I'm curious about this new product. I live in a sky polluted city, so only very bright stars and planets are visible normally. We get an occasional dark night where you can easily see Andromeda or the Orion nebula, but most of the time, they are just "fuzzy" unless viewed with binoculars or a telescope. With Celestron's new SkyScout GPS accessory, the features of it (without magnification) make me wonder how effective this product would be for me in just identifying items I'm trying to find in the night sky. For example, with my limited knowledge of the galaxies, if I wanted to find the ring nebula and couldn't see it without any magnification device, what use would this product be? How could it be used with binoculars and/or a telescope? This seems like a great product if you are out in the country in really dark skies and just kept pointing to items to identify them, but what use would it be in light polluted skies when many objects can only be seen with magnification devices? Any feedback or comments would be appreciated, as I would hate to spend $400 and have this item sit in a drawer being unused. Thanks.
Celestron SkyScout
Started by brucebev, 04/21/2006 10:44AM
Posted 04/21/2006 10:44AM
Opening Post
Posted 04/21/2006 10:44PM
| Edited 04/21/2006 10:51PM
#1
Bruce,
We have to wait and see.
It should identify visable objects. It should also find specified objects. I'm hoping it will work as a poor mans push-to device.
How well it works will depend on several things. Will it work while mounted on a scope or binocular? Will the objects programed into it be useful in navigating the sky? How accurate will it be?
If it works as advertised, it should be at least as useful as a RDF except that it will tell you what you're looking at and help direct you to a specific object.
I'm sure it won't be as accurate as the DSC and goto hardware already available. But it should get you into the ballpark of an object.
The real advantage with this device is that it works without any calibration. No level/north setup, no pointing at 2-3 stars/objects, no encoders, no wires, no identifing objects, no entering long-lat info, no setting time/date, no polar alignment, no leveling, no nothing, just a couple of batteries. Seems a little like magic.
The quality of the database is a big question. It seems to me that since they took the trouble to build in a data port, new info/objects should be downloadable. If so, new data for comet info may be available as new objects are found.
One function that it may be able to do is locate planets in the daytime. I observed the daytime occultation of Jupiter a while back so I know the planets are visable in daylight. You just have to know where to look.
I'm waiting patiently for mine. If it works as advertised I'll be very pleasently surprised. The promise is enough for me to take a chance on it.
Peter
We have to wait and see.
It should identify visable objects. It should also find specified objects. I'm hoping it will work as a poor mans push-to device.
How well it works will depend on several things. Will it work while mounted on a scope or binocular? Will the objects programed into it be useful in navigating the sky? How accurate will it be?
If it works as advertised, it should be at least as useful as a RDF except that it will tell you what you're looking at and help direct you to a specific object.
I'm sure it won't be as accurate as the DSC and goto hardware already available. But it should get you into the ballpark of an object.
The real advantage with this device is that it works without any calibration. No level/north setup, no pointing at 2-3 stars/objects, no encoders, no wires, no identifing objects, no entering long-lat info, no setting time/date, no polar alignment, no leveling, no nothing, just a couple of batteries. Seems a little like magic.
The quality of the database is a big question. It seems to me that since they took the trouble to build in a data port, new info/objects should be downloadable. If so, new data for comet info may be available as new objects are found.
One function that it may be able to do is locate planets in the daytime. I observed the daytime occultation of Jupiter a while back so I know the planets are visable in daylight. You just have to know where to look.
I'm waiting patiently for mine. If it works as advertised I'll be very pleasently surprised. The promise is enough for me to take a chance on it.
Peter
Funding Member
