Meade's mySky

Meade Instruments' mySKY promises to raise the bar for exploring the night sky.

Meade Instruments

Coming soon from Meade Instruments is mySky ($399), a personal observing assistant that identifies more than 30,000 celestial objects you can see with your unaided eyes, binoculars, or a telescope.

No knowledge of the night sky is needed; simply turn on the unit, point it at a celestial object using the illuminated aiming sights, and pull the trigger. Using GPS and other technologies, mySky will identify the object and provide a full multimedia presentation — including audio, video, still photos, and text — on its full-color LCD screen.

The mySky unit will also lead you on a guided tour of the best objects currently visible from your location, with full-color interactive star maps to direct you to them. With an optional RS-232 cable, the unit can connect to and control any Meade computerized telescope equipped with an RS232 port. It can also be updated with additional tours and program improvements via downloads from Meade's website, further enhancing your astronomical experience. Each mySky comes with high-fidelity audio earbuds and a 256-megabyte SD storage card. Users must supply 4 AA batteries.

Meade plans to ship a limited quantity of mySky units to select dealers by the end of April. Look for the Meade ads in the June 2007 issue of Sky & Telescope for further information.

Contact: Meade Instruments, 6001 Oak Canyon, Irvine, CA 92620; 800-919-4053; www.meade.com

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