Distant Suns 2 is free for April 12, ending about 10PM Pacific time, 5AM UTC. And not to be outdone, Distant Suns 3 is 1/2 off. Spread the joy!

Using Distant Suns 3 you can follow current weather patterns as if you were observing from thousands of miles up. Check out Cyclone Yasi as it is (was) prepares to slam against Australia.   And for you unlucky enough not to be in California (current temp, a bitter 58f. I think I should wear two t-shirts), here’s your storm system:

From time to time Distant Suns will alert you to upcoming events, such as eclipses or meteor showers. Some kind users were upset at getting these messages in the middle of the night and asked that I turn them off. These are called “Apple Push Notifications” and are not email based as some have thought. APNs were a major part of the iOS 3 upgrade and are widely used to alert users of things of interest. Every app that wants to use APN will ask...

The first total lunar eclipse in nearly two years happens tomorrow UTC, or late tonight in the most favorable location of the US West Coast, but all of the US and Central America. Europe will see the beginning, with totality right around moonset. Could make some beautiful photos with local landscapes in the foreground. A lot of news outlets are making a big deal that this is the lunar eclipse on the Winter solstice in about 4 bazillion years....

Early Thursday morning, November 18, is the peak of the legendary Leonid meteor shower. It is expected to deliver a modest 15 to 25 meteors per hour as compared to thousands at peak years (2002/2003), but fun nonetheless. Best times to observe are predawn on Thursday, but if you’re hardcore about this, you can start late Wednesday evening. Bring popcorn and hot cocoa, and of course, your iPhoneTouchPad. To commemorate this event and to help my...