Hold the Universe in Your Hand

Keeping up with the latest space news has just become a whole lot easier thanks to the new Portal to the Universe app, which gives iPhone and iPod Touch [1] users direct access to the Universe wherever they go.

The Portal to the Universe app is a dynamic online news aggregator that showcases cutting-edge astronomy and space science breakthroughs gathered from hundreds of sources every day: news websites, blogs, video podcasts, audio podcasts, images, videos and more.

With the release of the new app in iTunes, people on the go can now stay in the know. The free application allows users to:

• find out what’s new and exciting by reading posts featured by the editors of the Portal to the Universe
• access the portal offline
• watch and listen to astronomy podcasts
• search for articles on the Portal to the Universe

 You can install the application here.

Credit: ESO/Victor R. Ruiz

Sponsored by ESO, the Portal to the Universe app is an Open Source app designed and developed by Víctor R. Ruiz (linotipo.es), with contributions from Lars Holm Nielsen (ESO). The code is available online here.

Notes

[1] The Portal to the Universe app works with iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, the original iPhone, and iPod touch. The iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch are able to reproduce a restricted set of popular audio and video formats (i.e. MP3 and H.264/MP4), and some of the displayed content may not play.

More Information

The Portal to the Universe — your one-stop-shop for all things astronomy — is a project sponsored by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the European Space Agency (ESA), and was a Cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory

Read more at European Southern Observatory