Star-hopping with a newtonian on a EQ mount

[hgjevans]

The funny thing is that I am so used to using an EQ mount that I find using my AZ4 much more difficult.  I find myself turning my star atlas round to work out which way to move the scope to go up the atlas page.  For the same reason I find a Dob difficult to use.  For me an EQ is simple and easily worth the ten minutes of pain to align it.  It just goes to show that we're all different and that you can get used to anything if you put a bit of effort in, although the effort in this case has been mostly enjoyable.

It's encouraging to know that it can become familiar and natural like that. I've found polar alignment easy enough - my knees and back complain, certainly, but as you say it's only a few minutes and it pays dividends.

And after last nights observing sessions I'm happy to report that it does already seem to be getting easier. 

[cotterless45]

Wise words there. Once you've found something difficult, have a good look, remember where it was, loosen the clutches, swing away and find it again.

If you use any sort of finder, it helps to keep both eyes open to match what you see with the whole sky. This works very well with red dot finders (rdf) for the price these are wonderfully useful,

Nick.

[hgjevans]

Actually the aiming with one eye open bit is one thing I'm quite used to - I practised it for years for photographing birds in flight. Not that I was ever terribly successful at that (they just moved too quickly for me), but at least when it comes to the finder scope it's familiar territory. I can certainly see that it would be better with a red dot finder, though, if I ever got to a truly dark observing site and couldn't see the crosshairs!

On that note, do people use different kinds of finder for different conditions at all, or is it normal to stick to one preferred type? Only I discovered last night, when I decided to take a quick look at Praesepe, that I couldn't make it out in the finder at all. Fortunately I did get it in the main eyepiece by simply 'waving' the scope around the general area until it popped into view. But it surprised me that a 9x50 finder couldn't show it. It might have been dew, to be fair, or rather frost, because things were getting distinctly icy by that time and I didn't hang about to investigate! :-)

[Astro Imp]

Actually the aiming with one eye open bit is one thing I'm quite used to - I practised it for years for photographing birds in flight. Not that I was ever terribly successful at that (they just moved too quickly for me), but at least when it comes to the finder scope it's familiar territory. I can certainly see that it would be better with a red dot finder, though, if I ever got to a truly dark observing site and couldn't see the crosshairs!

On that note, do people use different kinds of finder for different conditions at all, or is it normal to stick to one preferred type? Only I discovered last night, when I decided to take a quick look at Praesepe, that I couldn't make it out in the finder at all. Fortunately I did get it in the main eyepiece by simply 'waving' the scope around the general area until it popped into view. But it surprised me that a 9x50 finder couldn't show it. It might have been dew, to be fair, or rather frost, because things were getting distinctly icy by that time and I didn't hang about to investigate! :-)

In anything like reasonable conditions Praesepe should jump out. Under dark skies it's naked eye.

[hgjevans]

Indeed. Where I used to live in Dorset it was an easy naked eye cluster - here in north Worcestershire I had to know where to look. Although I've been a bit negative about the optical quality of that finder I suspect it was dew or frost - not surprisingly the objective lens does seem to be the first component to be affected, in the limited experience I have so far with the scope.

[Darryls]

Whenever I look through a Newtonian and want to move to another position, I think to myself "move the sky" (as opposed to "move the 'scope").  Thus moving the scope actually does move the sky in that same direction because of the mirror reversal.