Moon Atlas at Mac App Store analyse

Though it seems to be only a little update from 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 support for Snow Leopard suddenly disappeared. No good idea.

As a regular lunar observer, I find this app (along with its iOS cousins) almost indispensable for planning observing sessions and identifying lunar features I see in the telescope. I actually prefer the iOS versions, as the interface is better. I wish there was a better way of advancing the date and time than going into the settings menu. It would be nice to see a better "location" menu.

I have nearly every Lunar atlas available, from Antonín Rükls detailed (and difficult to obtain) classic to a variety of photographic atlases, like the "Hatfield Photographic Lunar Atlas" and "Atlas of the Lunar Terminator," to a variety of folding maps. Rükls masterpiece is actually too detailed and often difficult to correlate with the reversed view most common telescopes give. The various photographic atlases vary considerably in visual detail. Most of these favor an inverted, not reversed, view, which make them very difficult to use. This app gives you the best of everything: compelling visual detail, the ability to display the current terminator, and the ability to adjust the view, flipping it up and down, left or right. Well worth the modest price. The iPad version is a perfect companion, as you can bring it out with you to view. In fact, I found this app such a visual pleasure that I got the Mars Atlas.

I have several Windows-based atlases of the Moon. I have been eagerly waiting for a Mac product. I had high hopes for Moon Atlas, but was very disappointed. It is very limited in its capabilities and its graphics. Unless you want a very basic tool I would avoid this product.

The graphics are very poor, most lunar craters are uninformed and have no labels.

If you are working on one of the many 100-feature observation programs, interested in the Russian or US landing sites, or just fascinated by the stark lunar landscape, this app is for you. I have it running on my PC laptop, my iMac desktop, and my iPhone 4, and its a valuable asset to my lunar observation sessions. It helps you find craters, seas (mare), mountains (montes) and about a dozen other types of features by name. It identifies these features on the map at a click and even shows you what parts of the Moon are tipped toward Earth in libration. There are too many subtle features in this app to mention. Great app - worth every penny.