Chosing a star chart: Suggestions?

[pipnina]

After my & my dad's disasterous observing session at the beginning of march (travelled 40mins to get to a darkish site, got lost and set up in a car park, but there was a glaring outdoor light to the north that was pointing straight upwards! Not to mention the mist...) where we discovered setting circles on an EQ2 weren't the best way to find objects I decided to use a method others had described before: Star charts.

As I understand, you use a star chart to work out a path to the target object by comparing the pattern of stars and their brightnesses until you reach the object?

Also, I figured trying to find objects would be pretty difficult with my telescope inverting the image... I heard there was something I could put in the focuser to correct this but cannot for the life of me remember what it's called... Should i get one of these?

[Stu]

All part of the journey :-)

They are called erecting prisms but I wouldn't recommend one, they degrade the image too much.

Best bet is to get a Telrad or Rigel finder for the scope which is a non magnifying finder which projects circles in the view making it easy to position the scope relative to the surrounding stars to find the object.

NB if you got to the end of that sentence then you have my permission to breathe, apologies for the lack of punctuation [emoji6]

[damnut]

Hi There,

That sounds familiar too... Try a bit of pre session planning use a planetarium program to decide what you might want to observe, have a bit of a backup plan in case one part of the sky is cloudy and check on your star charts that you know how to find your targets. 

Try this, ignore the ads!    :- http://earthsky.org/tonight

If you have a smartphone, tablet or netbook use an app to show the night sky. And one important thing PERSEVERE, we have all been there fiddling with an eq mount.

[Paul M]

Half the fun of star hopping is spotting nice things along the way!

It gets easier with practice. You'll be surprised how good our brains are at remembering star patterns. Similarly, it becomes second nature to "mirror flip" star fields in your minds eye. It's all part of the fun of learning the sky. To me that was a satisfying hobby in itself.

A year or two ago there was a Nova in the constellation of Delphinus. It wasn't immediately obvious where it was but after star hopping and positively identifying from photographs on SGL, I could find it in seconds each time after that. 

My own favorite star atlas is Sky Atlas 2000 by Wil Tirion. It's detailed enough to be very useful at the eyepiece. Probably too expensive even if you can find a copy. But its the only hard copy atlas you'd ever need. A beautiful book too.

Nowadays I really only use SkySafari on my Android devices (I've always got a star atlas with me!) or Stellarium on my Windows laptop. 

[RichieP]

You have a Newtonian which means that the view is upside down (i.e. rotated 180 degrees).

But there is a simple solution. Just turn your star map upside down to match the view at the eyepiece!

[ronin]

On a newtonian the image is kind of all over the place, the optics flip things but also the angle you are looking into the focuser makes things odd. In effect a right image eyepiece would I think still end up at some non-correct angle.

Is the problem knowing how to get from (say) Casseipia to M31/Andromeda using stars to hop or just using stars are pointers to something?

[pipnina]

Sorry I hadn't replied earlier, I went to sleep! (Not you guys fault!)

I looked at that star atlas Paul M recommended, perhaps a *little* expensive, I might want to look at a cheaper one :T

I have noticed that my red dot finder isn't as useful as I'd like it to be. Mostly because it has a red coating and blocks some light. But also because I ran the battery down because I forgot to turn it off :L

[RT65CB-SWL]

If you want a good commercial atlas there is 'Norton's Star Atlas'.

If you want a good freebie there is 'TriAtlas'.

...there are three volumes in total and are PDF.

...all three will just fit on to a blank CD-ROM if you can rip/burn them.

...lots of paper and ink if you want to print them.

...a plastic folder and a lot of plastic page sleeves (so you can use them outside and keep the dew off the pages.

[YKSE]

I've used the free Tristar atlas all the time, the A-set was good enough for my 130P in backyard, I'm now using B-set for hunting fainter DSO.

The image in a newtonian is just as Rechie said, 180 degree rotated, you may feel kind of funny in the begining, since the stars come into the field of view from wrong side comparing to where you moving the scope, you'll get used to it soon. Those who see the image "all over the place" in a newt may need to have a look through a newt (again?)

[Paul M]

Sorry I hadn't replied earlier, I went to sleep! (Not you guys fault!)

I looked at that star atlas Paul M recommended, perhaps a *little* expensive, I might want to look at a cheaper one :T

Yeah, sorry about that. Just seen some online prices. Made my eyes water too! 

Mind you, it wasn't cheap when I got mine in the 80's*

Glad I didn't give mine away when I gave away my Burnham's Celestial Handbook.

* Refers to a decade in the last century not the temperature in the shop

[pipnina]

Thanks guys! I think I'll use the Tristar Atlas that has been suggested. It seems a little hard to understand and I'll probably need to do some proper planning to find objects in it. (It looks like a night sky where's wally, except you're looking for DSOs!)

I have a lot of time, though, the clouds are forecast for weeks yet.

[ngwillym]

Yeah, sorry about that. Just seen some online prices. Made my eyes water too! 

Mind you, it wasn't cheap when I got mine in the 80's*

Glad I didn't give mine away when I gave away my Burnham's Celestial Handbook.

* Refers to a decade in the last century not the temperature in the shop

Still got my Tirion too - from the 80's also - white stars on black background unbound version. I've also still got my full colour Atlas Coeli - same vintage - lovely to look at but mostly just gathering dust on the shelf

[Astro Imp]

Have a look at this excellent post by Shane(Moonshane of this forum):- http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/197640-collimation-and-star-hopping/

You need the first PDF, Locating Objects in the Night Sky.

As far as an atlas goes a lot of the members here use the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas.

Good luck and clear skies.

[laudropb]

+1 for the Sky and Telescope Pocket Atlas. Nice size and easy to use, even upside down.

[pipnina]

Have a look at this excellent post by Shane(Moonshane of this forum):- http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/197640-collimation-and-star-hopping/

You need the first PDF, Locating Objects in the Night Sky.

As far as an atlas goes a lot of the members here use the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas.

Good luck and clear skies.

+1 for the Sky and Telescope Pocket Atlas. Nice size and easy to use, even upside down.

I have to agree with both of you on the Sky and Telescope pocket atlas- I just looked at the preview pages on Amazon and it seems much nicer to read than the Triatlas. I'll order a copy.

I've also read that PDF about finding objects in the night sky. It suggests using a RACI finder scope, my scope came with an RDF: could anyone recommend a budget RACI to go with my 130?

I intend to do some preparation with this kit in my back garden (when conditions allow (dang clouds)) by finding m51 (or the space where it resides, ursa major is only just outside the worst of the LP in Plymouth)

(m51 is my favorite galaxy, alsmost entirely because of a certain video game)

[astronymonkey]

I use this one which is a free download and is a great atlas and is printable

http://www.deepskywatch.com/deep-sky-hunter-atlas.html

Cheers

Cheers

[hal2000]

Another option is to buy a good guide book. "Turn Left at Orion" is often suggested, but I prefer "Celestial Sampler" by Sue French

This book takes small areas of the sky and suggests objects to view within those areas, including Messier objects, NGC, double stars and other worthwhile sights. There are good maps for the area, descriptions of the suggested objects, and there is a good index at the back of the book

The Cambridge star atlases are excellent, especially the double star atlas and Herschel objects atlas. Even if you are not interested in double stars or Herschel objects ,the maps, again, by Wil Tirion, are very easy to use.