Star Light Star Bright

There is a B&B in southwest Iowa that I love to visit. It is 15 miles from the closest town; almost 45 miles from the closest town with a WalMart. That descriptions alone should give you some idea of how isolated it is. There are many reasons why I enjoy staying there: the quiet and solitude, the slower pace, and the fact that you can see every star in the night sky.

Once upon a time I used to know many of the constellations and could point out the planets as the earth turned. Not so anymore. I’m lucky if I can find the dippers. I can point out Orion if pressed, but after that I am lost. Which is really kind of a bummer because so many stars are connected to Greek Mythology. It’s fun to see the constellations and try to figure out just how that grouping of stars became Cassiopia or a Centaur.

Now there is help for people like me who enjoy looking into space but don’t know as much as they would like to. the Meade MySky Personal Sky Guide is perfect for us wanna-be astronomers. It looks kind of like a radar gun. You just point it at a celestial body, pull the trigger and information appears on the LCD screen. So easy.

And if you have a serious astronomer in your midst, never fear: you can connect it to one of the meade telescopes.With over 30,000 objects in it’s database there’s sure to be something they don’t know.