Bench Press » accelerometer http://blog.benchside.com The Crossroads of Science and Tech Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:00:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Amateur Android Astronomer http://blog.benchside.com/2009/06/amateur-android-astronomer/ http://blog.benchside.com/2009/06/amateur-android-astronomer/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:00:23 +0000 ben http://blog.benchside.com/?p=789 On Bench Press, we usually discuss technologies to empower scientists to do research or to better communicate with each other and with the public. But, technologies can also help the “casual” fan appreciate science as well. Case in point: Google recently announced a new application available for Android phones called Google Sky Map. The concept is quite ingenious. If ancient navigators used starcharts and compasses to determine their location, why can’t a phone that knows its location (via built-in GPS) and its direction (via magnetometer and accelerometer) be used to figure out what stars are up above?

Or in other words, Google took this physical setup (very cute setup from Google for how Google Sky Map works) of what is basically a sextant, compass, and calendar:

image

And replaced it with a smartphone:

image image

I haven’t had a chance to play with it (as I don’t own a G1), but the application looks very nicely packaged. You can use it to figure out what stars are right above you. But, the coolest feature is the ability to use the application to point you in the direction of something you’re interested in seeing (e.g. the planet Saturn).

More details are in the video below. You can get Sky Map for Android through the Android Market. For anyone who’s tried it, let us know what you think in the comments!

(Image credit – Google)

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