Star Gazing

This is one of the coolest unique applications of technology I have seen in a long time. It's called the SkyScout, and what it does is locate itself using GPS, and then using a USB updateable database and a combination of built in magnetic and micro accelerometer sensors, know exactly what astronomical object you are pointing at and give you all the info you want to know about it. It has an SD slot for additional applications and will give you the top 10 object to look at for any given evening. It also has little direction indicators in the vewfinder (it's a spotting scope, I assume you could mount it on a real telescope without much trouble) so if you want to find the Crab nebula or something, just follow the arrows. It will probably cost $799 - $999, but it's the start of a totally new market, and these things will come down in price over time.

Posted on December 12, 2005 10:59 AM


Comments

Yeah, it's nice to see the stuff professionals have had for years finally getting accessible enough for the laity.

Hook all this stuff into the Internet and legions of amateurs could quickly confirm comet and apollo object spottings that any one of them first sees.

Posted by: Pace Arko Author Profile Page | December 16, 2005 5:27 PM Gravatar Icon

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December 12, 2005