www.my10sen.com

Star gazing can be fun, but in the age of Wikipedia and ubiquitous web access, reading from a star chart is a little, well, old fashioned. Enter mySky, a point-and-shoot astronomy device from Meade. Just aim the gun shaped handset at the celestial body of your choice and pull the trigger. Using GPS and accelerometers to determine what you are looking at, the mySpy pulls the information out of a 30,000 object database (upgradeable via SD card). The mySky then delivers video, audio descriptions and “Fun Facts”. There is a guided tour mode, pointing you at galaxies and stars of interest.


The MySky also works in concert with any computer controlled Meade telescope, meaning it becomes the perfect companion for serious astronomers who want to interface and point their telescopes simply by raising their arm in the right direction. There are real-time color maps of the night sky, over 500 audio descriptions with more information on what you’re looking at, incredible photographs of distant celestial objects which you can view from it’s color LCD screen (another option that other handhelds haven’t had), 256 MB RAM (expandable) an SD card slot, and even a long-lasting 7-hour rechargeable battery.

This is obviously going to be best for kids, but I can see some use in it for regular astronomers, if just for identification. The box also hooks up to other Meade telescopes and will guide them automatically. The My Sky has a competitive price of $399.00, but Meade is currently running a deal where if you buy their Meade ETX-90 or ETX-125 with a mySKY™ you’ll qualify for a $200 mail-in rebate.