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first successful night with my Skyliner 200p, but now a few questions!

richardjpicot

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richardjpicot

richardjpicot

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A little while back I made a post about taking a trip out to Kent with my new Skyliner 200p just to find blanket cloud waiting for me, and more importantly, not knowing about the focus lock underneath the eyepiece!

Last night was my next opportunity to get out to a reasonably dark patch and try again. This time with practice setting up the scope in my flat it was a doddle and within 15 minutes I was checking out the detail of the moons craters.

I hopped over to Saturn and for the first time saw it's rings with my very own eyes, this was what i'd been looking forward to!

Mars, well it looked more like a pink star, I could make out some slight colour differences nearer the poles but can't be sure if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me as the skys were quite turbulent.

With the rush of this success i'd thought I would try something a little more ambitious, well for me anyway.. Andromeda.

I had my iPad with me with the fantastic Star Map HD app to help guide my way, and sure enough, using constellations on the map to make a connection to the point in the sky, there it was. Sure, it was very faint at this point as it was only about 10:30, but nonetheless, I have never seen a faint smudge seem so beautiful. I've heard people talk about why a slightly lower magnification eyepiece in some instances is much better, this really made me understand the point. It's all about perspective. Wonderful.

Before packing up i tried something closer to Zenith to take advantage of a darker patch of sky. I think it was M92 I was trying to locate. This I found a real struggle. It made me fully understand the art of astronomy as the patches of stars used to locate certain objects became a lot less obvious than say Cassiopeia! Not to mention at this point I was on the ground trying to look through the finderscope at a tricky angle! I hopped back and forth between stars trying to find the closest point to where it should be using my app but I just couldn't find it. I assume it is just my inexperience but even then, it came to a point where I was close enough but the object sits in a dark patch so I would of had to point and hope for the best. What tips do you guys have for a novice like me in locating these trickier objects?

Do you guys know of a guide that lists objects of interest and the best "signposts" you can use to get you there?

I think when it gets colder I will also be less inclined to use my iPad in a cold wet night with a damp ground, so i'm likely to purchase a map of some sort. Any recommendations? Having the ability to change the view on the app to reflect what you may see in your finderscope at that point was really useful! I don't know how i can substitute that for a map!

One last thought, I guess a set of binoculars would come in very useful also for those times bringing a scope out isn't always possible, and would give me the opportunity to become more familiar with constellations and cosmic sign posts more often.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the experience with you guys and see if you had any feedback for me or anything to add.

Cheers!

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Uhwaz

Uhwaz

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Book called Turn Left at Orion is great explains very well how to find DSOs and which ones to look for each month

money well spend on that one ( 15 euro i memory serves well )

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Oily

Oily

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I'm not the most experienced but I think that maybe looking at your ipad might be ruining your night vision and thus making it much harder to spot the fainter objects.

I'm sure the app will have a night vision mode though,the ones I have on my IPhone do

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Redpaul

Redpaul

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I'm sure the app will have a night vision mode though,the ones I have on my IPhone do

Which apps do you have?

I must have at least 30 apps and don't think any of them have night vision unless I haven't look in the setting properly.

Paul

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Oily

Oily

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Which apps do you have?

I must have at least 30 apps and don't think any of them have night vision unless I haven't look in the setting properly.

Paul

I have GoSkyWatch and Star Walk,both have night vision modes.I would be tempted to have a look at the settings in your apps Paul

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Mr Moff

Mr Moff

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My favourite iPad apps are sky safari and sky chart. All the apps I use have night vision.

The best way for me to learn the sky has been to use these apps and a set of binoculars. For example I spent a couple of nights with them in garden looking in and around Cassiopeia. When I see something that looks like a cluster I check the apps to see what they are.

Now when I get a scope out I know exactly where to go to find say the double cluster.

10x50 binoculars work very well at doing this,and on nights where I'm looking for something new if it doesn't pop up in the scope I go and investigate with the bins and find this method works well.

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Astralstroll

Astralstroll

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I can only reiterate previous comments about Turn Left at Orion. I got a copy early in the year and used it on my first night out with my new Lightbridge a few days ago. Well worth the mosest investment and youl come bac to it time and time again.

Dave

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rory

rory

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as mentioned, s&t pocket atlas would be a good little invesment. a great aid. as is turn left at orion, and "illustrated guide to astronomical wonders" another good guide to odjects via constellation.

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Capricorn

Capricorn

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Try The Monthly Sky Guide by Ridpath.

It lists for each month a prominent constellation and the objects that are in that constellation.

The book supplies a full sky map and a detalied one for the constellation which I suspect you would use to star hop.

It is a bit more a reference then TLAO but I find that it is better for me at least in that format.

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Oily

Oily

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it was a Telrad & Telrad maps that made it all click together in finding non naked eye items.

+1

I've found the 3 in my sig in the last week using the Telrad,M57 from this mornings session.

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richardjpicot

richardjpicot

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wow, thanks for the advise. looks like TLAO is a clear winner, i will be ordering that right away. I will look into Telrad & Telrad maps also. Thanks very much indeed!

in regards to apps... well, where do I start! I was using StarMap HD for my iPad. It is really quite incredible. It, the amount of information that app has is really useful. Also, a nice feature is the ability to add your scope, including finderscope and eyepieces, this way you can aim to marry up what you see in your scope to pretty much exactly what you see on the app. Very nice idea. Although I did find it a little tricky to navigate as my scope is inverted and the app isn't so can get a little confusing. And yes, it does have a night vision mode!

I also have StarWalk. This app is a lot more user friendly, I much prefer the interface on this one, a lot easier to get around and it just looks great too! Not quite as deep as the other but I found myself jumping between the two a fair bit. Not quite as expensive as StarMap HD either.

Both have iPhone equivalents FYI.

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JamesM

JamesM

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A Telrad along with a right angled erecting finder scope like this one here from FLO is a great finder combination which along with the Telrad maps mentioned by Eastridge, will help you find virtually all you want.

Hope the suggestions work out for you and help you to locate more great objects for this coming winter season.

James

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Aenima

Aenima

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Hi,

I'm waiting for a telrad delivery as I have recently upsized to 200p eq5 and now without azgoto i'm struggling to find objects, especially dso's. As good as the telrad is, on a larger scale the sky and constellations are not as easy to navigate as I first assumed. I have TLAO on PDF along with many other downloaded sky maps and books on the subject - its a lot to absorb - and now the apps for mobile phones seems a good idea, do they come compatible with other phones?

Good luck on your next session.

Regards

Aenima

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richardjpicot

richardjpicot

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i have heard an awful lot about Telrad's and watched a few video demo's on YouTube. I am very much interested due to the hype but I fail to see the benefit.. am I right in saying that the benefit is that you have a direct reference to where you are pointing your scope with the naked eye, therefore less jumping back and forth with lining it up roughly then using the finderscope to fine tune?

Those using Telrad's, I would love to know why you love them!

James M, call me ignorant but what is the benefit of a right angled finderscope over a standard one?

I love this forum!

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Aenima

Aenima

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A note on finderscopes - The right angle ones help you to see vwhen the finder is in awkward positions ie on EQ mounts when it could literally be upside-down! I'm currently saving up to convert my 9x50 as I dont want to get a ladder out everytime I point my scope at the wrong angle.

Aenima

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