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.'"

Comments

Yup.... But...

[porkchop_d_clown]

But a lot of amateurs are already just "looking at pictures". While my wife and I do things the "old fashioned way" with a Dobsonian scope, I know several astronomy club members who do more work with Photoshop than with a Nagler.

Personally, I'd be more annoyed at a star party where someone's flashing these bright images on a monitor - or worse, projecting images up on a wall or screen, burning out everyone's night vision.