Getting lost...

[pipnina]

I've had this both when obseving and now with my DSLR imaging... But I find it really hard to orientate myself in the sky.

I wanted to look for a cluster a few months back, but looking through my finder scope just made me lose where I was, I was certain I had it pointed at Cassiopeia but looking through the finder I could't tell which stars were the ones making up the distinctive pattern that I see naked eye. Almost all the stars appeared the same brightness.

This even applies in my bins (with 8 degree FOV) and even in my camera (23 degrees). I just can't tell where I am!

This is probably due to lack of experiance, but it's still really annoying when I can't even work out what stars I'm looking at! Maybe there's some technique I'm missing...

    ~pip

[Dr_Ju_ju]

try having a planisphere to hand, failing that use google sky and\or Stellarium on an android phone, I'm not sure what the apple equivalent is but anything that will help you find your way around...

[Charic]

There's no rush, you have plenty of time, and  it does take time, just practice, practice and practice some more. It will happen, you will find your way. There is no trickery!

Optics can invert and reverse images, and having too much magnification gives a tighter field of view, another way of getting lost up there.

The fact that the Constellations appear to move doesn't help either, "I'm sure  it was   over there last night! " a  Planisphere  can be a great aid once you know how to orient the guide, held aloft with the correct time/date set. 

I find wide view Binoculars help me  now, and I have  just over 8° with my 8x40s.  I've also been practising much longer 

[pipnina]

try having a planisphere to hand, failing that use google sky and\or Stellarium on an android phone, I'm not sure what the apple equivalent is but anything that will help you find your way around...

There's no rush, you have plenty of time, and  it does take time, just practice, practice and practice some more. It will happen, you will find your way. There is no trickery!

Optics can invert and reverse images, and having too much magnification gives a tighter field of view, another way of getting lost up there.

The fact that the Constellations appear to move doesn't help either, "I'm sure  it was   over there last night! " a  Planisphere  can be a great aid once you know how to orient the guide, held aloft with the correct time/date set. 

I find wide view Binoculars help me  now, and I have  just over 8° with my 8x40s.  I've also been practising much longer 

Cheers, I guess I'll just keep on practicin' then.

Perhaps I'll bring my "Glow in the dark" planisphere (that does glow in the dark, but it took a 20 minute exposure in a dark room or my camera to see the glow, let alone my eyes!) next time I go observing. By star charts probably wouldn't hurt either, although I'm still learning how to use that.

[Charic]

I have a glow in the dark version too. I use Ultra violet to charge it, but it soon loses its luminous glow, but its better than nothing if your getting lost. 

From my observatory I will look at Stellarium to get an idea of what I'm looking for, then just go out and observe, trying to get as dark eye adapted as possible.......No lights?

[happy-kat]

A simple red dot finder might help you. You look at what you can see naked eye. Then the telescope shows you more.

[Dom1961]

Never used a glow in the dark planisphere, but for fun I charge my watch hands up using my smartphone flashlight. So I guess if you shine a bright light on it for a while, it might be quite bright:)

[damnut]

Its a matter of practice and time at the eyepiece. Also if you use bino's you get a certain amount of muscle memory in remembering where things are.

The recent (!) weather has not helped either...

[laudropb]

As has been said it just takes time and practice. For some reason I always found the area around Casseopeia difficult to navigate. I did find that a Rigel finder was a great help.

[ghostdance]

Agree with all the above great advice. It does take time to recognise star patterns through the finder/ep and those little groups within constellations that over time you just 'pick up on', then seeing how that group can lead or point to another, and you're off hopping! (I'm no great hopper btw, still learning like you Pip)...

Planispheres are good for naked eye placing of the really bright and obvious, but you can't beat a good starchart for learning how it all interconnects. I had a glow in the dark planisphere once - it was *rubbish*, lol. Each to their own

[Paul73]

I had no end of problems pointing the telescope at the right place even though I know the sky tolerably well. Just when I had got the hang of it, I bought a £35 Telrad. Superb piece of kit. Basically a head up display for your scope.

