Sky Guide developers win Apple Design Award

A pair of Seattle-area software developers are getting some much-deserved recognition for their astronomy app. Chris Laurel and Nick Risinger, founders of Fifth Star Labs, recently received a 2014 Apple Design Award for their gorgeous iOS app Sky Guide.

Chris Laurel, left, and Nick Risinger, founders of Fifth
Star Labs and designers of Sky Guide, an astronomy
app that has received a 2014 Apple Design Award.

Laurel is a software developer whose titles include Celestia, an open-source application for astronomical visualization. He has consulted with NASA and the European Space Agency. Risinger is a renowned astrophotographer and designer perhaps best known for his panoramic photo survey of the Milky Way that consists of more than 37,000 individual images. Laurel tells Seattle Astronomy that the idea for Sky Guide germinated as a way to allow people to view Risinger’s imagery.

The first version of Sky Guide came out a little over a year ago, in May 2013, and Laurel says they’ve had the good fortune to be selling well right from the start.

“We have a good app, but it also takes some luck to get the exposure that you need to sell enough to keep yourself employed,” he says. A lot of the luck came in the form of support from Apple, which featured Sky Guide on the app store not long after it launched.

A screen shot from Sky Guide

“If you make something that the platform owners like, then they want to feature you because it shows off their devices and software,” Laurel notes of the support from Apple. Soon Sky Guide was featured as the Starbucks app of the week.

“That’s a free download; we don’t get money, but it gets you a lot of people looking at the app,” Laurel says, and that created some buzz. “Once you get enough users using it, then they tell their friends, so you have this sort of organic thing going.”

Laurel says the Apple Design Award came as something of a surprise, but says they’re deeply honored by the recognition from the company. Reviews have been great; Sky Guide was featured as one of the hot products for 2014 in the January issue of Sky & Telescope magazine.
Laurel, who is vice president for activities for the Seattle Astronomical Society, says he and Risinger are gratified at the interest the amateur astronomy community has shown in Sky Guide, but notes that this wasn’t their target customer group.

“We were going for a broader audience,” he says, explaining that Sky Guide doesn’t have features such as telescope controls that are offered by other astronomy apps. “We’re going for an audience of anyone who might look up in the night sky and say, ‘What’s that star?'”

We love Sky Guide for its gorgeous look and for its great depth. In addition to Risinger’s superb photography, the app features music and sounds by Mat Jarvis and a wealth of information about bright stars (by James B. Kaler) and about constellation mythology (by Ian Ridpath.) A cool filter feature lets the user see objects as they would appear in various wavelengths, including microwave, infrared, h-alpha, and x-ray.

The Apple Design Award is well-deserved! Sky Guide is available for iPhone and iPad for $1.99. Check it out!

Local editor recognized for work on astro newsletter

Vicki Saunders, editor of BPAA Quarterly, the newsletter for the Battle Point Astronomical Association of Bainbridge Island, recently received fourth place recognition from the Astronomical League in the competition for the Mabel Sterns Newsletter Editor Awards. It’s the third time in the 14-year history of the awards, named for the AL’s first newsletter editor, that BPAA has placed. Saunders received honorable mention in 2006, and Bill and Anna Edmonds took fifth place in 2002.

Mabel Sterns, above, was the first editor of
the Astronomical League newsletter, and now
the league's award for newsletter excellence bears
 her name. Vicki Saunders of the Battle Point
Astronomical Association on Bainbridge Island took
fourth place in this year's awards.
Photo: Astronomical League.

Northwest astronomy clubs have not been all that well represented in the Sterns Awards. Rose City Astronomers from Portland took first place back in 2007 with the Rosette Gazette, edited by Larry Deal. Seattle Astronomical Society‘s Webfooted Astronomer, edited by Laurie Maloney, took a third in 2001, and Kathleen Higgins took second in 2002 for the Boise Astronomical Society newsletter.

The awards have a fairly rigorous nomination process, and Saunders noted that the recognition came despite the fact that she ignored one of the league’s strong suggestions, and that was to include the AL logo, preferably on the first page! The judges, former newsletter editors as well as editors of The Reflector, the Astronomical League magazine, apparently ignored that omission in their deliberations and recognized Saunders’ outstanding publication.

As a former editor of The Webfooted Astronomer, I recognize the challenge of putting out a good product month after month. It’s tough to find or create enough content. BPAA president Stephen Ruhl’s nominating letter was quoted in the AL Reflector in praise of Saunders’ work: “Vicki’s efforts create a newsletter that meeets the needs of the association and that draws the community into astronomy and the BPAA. It is the glue that holds our local astronomical community together.” The winter 2011/12 issue is a good one, with seven feature articles created by club members.

Submissions for the 2012 Mabel Sterns Awards are due by March 31. Complete information about how to apply is on the AL website.

Congratulations to Vicki Saunders, and hats off to all of the astronomy club newsletter editors out there who keep their members informed and engaged.