Messier Handbook 1.2.0.0

The beautiful deep-sky objects have always exerted a special fascination for astronomers, so observing and documenting them is a relatively common activity for those who love watching the stars and learning more about them.

Windows Phone users have at their disposal several apps that offer the necessary references about the stars on the might sky, so those who want to get some useful details in this area can try out Messier Handbook.

Well structured and informative GUI

The looks of this utility are decent, with lots of animated tiles inside, so you can enjoy different star and constellation images right inside the home screen.

The quality of the images is very good and the content is kept very well structured and easy to access. The catalog is easy to go trough and there are no delays in loading the selected entries.

You can easily pin to the Start screen any entry from Messier Handbook, so you can access anytime the listing of the respective objects with a single tap.

Select individual objects or browse the whole catalog

Going through the collection of Messier objects can be done in two ways, either by opening the full collection and browsing the complete listings in the order they are arranged, or you can select and open a single item form a separate section of the app.

For each entry from Messier Handbook you can check out the New General Catalogue (NGC) number, view its common name and type, the distance and magnitude as well as the constellation it belongs to.

A most relevant image representing the respective deep-sky objects is also included and it takes up almost half of the screen, so you can get a pretty good look at every one of them.

Find objects on the built-in star map

This application comes with a neat extra feature that is represented by a star chart where all the Messier objects are marked. This will help a lot if you want to quickly spot a certain cluster, nebula or galaxy with your telescope.

The map supports zooming and panning touch gestures, so navigating it is a breeze and, just like the other information included in the package, the chart is available without an Internet connection, as all the data is stored inside the app.

In case you want to read a few things about Charles Messier, the astronomer who founded the catalog, there is a dedicated module that you can visit to learn about the beginnings of this reference book.

Add to watchlist:

ReferenceAstronomy

• NASA Hub 1.0.0.0
• Space Explorer 1.0.0.0
• Latin Proverbs 1.0.0.0
• Universe 1.0.0.0