news item has buttons for Twitter, Facebook, and Email, so you can share the content from within the app. The news items try to put solar events into perspective; for example, one describing an ongoing S3-class solar radiation storm noted ??Such a storm is mainly a nuisance to satellites, causing occasional reboots of onboard computers and adding noise to imaging systems?.?

The Help tab provides a brief glossary of solar science terms, particularly ones relevant to the app: Auroras; Coronal Hole, Geomagnetic Storm; STEREO; Yellow/Blue/Green/Red Sun. (The last ones refer to the false-color images in different wavelengths depicted in the 3D Sun rotating globe.) Missing, though, are many basic terms: corona, solar wind, sunspot, sunspot cycle, prominence, filament, active region, let alone terms like the K Index mentioned in the Current Conditions reports.

No Sun Primer

This brings to light the main thing I felt was missing from this app: A primer on solar dynamics, giving a user new to the subject some background on solar magnetism, sunspots and the sunspot cycle, and the conditions under which solar flares and CMEs form, as well as how radiation and particles from these events interact with Earth?s atmosphere and magnetic field. The news items are well written and contain some of this information, especially as it relates to geomagnetic storms, but it would be nice to have it all in one place for a newcomer to refer to.

Nonetheless, this free app is informative and visually stunning, containing useful information and great graphics of our star and the flares, CMEs, auroras, and other phenomena that it spawns. The current solar cycle is slowly approaching its peak, so 3D Sun?s time has come. Though the app is best for amateur astronomers with some knowledge of solar phenomena, it contains much that should be of interest to anyone curious about our star?it?s worth putting on your iPad for the spectacular photos and videos alone.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/FfK-5A0Selc/0,2817,2402167,00.asp

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