R.I.P. 2Sky
Posted by astrogeek on June 28, 2007
In a previous post, I reviewed the Palm OS star chart program 2Sky. Unfortunately the 2sky Palm Astronomy Software
has been discontinued by it’s author. I don’t know if he has any plans to pass the software off to anyone else. I know that I use it just about every observing session. The Palm T/X is a lot easier to take to the observing site than my computer.
There are still some alternates out there:
PalmOS
- http://members.aol.com/psphere/ [ NOTE: This link is now dead. 2/23/2009 - ag ]
- http://www.star-pilot.com
- http://www.astromist.com/
- http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
- http://astroinfo.sourceforge.net/
Windows Mobile
- http://www.bisque.com/Products/TheSkyPE/TheSkyPE.asp
- http://www.astromist.com/ (This software comes in both PalmOS and Windows Mobile versions)
If you know of other mobile device software (palm or windows CE) then please let me know.
Astroprof said
That is really unfortunate, because I rather like 2Sky. AT least my old version still works. I use it all the time with my astronomy classes.
astrogeek said
I’m rather upset by it. I’ve been trying to find a way to contact the author to see if he is planning on passing the source code on to someone, perhaps as an open source project.
I’ve looked at some of the PalmOS alternates, and so far there’s nothing I like as much as 2Sky.
AstroGeek Astromist « said
[...] June 29th, 2007 — astrogeek In a previous post I noted that the author of my favorite handheld planetarium software, 2Sky, is throwing in the [...]
The Earth, the Moon, and the pain in my neck. « AstroGeek said
[...] the neighbor’s yard to the East, but when I looked at it, it went away. I consulted 2sky (a now defunct planetarium program for the PalmOS), and discovered that I was seeing (barely) the Pleiades. I could only see them in averted vision. [...]
Mike Kvammen said
I want my 2Sky!!
Bali, a girl, and 2Sky were a nice mix.
The only reason my Palm Tungsten T5 hasn’t been recycled is 2Sky.
As an iPhone dork and “Astroweak”, I’m counting on somebody amongst you to find and then convince the author to, in peril of my whining, move it along and make me (oh, OK, us) pay him for “2Sky iPhone”.
Work it, geeks!
Mike Kvammen
323-257-0940
Stephen Reddin said
Wow that sucks. I remember sitting beside a fellow geek on a flight, and showing him why 2sky was just as good – if not better than his pda’s star chart software. I used 2sky all the time until I was forced into a dreaded blackberry (still kept my old pda because of 2sky).
astrogeek said
Yah, I’m a bit tweaked about it, but I’ve already got my copy. I wish the author would release the code to the public domain so that it could be picked up by others.
LP Epps said
Has anyone had any luck tracking down 2Sky’s author yet? It really is the best astro software out there for a handheld – I’m not looking forward to the day my Tungsten T3 finally fails.
astrogeek said
The author is listed as Kevin S. Polk. The only address I had for him bounces.