Welcome to iSolarScape!
iSolarScape is an interactive "astronomy clock” and has several ways of controlling
its many features. The full complement of touches, taps, swipes, pinches and shakes are available to you as you explore and learn more about our Solar System.
The first set of controls to notice are the five buttons along the bottom of the
screen, namely the "Sun", "Moon", "Planets", "Asteroids" and "Zodiac" buttons. As
the names suggest, they each display one or more pages of corresponding information.
Just above them in the center is a small "i" button that displays the configuration
screen. Be sure to review and change the information shown here (such as entering
your own city) before using iSolarScape.
Next are the round ">" buttons that appear at the top of most pages. Pressing one
will go to the next page of related information, or if you are already on a
secondary page, a press will simply return you back to the original page. For
instance, on the initial "Sun" page, pressing the top ">" button will display more
detailed information about the Sun and its current position. Pressing it again will
return you back to the main "Sun" page.
To watch the animations that are offered, controls called "sliders" are available.
Sliders in iSolarScape begin in the "off" position on the far left side of each
slider. When "off", the animation is not active and the current view of the object
is shown. For instance, on the "Sun" page, the current sunlit side of the Earth is
displayed in the upper half of the page, while a diagram of the Sun's current position
in the sky is shown in the bottom half. If you move the slider (or "swipe") to the
right, the Earth image will begin to "rotate" and the Sun diagram will move with it in
a synchronized motion. Sliding the control further to the right increases the speed of
the animation, while sliding the control back to the far left turns the animation off
again and returns the page to the current view.
In addition to moving your finger along a slider, you can also swipe right or left on
most pages that contain sliders. For convenience, such a swipe anywhere on the screen
will move the slider as if you had touched and moved the round button on the slider
itself.
The "Planets" button displays the "Solar System simulator" page, where two sliders are
available. The top slider controls the motion of the displayed planets through time,
where swiping to the right increases the speed of the animation. Starting with today's
date, a swipe starts the animation and displays the new planet positions below. Notice
the date that is displayed near the top of the page during the animation; the displayed
planet positions are shown as they will appear for that date. When the animation is
at a slow speed, time advances only a few days per second and the planets move to their
new positions. When at a higher speed, however, time advances at up to a year per
second, and the planets can easily be seen racing at different speeds in their eternal
journey around the Sun. Moving the slider back to the far left returns the view to
today's date.
At the bottom of the "Solar System" page, an icon for each planet is available to show
more information regarding its corresponding world. Just beneath these icons, however,
is another slider that controls how many planets are displayed. The slider is
initially positioned under the "Earth" icon, and so the first three planets are shown.
Moving the slider under another planet, for instance Mars, will change the view and
show the first four planets. Notice that the distances between the planets are shown
to scale, so when the slider is under Pluto, its great distance from the Sun is
readily visible.
Horizontal swipes right and left control the top slider on the "Solar System" page,
while vertical swipes up and down are available to increase (up) or decrease (down)
the number of planets shown. Further, an inward "pinch" motion will increase and an
outward "opposite pinch" will decrease the displayed number of planets. Note that both
sliders can be active and can be used at once to fully control the display.
Finally, a simple "tap" is available on most secondary pages to return to the main page.
Instead of having to press the ">" button at the top of a page to go back, a tap anywhere
on the page will perform the same action. For instance, on the secondary "Sun" page,
a tap will return you back to the initial page. Also, a "shake" or sudden "jolt" of the
device will either reset the slider(s) on the current page back to their original
positions, or if you are viewing a secondary page, will return you back to the initial
page.
A large part of the design of iSolarScape is simplicity and convenience, but fun is never
too far behind! Experiment for yourself with different taps and touches on the various
screens, and if you think of other motions that would be fun to use, let us know and
maybe you'll see them in future versions of iSolarScape!
iSolarScape
TM
Instructions