Sure, we’ve all made a wish upon a star, but not many of us have toured the cosmos from our backyards (or, in Invention Girl’s case, from my office at InventHelp).

A new tool called mySky™ is an interactive guide to the solar system. If it sounds futuristic, it is – the mySky even looks like a science-fiction ray gun! And it works kind of like one, too.

After a brief tutorial, you aim the mySky at the stars and click the trigger; a color LCD display provides a mini-astronomy lesson accompanied by audio commentary.

Programmed with a database of more than 30,000 celestial bodies, mySky makes it easier to identify planets, stars, comets, galaxies… pretty much the whole night sky. An Auto Alignment feature even lets you tour the galaxy from your specific time zone and location.

January and February are great months to use the mySky – meteor showers are at their peak, and Jupiter and Venus will be in conjunction on Feb. 1. And on Feb. 20, there will be a total lunar eclipse!

For someone like InventHelp’s Invention Girl (who has a hard time finding the Big Dipper), this is a great educational tool. Price is $399, for more information check out the Meade Instruments Web site.