The Celestron SkyScout is a handheld, portable, non-magnifying celestial viewing device that can quickly identify and/or locate any of the more than 50,000 sky objects, including all 6,000 visible to the naked eye. It transforms the night sky into a personal planetarium for stargazers, families, students, and astronomers alike. It makes learning the stories of the sky – and finding your way around the sky – easier than ever before.

The Orion green laser pointer has a bracket that attaches it to the SkyScout. It projects a green beam of light into the night sky wherever the SkyScout is pointing. For identifying objects, it lets you simply point the beam of green light at the object you want to identify, without having to hold the SkyScout up to your eye. Everyone in your family or observing group can see what the SkyScout is identifying and can read the description on the SkyScout’s LCD screen.

The laser is also useful when using the SkyScout’s “locate” mode while observing in a group – with family or scout troop, for example. Looking through the SkyScout normally, you let the illuminated arrows in the SkyScout view port lead you to the desired celestial object. As it does, the laser’s green beam follows the motion of the SkyScout across the sky until it is pointing at the chosen object. Everyone in your group can easily see where in the sky the Orion Nebula is located, or the Andromeda Galaxy, or the Pleiades. There’s no guesswork, because the SkyScout has led you to the object and the green laser is pointing right at it for all to see.

The SkyScout personal planetarium is a fun learning tool for all ages. It puts the knowledge of an expert astronomer in the palm of your hand. It will dramatically improve how you learn your way around the skies – making astronomy easier and more entertaining. The Celestron SkyScout can be used to accompany a telescope, can be taken on camping trips to explore the night’s sky, and can be used as a learning tool for students of astronomy young and old alike. The SkyScout is a great, easy-to-use educational aid for parents searching to answer their child’s seemingly “unanswerable” questions about the sky. The Orion green laser pointer makes the Celestron SkyScout personal planetarium even easier and more fun to use. The SkyScout is the coolest astronomical gadget on the market today. And it’s even cooler for individual or group use when you add the Orion green laser pointer and bracket.