Star hopping-help!!!

[TheEli]

Hi guys!!

Tonight I used my Skymax 127 to try and look at that supernova. I tried the star hopping method(practice for when I get a Dobsonian). I found the bright starting star, and from then on using an app on my ipad tried to star hop to the next star in the line. Problem is I could not find it, as it was dimmer(and there were lots of dim star). Anybody got some advice- would be great!!!

[brantuk]

It's very hazy up there right now in the immediate vicinity of M101. Couldn't see it in my binocs and the street lights and passing cars are preventing full dark adaption sigh!

[JamesM]

Have you got Stellarium on your PC? If not it is free and you can download it here

I have no idea how good your app is but Stellarium is really very good and is very popular on the forum and might help you to differentiate nearby star patterns better. I assume your finder has been aligned with the scope itself? Try looking for nearby stars to the star that you want to help identify it from the crowd that are available. Mind you if the sky is misty then any planetarium/star map is going to provide poor comapny.

Best of luck

James

[Odd Dob]

Possibly stupid question, but what are you looking though when you do the star-hopping? Red dot finder, finderscope or telescope?

[TheEli]

i use the telescope Mr Dob

[Merlin66]

Things get easier with practice. You can make up a sketch from your star atlas/ planerium program to assist. Learning which direction is which in the eyepiece - ie north south east west and knowing the field of view of your eyepiece will make things easier. A good low power eyepiece and patience......

[Slim]

Depends on what your seeing conditions were like. Some of the stars you could see in your app might just not have been viewable in reality. At least you saw some stars. Been a nightmare up north for the past few weeks. But as others have said practice makes perfect