SkyScout - No Longer Vaporware

Just picked up my SkyScout from OPT this afternoon. First impressions
follow:

1. Unit is much lighter than expected. Not flimsy, just light.

2. Seems solidly sealed with nice, tight environmental covers.

3. Strangeness in the Battery Compartment. The unit takes 2 AA
batteries. When you open the Battery Compartment, you will
immediately notice that there are two "battery protective covers".
These are metal tubes that have "Do Not Discard" stickers on them. You
slip the batteries in the tubes and then insert them in the
compartment. No idea why (but I'm developing a guess).

4. Have played with it for about 45 minutes so far. Some notes on
using it:

i. You don't want to hold it to your eye like binoculars. The unit
has two dimly illuminated rings that you line up like target sights.
The unit seems to work best if you find the right distance so that the
two circles appear to be about the same size.

ii. I've been having a hard time focusing through the illuminated
rings to the object being searched for. It helps to dim the finding
circles (the dimmer is very conveniently located).

iii. I tried the "Identify" Mode on Jupiter. It pulled up Jupiter as
the most likely object but also listed a couple of stars in Virgo as
possibilities.

iv. I used Locate mode on Jupiter, Arcturus, Vega, Deneb, Cygnus,
Ursa Major, M51, M13, Antares, and Orion. For the objects, it did a
good job putting the object I wanted within the center third of the
viewfinder. For the constellations, it put me at about the "center of
gravity" of the constellation. It won't tell you that an object is
below the horizon. When I selected Orion, it happily said, "Down
here" (It did seem to point in about the right direction).

v. The audio programs run 40 seconds to about 2 minutes and are in a
pleasing female voice. There is also text and "scientific facts",
both of which are different from the audio (in other words, the audio
is NOT simply a spoken version of the text).

vi. The unit is quirky (highly skittish) when looking for items close
to the zenith.

5. Annoyances:

i. The "Go To Arrows" seem to be disabled during audio playback.

ii. I have a hard time reading the displays at low illumination
settings.

6. Bug?

i. The first time I selected the audio for M13, the unit turned off.
M13 was very close to the zenith and I suspect that I discovered the
reason for those battery sleeves (I suspect I lost electrical power
for a moment). When I repeated the experiment, it worked fine.

I'll post more observations as I use the unit more.

Clear, Dark Skies

Mark

Mark Smith wrote:
Just picked up my SkyScout from OPT this afternoon. First impressions
follow:

Thanks very much for the report--I'm quite interested in this device.
Just a little too expensive at the moment, but it looks neat.

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html

Mark Smith wrote:

pleasing female voice.

That won't last...

;-)

(Ever hear the pre-recorded female voice mail assistant? After about the
2nd year, I learned that I can't punch in my codes fast enough to get
her to shut up.)

Just picked up my SkyScout from OPT this afternoon. First impressions
follow:

Thanks very much for the report--I'm quite interested in this device.
Just a little too expensive at the moment, but it looks neat.

I agree that the technology is interesting. I'm just trying to figure
out why they didn't take it a bit farther (incorporate into
Binoculars, for example). More experience with the unit will probably
suggest more possible uses.

Unfortunately, it is looking cloudy for tonight.

"Mark Smith" wrote in message
news
Just picked up my SkyScout from OPT this afternoon. First impressions
follow:

Thanks very much for the report--I'm quite interested in this device.
Just a little too expensive at the moment, but it looks neat.

I agree that the technology is interesting. I'm just trying to figure
out why they didn't take it a bit farther (incorporate into
Binoculars, for example). More experience with the unit will probably
suggest more possible uses.

I'm wondering if (especially if the unit can be made smaller and cheaper)
one of those uses would be as a superfinder. You'd know what you're looking
at, then you could examine it in your eyepiece.

Unfortunately, it is looking cloudy for tonight.

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 02:26:57 GMT, "John Nichols"
wrote:

I'm wondering if (especially if the unit can be made smaller and cheaper)
one of those uses would be as a superfinder. You'd know what you're looking
at, then you could examine it in your eyepiece.

It probably isn't practical. The azimuth information comes from a
magnetic compass, and that simply isn't going to be more accurate than a
degree or two. In other words, it is always going to be less accurate
than the most basic digital setting circles, and probably more
expensive.

In principle the GPS can be used for determining azimuth, but such
systems are still quite expensive.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 02:26:57 GMT, "John Nichols"
wrote:

I'm wondering if (especially if the unit can be made smaller and cheaper)
one of those uses would be as a superfinder. You'd know what you're looking
at, then you could examine it in your eyepiece.

It probably isn't practical. The azimuth information comes from a
magnetic compass, and that simply isn't going to be more accurate than a
degree or two. In other words, it is always going to be less accurate
than the most basic digital setting circles, and probably more
expensive.

In principle the GPS can be used for determining azimuth, but such
systems are still quite expensive.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

How can GPS be used for azimuth? This would be very handy if it
becomes practical.

Greg

On 20 Jul 2006 08:21:46 -0700, "Don't Be Evil"
wrote:

How can GPS be used for azimuth? This would be very handy if it
becomes practical.

There are GPS devices (mostly used on boats and planes) that use
multiple antennas. They compare the signal phase between these sources
and are able to determine not only topographic position, but also roll,
pitch, and yaw. A GPS like that mounted on a telescope or finder device
could in principle be used to determine altitude and azimuth. In
practice, though, I'm not sure of the minimum distance between antennas
to get good resolution.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

You actually don't need multiple antennas if you have motion, but it
is easier with at least 2.

You don't need too much separation because the systems use
differential GPS to provide orientation. So long as you are using the
same satellites from each antenna, the limit to accuracy is the number
of antennas and their orientation.

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:46:55 GMT, Chris L Peterson
wrote:

On 20 Jul 2006 08:21:46 -0700, "Don't Be Evil"
wrote:

How can GPS be used for azimuth? This would be very handy if it
becomes practical.

There are GPS devices (mostly used on boats and planes) that use
multiple antennas. They compare the signal phase between these sources
and are able to determine not only topographic position, but also roll,
pitch, and yaw. A GPS like that mounted on a telescope or finder device
could in principle be used to determine altitude and azimuth. In
practice, though, I'm not sure of the minimum distance between antennas
to get good resolution.

_______________________________________________ __

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com