Solar System opens with a splash page showing a periodic table-style layout of major objects in the solar system, with the Sun and all eight planets occupying the top row. (Yes, Virginia, I said eight planets; was demoted to the second row, classified under the Kuiper Belt where it spends most of its time.) These images navigate to 150 pages of detailed information, alongside and videos of the object in question. Solar System keeps pages updated with the latest information about these objects from the Wolfram|Alpha search engine.

There's also a musical touch--a commissioned song by somewhat oddly accompanies the splash page. It may not be memorable enough for the next , but while you're using this app you will atypically have sound in space.

Solar System for iPad is available now for $14, and requires an iPad with iOS 3.2 or later.