Amazing new technology in a telescope. GPS (or GOTO Telescopes)When I read about Celestron's new Personal Planetarium called SkyScout, the first thing I thought was "Of course, the technology to do this has been with us for a while", but of course it is still amazing to me. Basically, the SkyScout is a revolutionary handheld telescope device that uses advanced GPS technology with point and click technology to identify thousands of stars, planets, constellations and more.
Here is an overview of the SkyScouts functionality.
- Skyscout identifies celestial objects - stars, consellations, planets with the click of a button.
- The Sky Scout (manufacturer is Celestron) ocates over 6,000 stars, planets and constellations from built-in celestial database and provides scientific information for each object. It actually talks to you and gives you an astronomy lesson.
- Skyscout provides comprehensive text and audio descriptions providing the history, mythology and other entertaining information for the most popular sky objects, planets, constellations.
- The coolest feature of all in the Skyscout is the "Tonight's Highlights" Tonights Highlights is a customized list of the 20 best objects in the current nights sky to view for your exact date, time and location anywhere in the world
- The Sky Scout Personal Planetarium gives constellation lessons. If the star you identify or locate is part of a constellation or an asterism like the Big Dipper, you can actually take a guided tour through all the stars in that constellation and even see an onscreen map of the
constellation
The SkyScout built-in Field Guide Includes:
- Introduction to astronomy: a six part audio lesson on the origin and history of astronomy.
- Glossary of Terms: text defining popular astronomy terms including planets, comets, galaxies and more.
- Great Astronomers: text bios on some of the world's greatest astronomers including Galileo, Einstein and Copernicus.
- Man Made Space Objects: text description of some of the coolest objects man has sent into space including the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Shuttle.
- Comet Guide: text descriptions about history's most famous comets including Halley's Comet and Comet Hale-Bop.
- As of January this year (2008), the Skyscout offers a SD card slot: for optional “SkyScout Expansion Cards” audio presentations that provide hours of entertainment on a variety of astronomy topics.
- The Skyscout also has an USB port which allows the database to be updated with new objects as they are discovered, comets, etc.
- Simple enough for all ages: just turn it on and it’s ready to use
- Bring it anywhere: compact and light design makes it easy to carry and durable construction makes it safe for rugged environments
- Backed by Celestron's 2-year warranty
CLICK HERE for coupons for the Skyscout Telescope (Personal Planetarium)
Labels: Celestron Skyscout Telescope
