Through my friend Angela Maiers I recently learned about a neat augmented reality iPhone app that helps users identify the stars and planets. Star & Planet Finder enables you to locate the planets and stars in the night sky through your  iPhone or iPad. To use the app, select from a list the planet or constellation you want to locate. Star & Planet Finder will then give you directions to move your iPhone or iPad until you can see through the camera display the planet that you’re looking for. The free version of the app only identifies planets. For $.99 each you can add lists of constellations, lists of satellites, and lists of brightest stars to the app.

On a related note, if you’re not quite sure what augmented reality is, check out Augmented Reality in Plain English.

Applications for Education
Unless you work in a boarding school, not many of us have our students at night. But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t pass along this app to our students to use for their own independent learning and discovery at home.