Star Hopping -how long to get proficient?

[Cjg]

Hi,

Am new to this, and in the spring purchased a 130P dobsonian, have had great fun looking at the the various stars, but I cannot for the life of me find any deep space objects - is it me or does this take time?

I use an app and have a sky map for the month, but matching what is on the map to what is "up there" is another matter.

Am sorely tempted to look at a GoTo or similar scope.

Is part of the attraction the thrill of "finding" your objects after hrs of searching? Or do you "learn" the positions with a GoTo as well?

Is there a good way to learn to star hop?

Thanks,

Chris

[Multi-Coated]

Hi Cjg , i'd say to you to hang on in there and you'll soon get to grips with it. Having said that i've been using goto for sometime and probably have got very rusty ( and lazy ). There's nothing like star hopping to learn the night sky, in my opinion, although im sure some will tell you otherwise.

Clear skys

Rob:glasses1:

[Multi-Coated]

Sorry , meant to say for you to go to a local Society or group as its amazing what you'll pick up observing with others.

[ZEbbEDY]

if your finder is one of those reversed and back to front jobbys get a red dot finder also to get you in the general area

you can also get things to tell you the alt/az co-ordinates of the scope so you can get close

[AstroLuke]

How light polluted is it where you live?

You want to look at some star charts before going out.

Try M13 its pretty easy to find

[NGC 1502]

Hi Chris, here is a guide to starhopping Star Hopping Primerby Paul Markov,

It's really quite fun. I don't think it's possible to say how long it takes to learn

starhopping. The popular objects can be learned in about a year, as each season

comes around. As the years progress, you can build on that to find the fainter

more illusive objects. I'm not against go-to, I just find starhopping satisfying,

and there's no technology to break !

Regards, Ed.

[Multi-Coated]

Ed's article is very good , see how you get on.

[swamp thing]

Hi Chris

IMO one of the great things about astronomy is the relaxing bit.

I don't always star hop so much as star cruise. This is just point at a constellation roughly, then just wander about. You'll bump into stuff sooner or later, then see where ya scopes pointing and look it up in ya atlas.

Life is full of rushing about with purpose why make a hobby of it too.

Learn as you go, no rush, relax, it'll come. The more simple "observing", just looking through the eyepiece as you wander about you do, the more you'll get used to how the scope moves, what orientation it has and what FOV you've got.

These can be used to find anything you want later.

Don't get hooked up on "gotta find it quick" philosophy the sky aint going anywhere. Astronomy isn't a race. take ya time, relax, enjoy.

Regards Steve

[Ursa Major]

Hi, Make sure you download stellarium if you haven’t already and set your scope up in the ocular function. This will allow you to see what you would see in the scope on the computer. It will allow you to mirror the image to the exact same image as in the scope. Then all you need to do is draw out some star hops on paper or take a laptop out. Take it slow. Start from the nearest visible naked eye star to the dso you want to find and match the star patterns up on the computer to those in the scope. You don’t want to get lost; you’ll have to start again.

I have got the same scope as you and bought it at around the same time. You just need to practice. While star hopping use the lowest magnification (26x with the 25mm eyepiece I think)

good luck.

[ronin]

Suppose the answer is: No easy way.

All scopes and mounts have a learning curve of some sort. The dobsonian is often looked on as non-technical but still has a learning curve.

Images are left-right inverted or up-down inverted and I guess you are looking into the eyepiece with it at some odd angle so what you see is at an odd angle. Throw in your are looking towards the ground and the scope is looking up to the sky at a 90 degree difference to you.

Your field of view is tiny, and what you are trying to find is smaller and dim, very dim.

As to learning the sky, done with any scope, goto, equitorial or dobsonian. If you have a goto then you will always want to be half sure that the scope is actually pointing to the right place so you learn. No problem whatever scope you have.

No way is anyone going to go out, ask a goto to go to the Orion Nebula and the observer have no idea where it is or what it is. Yet somehow that is what is claimed.

Best I have found is no scope, a decent book, a laser pointer and a set of reasonable binoculars to check as best as possible. Amazing how pointing things out to yourself with a small glp helps.

[Cjg]

Thank you all very much! There's some excellent advice, I will follow and I love the "relax and it will come" attitude, thank you for reminding me.

Many thanks,

Chris

[beamer3.6m]

Get a good book like Turn Left At Orion which 'guides' along the guide stars to the DSO.

You also need to remember that DSO's are incredibly faint (and not at all like they look in the pictures) so even when you have them in sight it can be tricky to actually see it. Averted vision is the key I find, try and learn to use the outer parts of your eye to look - sounds weird but the saying looking out the corner of your eye is very true for DSO hunting.

[JamesM]

Chris, I wonder what 'star map' you're using? If you were trying to find an object using the Sky@Night ones that would explain your difficulty in locating stuff. They simply aren't precise enough and a more detailed map or Stellarium makes things a lot easier. There are many planetariums on the internet that allow you to print off parts of the sky to take out with you and which you can obviously orientate to match the view through your finder.

My personal opinion is that the straight through finders are more trouble that they are worth. For many beginners, the inverted back to front image they convey just adds to the difficulty! My solution was to buy two things, either of which is great on its own, together spot on! The first is a right angle finder which means that the upside down view has been eradicated. The view you see will still back to front (objects that are on the left, appear on the right) but at least that view is an easier one to get your head around. The second is a Telrad finder (or any other red dot finder will do as long as its dimmable). Telrads are great because what they do is project a set of red concentric circles onto a clear screen which will appear projected on to the nights sky when you stand behind it in the correct position. The reason for the circles is that you can download charts that also have circles drawn upon them and by you placing the Telrad in the same part of the sky you will then be able gauge how far the scope needs to move to get you right next to the object. One of the biggest problems for beginners (...and me) is matching what the maps shows you to the part of the sky you're looking at because optics will always show you more stars than the map and its easy to get lost with it all. So the Telrad will get you very near to the area of your chosen object, then the right angle finder will pinpoint the spot which ultimately is followed by viewing through your eyepieces (biggest numbered eyepiece used first then smaller number ones after). It really is as simple as that, map, Telrad, finder and eyepiece, of course assuming that both finder and Telrad have been aligned with the scope so that they are all working together.

Hope that helps

James

[david o]

For getting started with star-hopping, other than Turn Left at Orion, you may find the following useful :

A Planisphere, very useful for learning the skies & seeing what will be visible at a given time.

Also you won't go far wrong with Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas, it shows more/fainter stars than the monthly sky map, so helping guide you into your target.

Both can be used at the 'scope with a red light torch, thus preserving your dark adaptation.

HTH

[Cjg]

Thanks all, have looked at "Turn Left" and will download Stellarium onto my laptop.

Is great advice, so thank you very much

Chris