• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Celeste SE: A great astro-augmented-reality toy; but pricey

Osbor

Lurker
Jun 7, 2010
1
2
HEY YOU

something of an astronomy buff? really want to know where every planet in our strange little solar system is at any given time? want a cool demo of the power of augmented reality? celeste might be worth a look

Price; $1.99 (free version only tracks sun and saturn)
Developer; Terminal Eleven LLC
Version Compatibility; works from 1.5 on up (requires an internal accelerometer, GPS, and compass)

At its heart, Celeste is really just a toy, a tech demo for Augmented reality and its myriad of possible applications. It doesn't really have man settings, and not many options to toy with; this is essentially what you will be seeing most of the time.

the main screen

1123c37e7e9849aec971d92adddf65f5.jpg


you use your handset like a "planet camera", pointing it around the sky, and the app overlays planetary orbit data (in adorable visual form) over your camera's video. Looking straight down reveals a handy compass rose displayed at your feet, which relies on the phones internal compass. GPS data is taken from your current location as well.
and....that's about it.

you can turn on "planet tracks" which will display the orbits of the planets, and you can see exactly when a planet will be in a specific point on its path, as well as enable a few "fun facts" about the planet being observed....but there's really nothing beyond that. Fun for a few hours, and possibly useful for some obscure purpose such as sun tracking on a cloudy day.

The "planet tracker" and fun facts features displayed below

be59bddea82df9a00285dc73ed87fd87.jpg



PROS;
-cool, clean, and simple.

CONS;
-kind of expensive given what's included.

GRIPES;
-maybe some expanded features? simple 3D models of the planets that you can browse like google earth? maybe added tracking for constellations or significant events? again, expensive given what it is.

This app gets 3 rotating orbs of matter ..... out of 5
 

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones