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German Scientists Create Augmented Reality Scope
porkchop_d_clown writes "New Scientist is reporting that German engineers have developed a scope that combines imaging and planitarium software with a telescope to overlay what you see in the scope with stored images and information about the object being viewed." From the article: "Bernie Volz, president of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, Massachusetts, US, says an augmented reality telescope could serve as a useful educational tool. At star parties, bright objects such as the Moon, Mars and Saturn elicit 'the wow factor' from novices, he says. 'But when they look at galaxies or planetary nebulae or something that is just a fuzzy white spot in the sky, they don't have that kind of reaction.'"
Sounds a lot like Virtual Light, a book from William Gibson. More and more you'll see this sort of thing done, especially as technology shrinks down the size of these things. Imagine a pair of sunglasses that overlay details of the car engine you're looking at or map notes as you travel around town.
First, getting glass polished and coated to the degree needed for really sharp views is expensive. Then add on the true cost killer - a good mount.
It's amazingly hard to create a tripod that is so stable you can view things at 300x magnification without them bouncing around because someone 10' away is walking on the same concrete your scope is sitting on. When you look at all the different models a company like Meade or Celestron sells, note that they really only have one or two different kinds of scopes all the variation in price comes from the different tripods they use.
Clear, Dark Skies
What? The Andromeda Galaxy is visible to the naked eye. Through a backyard telescope it and its smaller companion M32 are quite visible.
"I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
http://www.celestron.com/skyscout/new/index.php
Celestron has been there and done it allready. This a great device if you have the means and a desire to learn about the heavens its highly recomended. And yes this is real its here and you can buy one instead of reading about it in slashdot and saying wouldnt that be cool.