Trust the map.....the map is good.

[Moonshane]

I use alt-az mounts (dobsonians) and the issue with them is 'Dobson's Hole' or the zenith, i.e. straight up. Often when looking around here it is easy to get disorientated as the scope has to be moved in a different way to normal. As you turn the scope things move in funny directions, which I can never work out in my head.

Normally, when following a map I am quite happy that I can star hop well enough from pattern to pattern and easily find my target. The other night when looking for an open cluster in Cygnus (NGC 6830) I was convinced that (in Sky & Telescope Pocket Atlas) Wil Tirion had made a mistake.

I repeatedly went in my 9x50 RACI finder from the Dumbbell Nebula (easily visible) to 13 and 12 Cygni and they were the wrong way round with 12 obviously made up of two stars and 13 of 2 stars. I could not 100% reconcile the other stars visible in the finder and despite this and the fact I could not see the cluster in the finder or the eyepiece, assured myself that I was right.

Then I noticed that on the map there were two other stars (16 and 17 Cygni) that formed a similar triangular pattern with the Dumbbell but in the other direction. These had the double and single stars the way I could see them. I'd been looking at the wrong pair!

Realising what I had done I then moved to the right place on the other side of the dumbbell and could then instantly reconcile everything in the finder, put the finder where the cluster should be and hey presto NGC 6830 was obvious in the eyepiece!

The moral of the story is that when observing in a tricky area, the chances are that if you cannot reconcile all the stars in the map in your finder (assuming the visible magnitudes match), you are in the wrong place so go back to your starting point and retrace your steps more carefully.

I thought I'd add this post to reassure starters that even when you have some hours under the belt, things in an awkward or busy spot can be tricky to locate so do persevere. The rewards are worth it!

[crashtestdummy]

I would say the moral of the story is "always assume you are wrong and wil tirion is right"

[cotterless45]

I would say that rdf's and Telrad are much easier especially for beginners than finder scopes, particularly when star hopping from a chart,

Nick.

[Moonshane]

hi Nick - good point. Yes, I should have added that my initial placement is with a Telrad.

[NGC 1502]

Good points here.

And it can get even more confusing (at times) for observers like me who switch from a Dob with its 'south up' view to a refractor plus diagonal that gives a 'north up' view and east & west are reversed .......and then get my binos out with their 'correct' view ..... ..... I think it's probably best to stick with one scope during an observing session.

Regards, Ed.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I think its easy to fall over (so to speak) with a telrad, when the object your wanting to find isnt near a bright star the fits in the circles. Thats when you need star hopping skills.

[AndyWB]

Trust the map - but check it too. I got really confused with Turn Left At Orion, while looking at the double cluster - the Dob view for that is not south-up. And it is marked as not being south-up. But most of the rest of the book is - hence confused!