Meade mySKY User manual

InstructIon Manual
mySKY™
YOUR PERSONAL GUIDE FOR SKY EXPLORATION

mySKY™is an easy-to-use, multimedia tool that will guide
you through the night sky. It’s like having your own personal
astronomer pointing out the wonders of the universe.
Quick Start
Follow the Quick Start Guide on the back cover to insert
the batteries, plug in the earbuds and turn on mySKY. When
mySKY starts up, a screen displays which offers the choice:
“Instructions” or “SkyMap.”
Instruction Video
If you are using mySKY for the rst time, press the up arrow
to select “Instructions”— a brief introductory video that
explains how to get started using mySKY.
The instruction video will teach you how to use the buttons,
what the trigger is for, how to use the identify function and
how to take a guided tour. If you wish to exit the instruction
video at any time, press the button labeled “Back” or “Exit.”
You can use the four arrow buttons shown in the second
gure to select options on the display screen. Press one
of the arrow keys to select the item you want. For example,
if you press the up arrow, the option at the top of the screen
is selected and so forth. In most cases, when you press an
arrow key, that option is automatically selected.
Important Note about your mySKY
Your mySKY uses very sensitive magnetic sensors to
determine where you are pointing it in the sky. The magnetic
lines of force that are detected by these sensors are bent
and distorted by any magnetic materials or large metal
objects such as cars, metal fences or steel reinforced
buildings. In order for your mySKY to work accurately,
you must be about 10 yards or meters from the average car.
The larger the metal object, the farther you should be from
it to get the best performance from your mySKY.
Time, Date, and Location
When the instruction video ends or when you select
“SkyMap,” mySKY needs to know your location, date and
time. The Time and Location screen displays. You will be
presented with three choices the rst time you use mySKY:
• Get From GPS
•Enter Manually
• Demonstration Mode. You can select GPS x or you can
manually enter your location, date and time.
The GPS x will automatically enter the location, time
and date, but because of anomalies and interference
in different geographic locations, GPS acquisition can
take up to several minutes. Manually entering your location,
time and date is the faster method and typically takes less
than a minute.
To select GPS x, use the Up or Down arrows to select
the “Get from GPS” line (the radio circle will be checked),
and press Done. The unit will attempt to get a GPS x.
After mySKY acquires a GPS signal, you will now be in the
default mode, which is “Identify.” You will learn more about
this mode in the “Identify an Object” section (page 4).
To enter your location time and date manually, use
the arrows to scroll down to the Enter Manually line and
press Done.
First, enter the date: Use the arrow keys to move
the highlight across the number pad. Once the desired
number is highlighted, press Enter. Enter the date
in the format: mm/dd/yy.
For example, if you wish to enter March 6, 2008, press the
following keys:
0 (zero), Enter, Three, Enter (mm)
0, Enter, 6, Enter (dd)
0, Enter, 8, Enter (yy)
Press Done after you have entered the date.
InstructIons
2

