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GoTo = Cheating?


lw24

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If you want to not use GOTO, that is fine. You will spend more time finding objects and so inevitably spend less time during the evening observing them. If the satisfaction you get from the hobby is from finding the object unaided, that is great.

If you want to be able to spend limited clear skies observing rather than finding, then GOTO is a useful tool, and is no more cheating than using a telescope rather than naked eye - it is just another tool to make life easier.

Whichever rocks your boat is fine with me. Personally, I use GOTO for the majority of the evening and often end a session by switching it off and just cruising around the part of the sky I have been at, seeing what is there and on occasion coming across a nice surprise that I did not know was there.

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GoTo? Best thing in astronomy as far as I am concerned. I am not interested in Constellations or what a black hole is, I am only interested in looking at an object and what is in it's immediate vicinity, if I stay on the object for a few minutes or a few hours than so be it but I do like to be able to head off for the next object and find it straight away and when I do I get a nice feeling that my equipment is working okay :). I know it is not astronomy in the purest sence of the word, if I had wanted that I would have bought myself a pair of binos or a Seben :).

Jim

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Goto certainly isn't cheating! I found it a great tool to improve my observing skills i.e. being able to actually see a DSO in the field of view. However, starting from scratch with a dobsonian compared with a GEM goto set up I will be well into my observing by the time I have the GEM all set up. It's a lot faster finding the moon planets and DSOs visible through the finder scope by not using goto, especially a dob. With a good telrad and guide book brighter DSOs (ie the ones I can actually see with my mag5 sky) don't present too much trouble.

Whenever I use goto during an observing session I usually end up manically slewing from one target to another just ticking off a list whereas with the dob I tend to spend a bit more time actually observing and end up with a better knowledge of the sky's geography.

On the other hand, I would rather have a lobectomy than use a none goto mount for DSO imaging!

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Hi

Personally I think it's down to the individual.

Everyone's way of doing things is different.

The important thing is that we're all out enjoying the heavens.

Can't say someone's cheating just cause they're using tech.

They're still out freezing their butt off in mid winter same as me.:)

And good luck to em.

Clear skies to all

Regards Steve

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Having progressed over many years from a totally undriven altaz 6inch home built Newtonian with no finderscope (try lining that up with a faint fuzzy) to an eq. mounted refractor with a drive and finder (still hard to find the faint stuff but at least I have some idea where I am pointing!) I am currently drooling over the modern GOTO scopes. Personally I think the 'Oh you should learn the sky first' angle is totally overdone. As most of the guys here say, who wants to spend limited free time and clear skies hunting frustratingly around for an object? I think a general knowledge of the brighter constellations is nice, and a grasp of the scale of the solar system/milky way/cosmos helps us appreciate what we are viewing, but the actual skill/dark art of star hopping is all very satisfying when it works but who really wants to spend 50%+ of their session looking for things! Not me :)

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I don't have a GOTO mount, but for me the hunt is part of the fun. If I did have one then I might not always use it, but I probably would for objects that are near the limits of viewing (the recent supernova in Ursa Major, for instance).

James

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Goto is not cheating. Some like the thrill of the chase and finding targets themselves, and others like to spend maximum time observing their target. There is room enough for everyone :)

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Don't align it nd don't use it then. Simple answer.

But if you object to goto then are you going to use RA/Dec coordinates, that is precisely how goto works and even if written down in a book then you are being told or informed where to go to in the sky.

So that means you cannot use a computer or a book, forget the Messier List that is a form of goto.

Do you really want to go back to times before Messier and search the whole sky and determine what may or may not be a DSO? Messier did it for a lifetime.

If not then grow up. You are assuming that goto is a computer, goto is the scope being told where to point to. Computer and motors, laptop and HTML file, book and RA/Dec. They all tell the scope where to point to.

You use goto in one form or another either from a computer, from a book or from any other reference.

If the problem is computers, then switch yours off, PC, goto, mobile phone or otherwise.

By the way, what is Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, Keck etc if not goto's?

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Don't align it nd don't use it then. Simple answer.

But if you object to goto then are you going to use RA/Dec coordinates, that is precisely how goto works and even if written down in a book then you are being told or informed where to go to in the sky.

So that means you cannot use a computer or a book, forget the Messier List that is a form of goto.

Do you really want to go back to times before Messier and search the whole sky and determine what may or may not be a DSO? Messier did it for a lifetime.

If not then grow up. You are assuming that goto is a computer, goto is the scope being told where to point to. Computer and motors, laptop and HTML file, book and RA/Dec. They all tell the scope where to point to.

You use goto in one form or another either from a computer, from a book or from any other reference.

If the problem is computers, then switch yours off, PC, goto, mobile phone or otherwise.

By the way, what is Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, Keck etc if not goto's?

Holey Moley!

Clear Skies

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Wow that last post was a bit nasty. Not really helpful in making people post questions if thats the response that is to be expected from some members.

sent from my android using sausage fingers. :)(

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The assumption has been made that goto saves time. As a user of both a manual dob and a goto GEM I think that needs to be challenged a little. Setting up my dob takes 5 mins (including collimation) with no need to polar align, level or calibrate. It takes hardly any time to find objects visible in the finder scope - the moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, M42, M31, M13, various doubles. Manual slewing is much quicker than using goto. With a telrad and decent guides the brighter DSOs can be found pretty briskly (except when they are up near the zenith)

If you want to tick of lots of the fainter fuzzies in an evening then goto will get the job done quicker but for many observing sessions it can be an unnecessary complication.

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Crikey! I was only trying to get peoples thoughts and feelings :)

I'm not critisising that GoTo isn't useful

Don't worry about it.

I think he probably started typing and couldn't stop :)

Goto is a choice. Not cheating.

If you have a scope budget, you give some of it up for goto or you get a bit more aperture ?

The choice is all yours.

Neil

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Use whatever you want, when you want and how you want.

Cheating!....We're (most of us) not at school and it isn't a competition :)

I have my imaging scopes linked up to 2 computers and wouldn't contemplate imaging without goto, but visually, I go as low tech as possible and manually star hop to find things....for me, what you find enroute is just as much fun as eventaully finding the faint fuzzy blob you were originally looking for.

The Messier marathon with goto....what's the point :)

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Depends what you wanna do. If a good observing session is the aim and you have a good knowledge of the sky and what you want see, then there's nothing wrong with manually swinging a big dob around and having a good gawp.

If you're imaging or sketching though, time is at a premium what with all the set up time and post processing time. So finding objects quickly and tracking electronically is a positive advantage.

It's horses for courses I say - cheating doesn't come into the equation :)

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Use whatever you want, when you want and how you want.

Cheating!....We're (most of us) not at school and it isn't a competition :)

I have my imaging scopes linked up to 2 computers and wouldn't contemplate imaging without goto, but visually, I go as low tech as possible and manually star hop to find things....for me, what you find enroute is just as much fun as eventaully finding the faint fuzzy blob you were originally looking for.

The Messier marathon with goto....what's the point :)

In total agreement with Rob there.

Michael

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Messier Certificate which used to be well treasured are now easy to obtain, as you just select which Messier object to point your scope at next.

IIRC the instructions on the website specifically state that GOTO is not to be used when going for the Messier Certificate. So in instances like that, I guess the word 'cheating' would be appropriate. But at the end of the day, who is it that you are cheating except yourself?

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For the beginnig i think without goto is a better start, but with some experience and knowlegd of the sky, GOTO is a great tool. You spend more time see the objects and less searching for it. although some pleasure of the hunt is loss.

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