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Finding objects without breaking my back!

smolloy

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smolloy

smolloy

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I was out with my Skyliner 250px tonight, and was doing my best to find various things, but now, after only a coupler of hours outside, I am back in the house with a dull ache in my back :)

The positioning of the finderscope makes you have to become a contortionist in order to view anything near the zenith!

Apart from spending some money on a right-angle, can someone let me know what other options I have to fix this (either free, or by spending money).

Thanks,

Steve

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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personally I have both things mentioned, a Telrad and a right angled finder - both together work like a dream. not a cheap option but it's tried and tested, portable between scopes and really makes a world of difference. one possible cheaper option is to move the finder shoe further up the OTA. that way it will be easier to get under it.

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John

John

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You could build a solid 3 legged stand for the scope to raise it up to a more comfortable height. A Telrad is a great finder but you still have to get your eye behind it to use it so to some extent you may have the same problems. A right angled finder is the best solution but more £'s are involved of course and it's not possible to simply put a diagonal on the back of the standard finder, unfortunately.

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smolloy

smolloy

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...and it's not possible to simply put a diagonal on the back of the standard finder, unfortunately.

Not the news I was expecting :) So that means that I would have to buy an entirely new finderscope if I wanted one with a right angle?

The telrad doesn't exactly solve this particular problem, since I'll still have to fold myself into a pretzel to view through it, but it is a very good idea since star-hopping with this finderscope was a little difficult. So it will probably find its way onto my wishlist as well :)

Thanks all.

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John

John

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Not the news I was expecting :) So that means that I would have to buy an entirely new finderscope if I wanted one with a right angle?....

I'm afraid so, unless you are prepared to cut a chunk off the tube of your finder and find a way to fix a diagonal plus an eyepiece onto what is left of it. The diagonal uses up quite a lot of the light path so the body of a right angle finder is proportionately shorter than a straight through one.

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smolloy

smolloy

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When you look through the Telrad, you don't need to be close to it, i knee on the ground and look up the OTA, this being a lot easier than trying to look through a Finder scope....

Wouldn't that still be quite uncomfortable when trying to view objects close to the zenith?

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granty515

granty515

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i chopped up an old dinning room pine table to raise my up about 10 inches its perfect for me at 5'9" it locks in to the dobs base (and when not in use makes a good coffee table) had intended to make a eq wedge with it but decided not to in the end. Makes nudging and turning the scope easier with the handles much more comfortable.

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rory

rory

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Wouldn't that still be quite uncomfortable when trying to view objects close to the zenith?

Thing is, as well as not needing to be up close to a telrad, you also only look through it for a matter of a couple of seconds. Then you"l be switching to your e/p.

I've had mine a week and can't believe what an effective and simple tool it is.

Hope that helps.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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Thing is, as well as not needing to be up close to a telrad, you also only look through it for a matter of a couple of seconds. Then you"l be switching to your e/p.

I've had mine a week and can't believe what an effective and simple tool it is.

Hope that helps.

this in a nutshell is why Telrads are so good

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brantuk

brantuk

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Apart from a Telrad and/or a right angled finder scope - the other thing you need is an adjustable stool. As a back sufferer I can guarantee you will be much more comfortable observing stuff ,and you will only need to stand occasionally if you turn the scope up to the zenith.

I find an adjustable ironing chair fits the bill nicely and at only around £20 it's a sound investment for saving your back from getting strained. :)

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perrin6

perrin6

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What I don't understand with red-dot finders is how you find a faint object that's several degrees away from a naked eye star ? I just couldn't do without a proper finderscope, minimum aperture of 30mm to enable finding galaxies in the constellation of Sextans, for example.

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RikM

RikM

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With the QuikFinder / Teldar type you get rings instead of just a red dot, so you can estimate the distance from stars using the rings. They are 0.5°, 2° and an extra 4° ring in the Telrad. Fairly easy really, but best used together with an optical finder as well.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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I generally use my Telrad to find the nearest naked eye star to the object - my skies are not great - about mag 4.5. I then transfer either to the eyepiece (e.g. the moon and planets (and bright doubles are naked eye and will already be in the eyepiece) or the finder if it's a star hopping process and use patterns on my map to find the object. sometimes the Telrad can be used to place the scope at the point of a triangle from two stars and then sometimes the object is in field.

to find e.g. M31, I put the Telrad in the right spot, look in the finder and there's the fuzz and then to the eyepiece and there is it. the fainter the object, the more stars I follow to find the object. it's important to get your head around which stars are which in the finder compared with your star map. the sky and telescope pocket atlas suits my finder well and all the stars are pretty much visible. if I need to guide with fainter stars than in the map (e.g. recently I did with PN J900) then I use my wide field eyepiece to star hop.

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