Cool Technology for Amateur Astronomy

One of the biggest challenges of astronomy is the whole art and science of learning to find things in the night sky. This can be difficult because tens of thousands of the most interesting things can't be seen with the naked eye! This poses a challenge but Meade and Celestron have come up with a solution to this problem. They have made it downright easy to enjoy backyard astronomy.

The Celestron Skyscout	The Meade MySky

These are handheld locators that work off of gps and they each make it easy to point and find anything in the sky. You can select what you want to find and then it will locate it for you or you can point it at something and it will tell you what it is.

I have more extensive information on both these amazing astronomy products here

Home Planetarium

Discovery Exclusive Ultimate Star Childrens Planetarium

View the night sky as it would appear anywhere in the world with this motorized indoor planetarium. Project 88 constellations. 12 celestial objects, including 8 planets, Pluto and its moon, Charon. Uses super bright bulbs to project over 600 stars. Searchable database with over 600 star facts and myths. Interactive talking computer and backlit navigational screen. Features five modes for a variety of astronomy tours and settings. Features a one-hour timer so you can fall asleep under the stars. Includes AC power adaptor and 24-page, full color instruction manual. This accurate, computer-aided, motorized planetarium transforms an ordinary room into a truly stellar display.

You don't know much about telescopes but want to buy your first one? Here is my recommendation

Make and use your own telescope for less than twenty bucks with this easy kit

Astronomy with Binoculars a bit about what to know

The biggest challenge to telescope users is overcome with Meade Telescopes