Celestron Sky Scout versus Argo Navis

[solissydney (Ken)]

I am curious about the SkyScout. They mention how many stars and constellations it can locate. Who looks at stars? What about deep sky objects in the sky. Would the SkyScout do the same job as ,for instance Argo Navis or similar types? Anyone have a SkyScout who can shed some light on the subject?
Ken

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

While I do not own a Sky Scout (but I would like to), I do own an Argo Navis...my two cents...

I do not think you are comparing apples to apples in asking your question.

The AN is a high level, top shelf set of digital setting circles and when properly set up on a telescope mount is a great tool in finding deep sky and other objects of interest. It is outstandingly accurate (when aligned properly) and I highly recommend it.

The Sky Scout on the other hand is not a digital setting circle...it is a neat tool to help people become more familiar with the sky. It does not have the accuracy to enable it to be used to find deep sky objects. As I understand it the number of items it can find is rather limited. It is meant to be used "hand held" as metal in a scope can through off its GPS system. There is a nifty forum over on Cloudy Nights about it...

Don't get me wrong, I am very interested in the Sky Scout as a teaching tool and think it might be heaps of fun to use and will no doubt get new people interested in Astronomy (a good thing)...but, it is not really meant to be a competitor to the AN or other digital setting circles.

Cheers!

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

I don't currently own a SkyScout...yet...but the two are very different. Sort of like comparing a Planisphere to a star atlas. They both have uses, and both are excellent at what they do. The SkyScout would be a great tool for keeping people interested at a public showing while waiting for the sky to go dark, it would be interesting to mount a laser on one as a pretty cool addition (if the GPS was not upset). Another experiment would be to mount it on binoculars to make sort of hand held "go to binoculars" (again if the GPS was not upset). This would be great for finding planets like Saturn, Venus and Jupiter during the day. Binoculars would not have anywhere near the same amount of metal...fingers crossed.

The SkyScout is definitely creating a lot of interest though.

[solissydney (Ken)]

Thanks for explaining the differences. I am buying the Argo Navis for my 12 inch on equatorial mount. I like taking images of the night sky.
Ken

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

I wish you good luck and happy hunting with your AN...I really enjoy mine!

Clear Skies!

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

Yep, an AN is about the best accessory you can buy, I reckon.

Cheers,

Brian.

[dsscse (David)]

Hi,
Not in the same league re-accuracy but I have both and when I have guests the "serious" chaps use the Argo and 12" Dob, The "I want to see cool stuff"
use the Synscan and the 6" Refractor Mean-while their kids have more fun than a basket of kittens with the SkyScout.
Each has its place and on a cloudy night its good to use to see if its worth getting out the big guns and I know that after 25 years away from the hobby Both have removed cobwebs from my memory that were hiding the names and location of objects I used to look at once or twice a week when I was in my mid 20's
Just my 2 cents
David

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

After seeing Argo Navis in action on the weekend, I was blown away. Simple, elegant, efficient. Awesome stuff. When I get a dob (yes, aperture fever has hit - it's all your faults Andrew & Kev), I'll almost certainly get encoders and a AN.

Dave

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by solissydney

I am curious about the SkyScout. They mention how many stars and constellations it can locate. Who looks at stars? What about deep sky objects in the sky. Would the SkyScout do the same job as ,for instance Argo Navis or similar types? Anyone have a SkyScout who can shed some light on the subject?
Ken

Like others have said. The Celestron Sky Scout and the Meade My Sky are devices that can be used to help people to identify and locate items in the night sky. If set up correctly they can be a very useful aid to doing a two star alignment on a "goto" telescope by identifying the stars. Once the telescope is set up they can be used to drive a "goto' telescope to the star so located.

On the other hand the Argo Navis is a very sophisticated set of setting circles that can be attached to a telescope to allow accurate pointing. They are really have a completely different purpose but they can compliment each other.

Barry