MySky, Your Sky

   

According to urban legend, when my mom and dad first met, they used to go star gazing.  My dad would point out a star and say something like “this is Alpha Centauri, it a binary system approximately 4.4  light years away from our sun,” and my mom would be so impressed. She would answer saying “Wow! It’s so beautiful!” but now, so many years later, she admits that she never knew exactly where he was pointing to.

Several times when I was little, we went to watch the Meteor shower. We would bring a warm blanket, hot chocolate, and cookies and spend hours late into the night watching the sky and counting the white streaks.

The problem with stargazing is that on a clear night, there are zillions of stars out there.  If you have a good memory, you may be able to memorize a few.  Even if you have a person to show you what’s where you still end up wasting a lot of viewing time trying to identify the objects and locate them in the star guide.

I have been complaining for a while that it’s really hard learning the sky with just a field guide, so finally, on my last birthday, my parents surprised me with the ultimate personal astronomy guide.  His name is MySky and he is an automated star finder. This device is the ultimate in coolness.

The MySky guide has a database which contains over 30,000 objects and to locate any one of these, you just point it at the object and press the trigger.  Within a few seconds, a friendly voice comes up and tells you all about it.  It gives you basic information (object description, size, distance, etc.) and historical information (such as association with Greek or Roman mythology). Plus, it shows a high-quality image (taken from the Hubble telescope) and it even plays movies.   Another great feature is the automated sky tour.  As you are taking the guide, the device will automatically guide you and tell you where to move it and describe the objects or constellation.

I have found that the best time to watch the sky is in the spring and summer on a clear night (winter and fall in NY are just too cold).  Another neat thing is that with Mysky, you don’t have to travel to areas free from light pollution. You can just spread a blanket out in your backyard, or at the park and you’re good to go.  The MySky doesn't have a built-in speaker so you will need either headphones or a portable speaker (which is great for a group viewing).

Setting the device up is very simple, you just turn it on, enter the date and time, your location, place it on a level surface for calibration, and you’re set.  Operating it is also a cinch. All the commands are in menus and are easily accessed.
Don’t forget to bring along your favorite hot drink and yummy snacks.
Now that I got a better view of the night sky, I think I’m ready to move on to the real thing. “Mom and Dad, whenever you’re ready, can I please, please, please have an LX600-ACF
?”