I remember the first time I read about the solar system outside of school syllabus, “The big book of questions and answers” really did address all the concerns that a 13 year old child had and brought some new information into light. Is that bright object a star, or a planet, or even a satellite? Where does one constellation end, and the next one begin? And where can I find that comet that everyone’s been talking about? Is it even visible from where I live? All I wanted was to experience going to those places and get that priceless feeling of the vast universe around me. With the wake of VR and AR I was able to experience this to my heart’s content. Today’s fast moving world has lulled the realization that we have that we are a small part of a large universe. It has made us indifferent to ourselves and others. We are focused only on our own gain. In such a scenario star gazing is fun hobby to have. It like food for the soul.

The “Sky View” app in android, is a dream come true for wannabe star gazers who don’t actually know the names of the stars and constellations. It helps understand the position of the stars, the moon, the planets, etc. It also shows the trajectories and the time at which position they will be at what time. Instead of you visualizing the constellations in your head you can see the live visualizations in the app when you focus on them for about a second. You can also choose to show it in the real world (augmented reality) or you can opt for a starry sky background, once you disable the augmented reality. Another useful feature is enabling and disabling the night vision. When enabled it turns everything to in the display to red which helps in preventing bright light being displayed. This stops you from blinding and you a bad experience. You also have the option of adjusting the size of the planets and stars. The nitty gritty details about the constellations are also displayed upon clicking the constellation. Some of the information includes Abbreviation, translation, family, origin, brightest star in the constellation, the location, etc. And it really helps understand the mythology, background and Astrology for people who believe in it. It also has a serene background music that immediately eases you and makes all your problems melt away.

It isn’t always convenient to use a magazine or refer to a book to learn about the stars. Now that most people have phones on their hands can access it right away. The technology is fast progressing and it will be next to impossible for us to know the difference between the real and the fabricated world through the glasses within a decade. And with progress in the field of science one update reaches millions. In a world where people don’t use their cell phones anymore and only use the AR glasses, I can totally imagine this application being used. You can turn the application on and off on command. You can look up to the starry sky and immediately get all the answers you need. You could also wake up at any time of the day and know where the sun and moon are, the temperature and if there is an eclipse or not.

AR is currently being used by motor cyclists to know the speed they are going in right on their helmets. This can be used for a wide variety of activities. Like flying jets, getting the analytics of a game while watching it live, etc. A simple game like chess can be analyzed in AR real time. There are also apps to view the mountains and the other areas. Imagine combining the applications into a single one. There can be so much use in knowing not just the location of the stars but much more. You can just disable the features that you don’t desire. This can be really handy for people who go on tours to other countries. They can admire nature and know about it without having to search them on the phone. It would be really cool if there is an option which on enabling it can take you to a virtual world where you can interact with the stars and can be in outer space (virtually). Also simulations of the meteorite hit millions of years ago and how the earth were in rumbles, simulations of its origins and the creatures as shown in the ending of the movie “Lucy”, starred by Scarlett Johansson. The ability to explore a vast multitude of the universe right from where you are is the dream.

There aren’t many disadvantages to this as it is a choice you have to use it or not but no doubt it will be a widely used application. There are definitely people out there who take interest in star gazing who would like to learn about stars the old fashioned way using books and wouldn’t want the hindrance of technology. On the other hand in places like Chicago where there is a ton of light pollution which obscures the night sky and stars it can be a real hindrance to see the beautiful night sky. AR can help overlaying a darker background and placing the stars they should be. But there can be a lot of damage inflicted in the eyes as the light source is very close to it. Just something to be careful about!