Shooting Stars - Mike Weasner



Shooting Stars ! - a review of the Meade ‘mySky’ by Roger Butler

I had already decided to buy a Meade ‘mySky’, but not exactly when . I did the research, read the reviews and now, suddenly, there it was ! Well, there they were, actually, since three of the trade stands at the Astronomy Festival had a ‘mySky’, each craving my attention. So after a very brief ‘hands-on’ I bought one from Ace Cameras, at a small discount.

Originally I had been very interested in the Celestron Skyscope, the first example of an all-singing-and-dancing astronomical sat-nav. Ian Davies was one of the first to buy this last year and he had given me the opportunity to see it in action firsthand. But somehow it just didn’t seem right for me ! For a start it doesn’t look like anything in particular – just another electro-gizmo: a sat-nat, personal organiser, fancy phone, small microwave ? I found it quite hard to line it up with objects in the sky, and then you have move it away to read the panel on the side to see what you have discovered. I am sure I would have found it easier to use with practice but it just didn’t seem intuitive.

So when the Meade mySky came out, twelve months later, this seemed to me to tick all the right boxes. For a start it looks exactly as it should: IT’S A BIG GUN ! – and you fire it at the stars. No need to read the wafer-thin book (five pages – with repetition), just spark it up, point and shoot ! It behaves exactly as you would expect and handing it around at the observation meeting proved that, even in the dark with no explanation from me, members could sort out the control buttons to get accurate results first time. In fact, anyone who has ever handled a TV remote control, computer mouse or games console will know exactly how to navigate between its functions without recourse to the manual. [Mac philosophy: don’t read the manual – if technology comes with a big book send it back, it’s badly designed !]

So what does it do ? Well quite simply it identifies any object you might see in the sky and, conversely, will direct you to find any object you have programmed into it. Identifying is easy – just line up the sights and squeeze the trigger. A few seconds later the screen display is showing the name of the object and a tap on the ‘info’ button will give you the data about its size, distance, magnitude and when it rises and sets, etc. Often there is a commentary you can hear if you plug in a couple of earphones. Finding an object is also very easy – flick through the menus to locate the objects name via the ‘compass’ buttons. Anyone unable to get a fix on comet 27P/Holmes would need only 6 button presses to find it. The display shows the sky at present with a large arrow pointing towards the object.. As you move the sights of the mySky in the direction indicated by the arrow, it gets shorter as you near the object and finally, moving a circle over a crosshair fine-tunes the process onto the exact location. Job done !

So why do I think I need one ? Well we are all very busy people these days and when we do manage to get out there and find that the skies are clear (how often does that happen ?), we have to make the most of the opportunity. For me, no more diving down into the carboot to try to make out the star charts for tonight with the aid of a big book and a red torch. And then having to relate the star chart mentally 180 degrees to matchup with the real thing. No, mySky does the job in a trice without taking your eyes off the heavens.

My observing sites tend to be either very indistinct because of light pollution or massively detailed in dark skies with virtually no pollution. The latter can be quite overwhelming because there is just too much data – unknown starts suddenly appearing brightly between familiar stars. So mySky sorts these out nicely for me. And the ‘Point telescope’ button means that my Meade telescope can be controlled by the mySky to point at the same object I have just selected. This means the mySky can act like an interactive finderscope, affording maximum use of the available time.

All the data of the latest Meade Autostar is available on an upgradeable SD chip: masses of information is therefore at your fingertips, exactly when you need it most - in the dark at an observing session.

[I had thought of taking mySky on a recent trip to California and the Nevada desert, but decided against it. Can you imagine trying to explain to the big security inspector with a big real gun at San Francisco Airport that you wish to bring in a ‘space gun’ ? I think I would probably be writing this in Guantanamo Bay !]

So how easy is it to use ?

I have already mentioned that everyone at the observing session found it very logical and straightforward to use. Setting up is very easy – using either GPS or entering your location and time manually. No need to do this again if you always observe from the same location. Calibrating the sensors is automatic and takes about 15 seconds or less. You should be at least 10 metres from a car and further from larger metal objects. (Presumably 100 metres from the container ?) Then you are all set to shoot some stars.

[On startup there is an option for a visual introduction. This is presented by a very annoying man. I had to switch him off right away before he really got going. It would have been nice to shoot him but he was actually inside the gun ! ]

4 AA batteries should last between 6- 10 hours and there is a battery meter facility. There is no way of putting the mySky into a ‘sleep’ mode while you do some binocular or telescope viewing. I suppose you could keep switching it on and off , and presumably dimming the screen – it has colour and night vision settings as well – may save some battery life.

It is quite awkward to put down while you use your bins or telescope. It is too big to fit in any pocket so I may have to make some form of holster or neck strap.

It weighs only 410 grams (with batteries) but can still be quite tedious if you are holding it at arm’s length for some considerable time. Also, we all know how impossible it is to use bins accurately without a tripod and the same applies to the mySky. Bearing in mind that it can be quite difficult to shoot a ‘target’ accurately as some of the 30,000 data objects are very close together, it would be good to be able to mount the gun on a camera tripod. But it doesn’t have a camera-shoe thread so I will have to improvise something for this also.

My final verdict:

PROS:

• very easy / logical to operate in the dark

• controls instantly understood by anyone who has used a TV remote or video game

• Meade upgradeable data fully loaded – 30,000 objects including stars, constellations, comets, satellites, deep sky and events such as eclipses and meteor showers.

CONS:

• no tripod mount

• no ‘sleep’ mode (beyond turning down lights/screen)

• awkward shape to carry, and then put down while observing with binoculars / telescope

I do hope it won’t be just an expensive toy and now, having used it on many occasions and in different conditions, I can see that it won’t be It certainly gets you acquainted with the sky much quicker than reading a book and, because it is actually part of the observing experience, the knowledge is retained much better and enhances rather than replaces binocular and telescope sessions. It would be very useful in teaching juniors or neophytes

It is now my constant astro-companion, so do feel free to come and try it out yourself if you see me at a CAS observing session. Then write a letter to Santa…………….

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