Paul

[Coastliner]

Pipnina, +1 for the telrad Paul ^^^, it makes a great deal of difference. I have laminated a load of Telrad charts. Once the Tel is aligned with the finder and finder aligned with eyepiece, finding objects can be very easy.

[baggywrinkle]

The Planisphere is probably one of the best learning aids you can buy and use.

Went it is cloudy you can sit indoors and study not only the basic constellation shapes it shows but how they move around the night sky with time.

And it never runs out of batteries.

[steviegall]

Well I can only give you tips i picked up from my whole one night's experience observing but here goes, the Telrad works great as it gives you a 1:1 view of the sky so what it sees is exactly what you see. Align it right and you have a friend for the night. Secondly search the sky by magnitude, that way when your Telrad is perfectly on a star when you look through your eyepiece the brightest star you see in your fov is the one you are looking for

Hope this helps

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Coastliner]

Steviegall, I thought you had posted to the wrong forum!

[brantuk]

A Telrad or a rdf with a circular reticule that doesn't cover the target will help here. Plan a star hop sequence from a nearby known star first - one that you know you can find easily. Bins can help in the planning, or star charts, and/or Stellarium or CduC.

[triton1]

I also find using the telrad with both eyes open helps no end

[Commanderfish]

I've always found the Stellarium App (available in App Store/Google Play) extremely useful.  It's like a Planisphere but better, because you don't need to enter the time and date, it adjusts itself and shows you what you should be seeing in any direction from your location.  Even better, there is a little phone symbol you can click which makes the phone display the sky immediately behind the phone - and the view on the screen now moves as you move your phone!  This is genius because now you don't even need to know which compass direction you are facing, the app shows you the right bit of sky on the screen.

Stellarium for Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/stellarium-mobile-sky-map/id643165438?mt=8

Stellarium for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noctuasoftware.stellarium&hl=en_GB

Standard finderscopes are actually pretty difficult to use, especially the 6 x 30 variety.  The field of view tends to be quite narrow, and unless you buy a special expensive one, they show the view upside (or left/right flipped).  Plus of course, they are useless until you've properly aligned them to where the telescope is pointing - and most need to be re-aligned each time you re-attach them to the scope during set up.  The 9 x 50 Finderscopes are a bit easier to use - wider field of view - but they still flip the image unless you buy a more expensive RACI one ("Right Angle Corrected Image").

Red Dot Finders are much easier - no flipped views, wide field of view, and they simply place a Red Dot in the centre of the view so you know exactly where the scope is pointed.  You do need to align the RDF to the scope the first time you use it (by pointing the telescope dead centre at an object and then adjusting the nobs on the RDF so that the dot of the RDF points to the same object as the scope), but due to the way the RDF slides onto it's special mounting bracket when you attach it, you shouldn't need to re-adjust it each time you put it on the scope (unless the adjuster nobs get turned unintentionally).  

Telrads are similar except they show 2 concentric red circles instead of a red dot.  Each circle is a certain number of degrees away from the centre (2 degrees and 4 degrees I believe). Useful.  

This RDF is only £22.39 including postage.  I've got one and have ordered another for my second scope. http://hawksphotovideo.co.uk/ostara-finderscope-telescope-337495-p-61034.html

Hope some of this helps!

[Tony H]

I'm fairly new to all this so I can relate a little with the feeling lost bit.

I have a planosphere.  Takes a bit of getting used to for a thicko like me.

Best thing I have is Star Cafe on the PC along with Stellarium.  I used the GPS on my blackberry to get my position then input that into the software.  Helps a lot.

My wife kept referring to one group of stars as The Plough.  Once we found our way around a little I realised she was way off.  I haven't told her yet.  (Wimp I am).  

[Tinker1947]

A Telrad sorted out my what am i looking at, i found finder scope show most stars all the same brightness, not a lot of good really..