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Whyville Launches SkyScout Planetarium for Tween Users
Celestron's SkyScout Personal Planetarium Product Offers Whyville Users Unique Opportunity to Explore the Heavens, Virtually
| Source: Whyville
LOS ANGELES, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 12, 2006 -- Whyville.net, the leading edu-tainment
virtual world for children and young teenagers (ages 8-15), has teamed up
with Celestron, one of the largest telescope makers in the world, to offer
kids an educational planetarium experience through the use of their
SkyScout celestial viewing device. As part of the promotion, Whyville
users can purchase a virtual SkyScout device for 25 clams (the Whyvillian
currency). SkyScout is a handheld device that enables stargazers of all
ages and experience levels to identify, locate, engage, and learn about
over 6,000 celestial objects, using advanced, yet easy-to-use, GPS point
and shoot technology. Equipped with a virtual SkyScout, Whyville users can
visit the SkyScout Planetarium and take an educational tour of the solar
system's twelve core constellations. This activity supplements a wide
range of educational games already available to users including learning
about art, science, nutrition and archeology.
The partnership between Whyville and Celestron reflects Whyville's focus on
new relationships that benefit both brands and the site's audience.
Whyville offers kids top-notch educational games by way of "edu-tisement."
Edu-tisement effectively offers sponsors the opportunity to advertise
products to users, but infuses the experience with a meaningful and fun
educational component. In the case of SkyScout, users take a guided audio
tour of the constellations and learn about the history of how the stars
became part of the zodiac system.
"We are ecstatic to have the opportunity to partner with Celestron and
offer kids a new and exciting edu-game in which they can virtually access
the stars from Whyville and learn about their origins. It's also a nice
opportunity to actively demonstrate how the SkyScout product works, in a
way that's not a blatant sales pitch -- it's a tool. And importantly, the
message is being delivered to the kids in the exact fashion that they
demand. For many kids, it is their first exposure to maps of the night
sky," said Jay Goss, COO of Whyville.
With 1.9 million users and 50MM pages views a month, Whyville is the
leading edu-tainment virtual world for kids and young teens (8 to 15).
Created by Caltech scientists and based on the principles of interactivity
and inquiry-based learning, the virtual community offers kids and teenagers
a range of fun edu-games pertaining to math, science, technology, history,
archeology, and more. Whyville also offers kids and teenagers a safe place
to chat, socialize and recreate thanks to its various levels of built-in
security. The activities inside Whyville are sponsored by world class
entities such as NASA, Disney, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,
the JP Getty Trust (Getty Museum), University of Texas, Scion, Toyota
Financial Services and the School Nutrition Association.
Whyville SkyScout
"We are proud to have partnered with Whyville to give hundreds of thousands
of kids an entertaining way to learn about the night sky," says Joe Lupica,
the CEO of Celestron. "The SkyScout is revolutionizing the way people of
all ages learn about astronomy, and Whyville is an ideal place for kids to
virtually test it out."
About the size of a camcorder and weighing less than 16 ounces, the
Celestron SkyScout
utilizes a consumer-friendly "point and shoot" GPS technology that enables
stargazers to instantly identify and/or locate over 6,000 celestial objects
in the sky with the press of a button and listen to commentary on the
object and its history. The SkyScout also
has a "locate" feature that allows users to select an object they wish to
view (i.e. Mars) and the SkyScout,
using illuminated arrows in the viewfinder, will point the user to the
object. A totally unique, one-of-a-kind product, SkyScout
utilizes patented technology that combines data from sensors measuring both
the magnetic and gravitational fields of the Earth, along with internal GPS
and a substantial celestial database to dramatically improve how people
learn about astronomy, making it much easier and more entertaining.
About Whyville
Whyville (http://www.whyville.net) is the leading educational virtual world
for boys and girls, ages 8 to 15. For eight years, the site has
successfully created an environment that engages children to learn while
having fun. Inside Whyville, "citizens" learn & play, socialize &
recreate, govern & earn, write & design, eat & dance, and much, much more.
Numedeon, Inc., Whyville's parent company, develops virtual worlds that
promote learning through interactivity and engagement. Founded by Caltech
scientists, Numedeon combines research expertise in neuroscience with
education experience from the internationally recognized Caltech
Pre-college Science Initiative to conceive of an innovative way to harness
the power of the Internet for the purpose of engagement and education. In
formal education parlance, the education in Whyville is designed to be
hands-on, inquiry-based and constructivist, embedded within motivational
settings among peers.
About Celestron
Founded in the 1950s, Celestron is a leading designer, manufacturer and
importer of high-quality optical products including computerized and
non-computerized telescopes and related accessories, binoculars, spotting
scopes and microscopes. As the second largest telescope maker worldwide,
Celestron is a leader in the sale of performance telescopes and enjoys
brand-name recognition among serious amateur astronomers for superior
optics, outstanding design, and innovative technology. Celestron sells and
markets its products worldwide through a variety of specialty retail
outlets and international distributors. Celestron is a privately held
company with corporate offices and manufacturing facilities, in Torrance,
CA. For more information about Celestron and the SkyScout product please
visit, http://www.celestron.com and http://www.celestron.com/skyscout.