 Piranha Interactive, $39. Requirements: PowerPC, System 7.1, 16 MB RAM, 4xCD, 28.8Kbps modem for Internet functions. For more information, visit Piranha at http://www.piranhainteractive.com.
by Anne J. Lombardi
RedShift 3 definitely deserves its winning of a 1999 Codie Award for Best New Home Education for Teens and Adults. Making astronomy accessible learning material for people who aren't students or professionals in that area is not an easy task. Yet, while RedShift successfully teaches astronomy concepts in some of its features, it misses the mark in other areas and can end up alienating beginners in favor of spouting out complicated and poorly explained astronomical terms.
One fundamental problem with RedShift's setup that can become pretty troublesome at the beginning is the fact that the program's home window completely covers the setting menu for the skymap. Not knowing this can leave a user fishing around the program aimlessly, trying to figure out how to create his skyviewing settings. It also hides RedShift's main purpose from the user-a celestial atlas-with its other features.
RedShift's skymapping capabilities are extraordinary. A user can view skymaps from anywhere on, and just about anywhere off, Earth at any time between 4712 BC and AD 9999. All stars and other objects shown on the maps can be clicked on to receive detailed information on the body. However, a user without a minimal amount of astronomy under his belt probably won't be able to understand any of the given information. The controls on the skymapping feature are easy to use, and allow changes of viewing direction, zoom, and other position preferences. In-depth explanations of each setting are also included, which help the user understand exactly what he is doing. Unfortunately, the spherical shape of the sky causes changes in viewing direction to seem a little confusing and, after a while, somewhat dizzying.
In its "Story of the Universe," RedShift provides several tutorials on astronomy basics, and explains how the universe and everything in it have come to be the way they are. These tutorials are excellent tools for introducing beginning astronomers to the subject. The language is straightforward so that new students can understand the topics, but still in-depth enough to teach some new ideas even to more experienced students. The demonstrations included in this feature are also helpful. All the visualizations are completely pertinent to the audio information, and are useful in helping the user understand the concepts.
RedShift offers various astronomy tours on such subjects as the planets, comets and asteroids, and space exploration. These tours are well-intended as an explanation as to exactly why some astronomical phenomena occur, but unfortunately don't offer enough information to actually clarify the topics they talk about. The interactive demonstrations given in each tour are impressive tools for a user who already understands the concepts and is looking for a visualization of them, but there just isn't enough written material supplied to help the beginning astronomer see what's really going on in the demonstration.
The Sky Diary provides current astronomical events for a specific location and time. This feature lists what can be seen in the sky on a given night, along with a brief explanation of each event. It also provides planet positions for any night, along with data telling the user exactly where in the sky to look to see each planet. The Sky Diary is incredibly useful for devoted stargazers who want an exact description of what they will be seeing each night. Again, however, this information will only confuse a user who does not know exactly what information he is being given.
RedShift includes an impressive photo gallery, with images of many sorts of astronomical phenomena grouped by subject. The images are breathtaking to see and pleasing to the eye, but the captions provided with each photograph are what make this feature so enjoyable. Detailed information explains what the user sees in the picture. More complicated terms are highlighted in red and can be clicked on to receive additional information provided by RedShift's dictionary. This dictionary can also be accessed separately for reference. RedShift's "Record Breakers" feature is a similar gem, containing pictures of various astronomical milestones accompanied by written explanations.
One feature RedShift needs in order to make it appeal to astronomers of all levels is the ability to set the program at different levels of understanding. It is impossible to create one program that can satisfy both the needs of first-time astronomers and experienced stargazers. A setting bar that provides the option to be presented information on various levels would allow the beginning student to easily learn basic concepts and then progress on to more complicated topics. That way, users see the information on their level, and not have to search for what they can learn in the middle of things that either confuse or bore them.
While RedShift has some organizational problems that can be confusing to the new astronomer, it is a worthwhile program that provides a good astronomy education to the user who learns how to navigate through its features. RedShift is, all things considered, a great tool for astronomers of all levels who are looking to learning more about they see when they stare up at night. |