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Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium | 
 enlarge | Brand: Celestron
Category: Photography
List Price: $199.99
Buy New: $179.00
You Save: $20.99 (10%)
New (20) from $179.00
Rating:  104 reviews
Sales Rank: 88
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Optical Zoom: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 4 x 2.5
Legal Disclaimer: Sale Ends: 12-24-2008. You may return or exchange merchandise purchased from Macy's @ Amazon by mail only.
MPN: 93970
Model: 93970
UPC: 050234939706
EAN: 0050234939706
ASIN: B000CNPAAA
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Locates and identifies over 6,000 stars, planets, and constellations with GPS technology | | • | Red LED backlit display for easy-to-read information | | • | Accepts SkyTour SD multi-media cards for interactive tours of the night sky | | • | Includes USB port for easy download of database updates | | • | Measures 7.4 x 2.5 x 4.0 inches (W x H x D) |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 99 more reviews...
 Starry Eyed January 7, 2009
Beatrice E. Vance
1-07-09 I bought this item as a Christmas gift for my wife who loves the night skies . She is having a great time with it. She informs me that the only problem she has is the nights are so cold that she can't spend as much time with it as she would like. Our 6 year grandson was up the other day and he was thrilled with it too. At this point there have been no mechanical problems. Bob
Nice item January 2, 2009
Stephen Cooper
Nothing more I can write that has not been written,I waited till amazon had this at a price I could not refuse.I had to walk around till it could get its fix,and then it worked like claimed,I was Wowed and came back inside elated.
Very Cool and Useful Stargazing Aid - Highly Recommended! January 2, 2009
CFH (Blue Ridge Summit, PA USA)
The "Celestron SkyScout" is one of coolest stargazing aides we have come across. We have never been able to get our Meade XTA90 telescope properly aligned to automatically find celestial objects and this has been a point of contention between my wife and I (she thinks I should be able to "fix" it). The solution was to buy the SkyScout.
The SkyScout worked perfectly right out of the box for us, the GPS satellite acquisition was amazingly fast, and the unit literally pointed out our first target (Venus) in less than 5 minutes from the moment we powered it up. We also like the one touch "Target" button that can identify the object the unit is pointed at.
The "Tonight's Highlights" is a very nice feature that presents a list of the best viewing targets for the current day. We were able to find several galaxies that we hadn't viewed before, which was very exciting for us and our kids. Speaking of group viewing, I recommend using the Celestron 93985 SkyScout Speaker (Black) if more than one person is going to be around when using the unit. This is especially true if you are going to be using the SkyScout's informative audio guides. The SkyScout does come with earbuds, but no one really likes to share them.
While the SkyScout comes with a case for transporting this unit and it's cables, it does not protect the unit while it is in use. We bought the Scoutcase Deluxe Soft Case for the Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium for extra protection since our kids also use the unit.
We highly recommend the SkyScout for it's ease of use and relatively low price. This has brought us a new level of enjoyment to our stargazing!
Amazing December 27, 2008
Donald Walker (San Marino, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I received this as a gift. I had seen it previously and was slightly skeptical about whether it could deliver as promised or be as accurate as you would need it to be. Anyway, took it out of the box and read the three pages or so of quick start up instructions. took it outside and it had a little trouble getting a gps link. I moved farther away from the house though and it synched properly. So, I pointed it up to a star, looked through the eyepiece and pressed the button and *bang*. It told me what it was. Wondering about its accuracy, I pointed it to another star nearby to see if it would give me the same name and lo it gave me a different name (the proper name). I plugged in the headphones and started listening to the audio commentary about the stars I was selecting. It was so cool. All these stars that I had no idea which ones they were, just press a button and it was telling me. It is really accurate, much more so than I even hoped. Pointing at stars and clicking is one way to use it, but you can also use the locate function and select an object, and then follow the arrows in the eyepiece until you zero in on it. I sat in my backyard in the freezing cold for about a half hour just selecting all the bright stars in the sky. I still cant believe how well it worked. A few weeks ago (after pointing Venus and Jupiter out to my 3 year old) my son started asking me the names of the stars in the sky and I had no idea, now I can tell him its Procyon, or Rigel...how much fun is that. I learned more about the stars in a half hour than I have in all the rest of my life.
A great tool for those who need an astronomy mentor on demand December 27, 2008
Marc B (Atlanta, GA USA)
Back at the end of September, I splurged and picked up a Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium through Amazon.
This gadget is amazing! Once its GPS acquires your position it can either direct you to pretty much any celestial body you are interested in or you can point it at anything you see in the sky and it will tell you what it is and provide you with all manner of interesting info about it such as magnitude, composition, distance even lore concerning the object. For many items you can even listen to the description through the provided ear buds.
I had an initial issue where the unit simply would not acquire the satellites necessary to allow for a GPS fix. But updating the unit's firmware (with the tool on the included CD) corrected this issue and allowed for rapid GPS position acquisition from then on.
Note that this is not a magnifying tool. The lens on it is strictly for directing you to an object (via little arrows around the circumference of the lens) or to allow you to center an object and then press the "Identify" button.
I've been using this lately with a pair of Canon 15x50 IS Binoculars that I picked up a few years ago and the two make a terrific team.
The light pollution in my area is such that even the major constellations always seem to be incomplete and I tend to have trouble identifying what should be relatively simple objects. I have used various PDA-based star charts and they've been moderately successful in guiding me. But personal planetarium is like having a seasoned astronomy veteran next to you pointing the way to the objects you're interested in observing.
It even has a "tonight's highlights" feature to help you get rolling.
I'm hoping to try my hand at a "Messier Marathon" in the next couple of weeks.
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