Strategies for finding a DSO?

[boltzy]

It was my third nights viewing last night, so I'm still very much a noob. I thought I'd have a go Mars and Saturn, then try a few DSOs. Mars was good but (as I've read several times) not much more than a bright red disk. Saturn was amazing, I spent a while studying it. I believe I saw 3 of it's moons also (how can you tell they are moons and not stars?).

I then decided to try for some DSOs. I'd planned to look at M3 and M13. I made some sketches of the constellations that they are near in a notebook to help me locate them, only to find that I could not see them in the dark (tried with an iPhone red torch app, but no good). I also failed to recognise the constellations properly (from memory), but possibly because of the LP also.

I wondered what the best strategy is for (a noob) finding a DSO? I guess I should probably learn the constellations better (perhaps using some bins my help?), before I try with the scope? Also, it seemed that although I could roughly see with the naked eye where I wanted to point the scope, recognising it in the finder was difficult.

Any suggestions on a strategy to find my first DSO would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

[Steve Ward]

Take a look at this piece of software , it's free and really easy to use. A great way to see what's where and when in the sky from your location or anywhere , even from another planet.

I wouldn't be without it.

Steve.

http://www.stellarium.org/

[boltzy]

Hi Steve, actually I already have Stellarium and also Pocket Universe (on iPad). Both are great for finding what should be observable, but it's actually locating the objects that I'm having trouble with

[Uhwaz]

Locate nearest bright star you can see look on stelarium and then star hop from there. I think u can set up on stellarium what you should see in FoV aswell as magnitude of stars to show ( ie. up to mag 8,5 due to LP ) then you should have pretty accurate picture on stellarium compared to what you actually see thru your scope.

Sorry thats all I have as i have goto which makes finding fuzzies a lot easier but then some preffer manual method guess for some its more satisfaing ( I am too impatient )

[mdstuart]

I would keep trying for M13...Find the square of stars with your eyes or a pair of bins..up to the NE about 10pm

Find the top right star and look below it...You are looking for two stars one above each other and in the middle a fuzzy blob....

This is pretty bight and visible in bins and a 50mm finder so should be a good bet.

Do report back...

Be patient...

Mark

[Steve Ward]

Ah , that's a different thing altogether .

Biggest problem I found/find is knowing which of the millions of things in the catalogues are actually visible thru sensible kit , not the 500mm monsters that the author used to compile with.

I started with the bigger brighter Messier bits , figured that if he could see them with his kit i sure as hell ought to be able to with mine.

Obvious targets to start would be the clusters and Orion Nebula (albeit a bit late for that this year) and the Coma B galaxy swarm , all pretty small but loads to see.

[Spoon]

star walk is a great app on the iphone and ipad. on the iphone it is £2 and ipad £3. i think it is an excellent app. most used on my ipad

[8kids]

I was out last night looking for dso's, I used a red dot finder and my 26mm panaview, with Turn left at orion as a guide to star hop and a bit of slow sweeping I managed to find three dso's.

What I need to do though is learn the constelations and the main stars, which will make searching much easier. As people keep saying be patient they aren't going anywhere.

Gary.

[boltzy]

Great advice guys, thanks. I will try to be patient (having kids helps with that!)

[Astro Imp]

To sort out the moons of Saturn have a look at this

FYI here is a similar site for Jupiter.

[boltzy]

To sort out the moons of Saturn have a look at this

FYI here is a similar site for Jupiter.

Thanks, very useful resources. I can now confirm the 3 objects I saw were definitely the moons: Titan, Enceladus and Rhea!

[Tinker1947]

As you allready use Stellarium then i would suggest getting a Telrad, the circle you see on a Telrad are built in to Stellarium, Try pressing F11, the Alt-O this gives you a option and in there you can put the Telrad circle on the Stellarium screen. Ok M3 is a bit in the middle of no where my way to find it, use Arcturus as a anchor then go across to the right to Muphrid, then go up at a right angle about 3 time the distance between Arc-Muph, it also helps with hunting DSO's to get a good quality EP i use a 36mm Hyperion and this has shown so many more DSO's than the scope kit 28mm EP would ever see.

[DazC]

Finding DSO's for the first time can be difficult for anyone so don't be discouraged. You are right to look at apps, star charts etc and then try to star hop to the right place.

Don't forget that the image you see in one ep may be totally the opposite in another ep because the image is inverted or back to front (this has cought me out a few times before).

If you are sure you are looking in the right place but still can't see the DSO that should be there, try changing ep to higher or lower mag.

Hth.

D.C

[Moonshane]

I don't like electronics at the scope and don't have any on my scope either - other than a small battery powered fan and a red dot finder. I like it simple. I consider a star map, a red torch, a red dot finder and a right angled correct image finder essential for observing comfort - it reduces frustration substantially too. once bought they can be used for any scope and I listed them in order of priority if you don't want to get them all at once.

my m.o. for finding bright objects (i.e. those which appear in the optical finder) is to point the scope using the red dot finder to the correct area of sky, using the star map to establish the patterns of naked eye stars (triangles, squares etc) and in the approximate place in relation to those patterns. usually the object can then be seen in the optical finder - centre it and then you will have it in your low power eyepiece.

for objects which are less bright and therefore not visible in the finder, I do the same but then use the star map to star hop again using patterns in the map which should be discernible in the finder (this is why I prefer a correct image and right angled viewing). when the pattern looks right in the finder the object should appear in view.

start with the brighter ones (like M13 and M5) and you'll soon get the idea.

[boltzy]

Thanks again everyone for your very useful tips

[pel]

I use these Skymaps and a Telrad -

http://www.atmob.org/library/member/skymaps_jsmall.html

[wyx]

Thanks for making this thread my fourth time out last night and i have exactly the same problem, failed miserably with m3.

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[pel]

Thanks for making this thread my fourth time out last night and i have exactly the same problem, failed miserably with m3.

Sent from my GT-I8150 using Tapatalk 2

WYX , I'd look at Map7 on the Skymaps above and extend that line from the 2 stars at the top. Good luck.

[wyx]

WYX , I'd look at Map7 on the Skymaps above and extend that line from the 2 stars at the top. Good luck.

Those maps are great. Wish i looked at them last night! Couldn't find it again. I was trying to move up from mulphrid. Im sure i was around the right area ill go left at the top of coma next time. Guess Im having trouble with the scale of the sky. Btw Im using 32x mag to find these, is this ok?

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[ObscuredbyClouds]

I use these Skymaps and a Telrad -

http://www.atmob.org/library/member/skymaps_jsmall.html

That skymap is brilliant, thanks for posting its now bookmarked

[pel]

You're welcome guys.

[glowjet]

Like many others I am a great user of the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas and at times for reference, my large sky Atlas. With binoculars, RDF and correct image finder, you can map your way across the sky using asterisms ( patterns of stars ) to follow to your chosen target, what is generally known as star hopping. The latest addition to my armory is the Cambridge Photographic star Atlas. when its no good outside, which is quite often nowadays, you can sit in the comfort of your favorite chair and study digital photos of the night sky, Constellation by Constellation, to a scale of 1 deg to a cm, quite useful to me as I have an engraved cross hair scale in my finder which is marked in 1.5 deg increments

John.

[mdstuart]

M3 is tough it should be easy. Half way from Arcturus towards Alpha CVN but it is a job to pick it up in a finder. It is a faint smudge next to a star..

I just keep putting the finder in the right place and look next to each reasonably bright field star in the centre of the finder view and eventually I find it.

Its worth it as in a 10 inch scope it is an awesome ball of stars...

Good luck everyone.

Mark