Next, choose your state or country: Press the up or down
arrows to scroll through the list one line at a time. Press the
right or left arrows to scroll through the list one page at a
time. Once your country or state is highlighted, press Enter
and the City list displays.
Scroll through the list of cities and choose the city nearest to
your location. Once your choice is highlighted press Enter.
Next enter the time: Enter the hour and minutes, as correct
to the minute as possible, in military (24 hour) time. Military
Time is the same as 12 hour a.m. times, but for p.m. times,
it is the p.m. time plus 12 hours. Enter the time in the same
manner that you entered the date. For example, if you wish
to enter 9:20 p.m. (9:20 p.m. + 12:00 = 21:20 in military
time), press the following keys:
2, Enter, 1, Enter (hour)
2 Enter, 0, Enter (minutes)
If you’re unused to military time values, for all times past
12 noon, add 12 plus the hour. For example, if the time
is 6:00 pm, add 12 plus 6 and the time is 18:00. Likewise,
2:15 a.m. is 02:15.
mySKY compensates for Daylight Savings automatically.
When you are nished entering the time, press Done. A
“Skymap” screen displays. You are now in the default mode,
which is “Identify.” You will learn more about this mode in
the “Identify an Object” section (page 4).
Your location, time and date are now stored in memory until
you change the batteries. The next time you turn on mySKY,
the Time and Location screen will display four choices:
•[your time, date and last location]
• Get from GPS
•Enter manually
•Demonstration mode
If the displayed time, date and location are correct, select
the time, date and location line and press Done to go
directly to the Skymap screen and you can immediately
begin identifying stars and use other mySKY features.
Select the Demonstration mode if you wish to get
a demonstration of mySKY’s operation during the daytime
or when you are inside.
Sensor Calibration
When mySKY has your time and location, you may be
asked to place mySKY on a stable surface while it adjusts
its sensors. This usually takes about 30 to 45 seconds.
If it takes longer, make sure the mySKY is not setting on
any operating machinery, speaker or other surface that is
moving or vibrating. When the mySKY is done adjusting the
sensors, the sights will light up and the screen will display
the SkyMap.
Demo Mode
If you wish to explore mySKY while indoors where
GPS signals are not available, wait for the GPS satellite
acquisition screen to appear, then press the top right button
just below the screen labeled “Abort.” Then press the down
arrow button twice to select “Demo Mode” and then press
the button in the center of the four arrow buttons. This will
put mySKY in the demo mode so you can get a feel how
mySKY works while you’re indoors and in the light.
Note that whenever a star map is displayed and you press
the trigger, mySKY will attempt to identify the object and
Brightness Control
Volume Control
Enter
Soft Buttons
3
Power ON/OFF
“Identify” Trigger
SD Card Slot
Arrow Buttons
Illuminated Sights

the screen will show the choices about the object you
were pointed at.
What Happens When You Choose
“Instructions”
A video displays that explains the basic operations
of mySKY. The video covers the following topics:
Volume: Turn your volume control to a comfortable level
by using the volume control button.
Brightness: Press the + or – side of the brightness button
to brighten or dim both the sights on top of mySKY and
the display.
Soft Buttons: The three buttons just below the screen
are called soft buttons. The labels on the lower part of the
screen show the actions that will be performed by the
soft buttons.
In the picture above, the left button is labeled “Back,” the
center button is labeled “pause/play” and the right button
is labeled “Next.” Some of the most common labels for the
soft buttons:
Back: The “Back” button lets you go to the previous screen.
Next: The “Next” button moves you forward to the next step
or screen. For example, when you rst select “Instructions,”
mySKY will prompt you to press “Next” to give you a feel for
how “Next” works.
pause/play: The pause/play button lets you pause
the video at any time. Press pause/play to begin/start
were you left off.
SkyMap: When the SkyMap screen displays, you can use
mySKY to identify and locate celestial objects. However, the
labels for the soft buttons will change from screen to screen.
Many of these labels are shortcuts that will take you to other
menus or screens.
Other buttons
Arrow Keys: Press one of the arrow buttons to select an
item. In most cases, when you press an arrow, that option
is automatically selected.
Enter: The “Enter” button is the round button in the center
of the arrow buttons. In the case of numbers or a long list
of objects, rst scroll through the list using the down or up
arrow buttons. Press “Enter” to select a highlighted choice.
Three Little Lights (Sights)
Do you see the three small lights on the top of mySKY?
These are the sights to line up the celestial object you wish
identify and learn about.
First, line up the light on the front between the two lights on
the back. Then line up the object you wish to identify just
above the front light. Practice lining up an object using the
lights and you’ll be an expert in no time.
The Trigger
The trigger is located on the hand grip. When the trigger
is pushed, you tell mySKY that you are pointing at an object
in the sky that you wish to identify and learn about.
Identify an Object
mySKY has several modes of operation. The most important
mode is “Identify” – this is the default mode. When you rst
turn on mySKY and select the SkyMap option, the built-in
GPS automatically gets a x from three or more satellites.
The x tells mySKY its location and what the time and
date is. mySKY then uses this information to nd celestial
objects, such as stars, constellations, planets and so forth.
In just a few moments a star map will appear on the
screen showing the area of the sky where you are pointing
mySKY. Center an object in the sights and pull the trigger.
mySKY will tell you what the object is. Important Note:
Once you have pressed the trigger, you no longer need
to point mySKY at the object (you can relax your arm and
hold mySKY in a comfortable position to see the display).
4