There are a couple popular options for holdiing your iPhone and iPad skyward to see what stars are in the skies above you. Now, SightSpaceStation uses Augmented Reality technology to show you satellites orbiting the earth. Though ‘Space Station’ is in the name, that is only one of the many major satellites it will show you. You can choose which of the major orbiting objects you want to see the path of and know the time it will be overhead. Along with the majors are all of the other ones you might find very interesting, including Sirrius and other satellites you might like to know about so you know how your reception will be.
It isn’t all about what is above you, pointing your iPhone camera all around will show you where satellites are, including the other side of the earth. I wonder if it will pick up Santa’s route this year.
All of the buttons and screen information is self explanatory. The count down being shown is for the Space Station… other major space items are available to track.
Sweeping around the sky, in this case from my living room, the many satellites in space are shown. Some have their path lines showing. I stopped looking at the East sky here where Voyager1 is passing by.
Tapping a satellite via the SightSpaceStation screen gives you a quick overview of what the satellite is.
Selecting the quick info box takes you to more advanced information on the particular space object.
Jumping to the Map view, you are presented with a view of the area. With the Space Station chosen in this walk through, you can see where it is now. The slider is a time slider to see the path and where it will be at a particular point in time.
‘Live’ view of SightSpaceStation shows the full earth view of the chosen satellite planned path around the world.
‘Tweet’ is a fun option to share out with your friends what your looking at. The ‘Calendar’ option gives a date/time list view of your chosen satellite. I liked the changing elevation number as a point of interest.
Tuning your copy of SightSpaceStation is straight forward. Choose a satellite to track and the Elevation threshold as well the Twitter account and quality view.
The list of major Satellites to track is short but it has the big sky objects you would want to know about. This does not limit the overview of all satellites, this is just the tracking of place and time.
What appears in your sky view can be turned off/on with a quick switch. SightSpaceStation has really tapped the power of Augmented Reality to deliver useful information quickly, when you need it.