View The Stars, Planets using SkyORB Windows 8 App
SkyORB is a free app for Windows 8 and 8.1 devices which allows you to access and see the stars and planets in the outer space. The app has a massive feature set allowing you to see the sunrise or sunset times, moonrise and moonset times, go back in time and see the star formations, see the world map view, have a close look at various planets, galaxies, and a lot more! The app weighs in at a slightly heavy size of about 70 MB, but that’s alright as the functionality of the app makes up for that large size. The app basically is a living encyclopedia of extraterrestrial planetary bodies and stars on your Windows device. As a bonus, if you happen to have a latest laptop or tablet running Windows 8 or 8.1 which has sensors like accelerometer and gyroscope built in, you can point your device at the sky and it will show you the stars right above you. If you have an older device, no worries! You can still swipe to move the sky around and use the app and all its features!
SkyORB is available for free from the Windows App Store.
Main features of SkyORB for Windows 8 and 8.1:
When you install and run the SkyORB app on your device, be prepared to see a screen like the below screenshot.
Here you can see that you are shown your location on the world map. Now, if you wish to see the stars straight above your head, simply click on the telescope button at the top left corner of the screen.
You can search for specific stars or constellations via the magnifying glass buttons in the control set at the top left which launches a pane from the right side of the screen, enabling you to look up various planetary bodies, galaxies, black holes etc. If you click on the moon button, you will be shown the faces of the moon along with the moon calendar.
You can also toggle the settings by clicking on the meshed gears icon.
To see the entire solar system, simply click on the second button from the top left.
Remember that you can also click and drag your mouse around, or swipe your finger on the space view if you want to navigate through the outer space map. The app also has certain additional toggles at the top which basically allow you to perform similar tasks of viewing different areas of the sky map of outer space, and you’ll definitely love trying out all the features of this app!
You can also check out the Space Invaders Win8 and NASA Be A Martian apps for Windows 8 and 8.1 devices!
Conclusion:
SkyORB is a well designed app for Windows 8 and 8.1 machines which allows you to have a look at the various intriguing elements and planetary bodies present in outer space, and the app is almost magical and mystifying to look at. The app plays extremely smooth without any choppy frames even while navigating around the outer space environment, and thus makes for a great download!
I rate the app a 4 out of 5!
Get SkyORB.