Struggling with my Dob!

[Jase_v2]

Been so looking forward to tonight - my first clear night in months when I haven been on nights, due to our fabulous cumbrian weather (not). Cracking view of jupiter and moons with very clear bands even at low mag. Lovely view of the Orion nebula with the high contrast filter but then it all went down hill - couldnt find any of my chosen targets with the dob. Got M81 & 82 but very little else - couldnt find M51 or M101 for love nor money. Gave up afer an hour & considering a goto now

[Paul M]

Star hopping and failing and trying again and again was all part of the fun for me.

Even though I'm all GoTo'd up now I still do some low power hopping. Use it or lose it!

Maybe perfect your star hopping on some easy subjects first and then go for more difficult ones later.

A lot depends on your sky quality too. My home sky gets worse by the month with all the intense house building

My view of M82 and M81 is less impressive in the 10" newt than it was in the 6" a few years ago.

[cotterless45]

Same here, the 10" Dob just gave disappointing Dso views from here. Better off with a frac .More building going on up the road, houses everywhere,

Nick.

[oldfruit]

Stick with it, M51 took a while to find my first time but once you have found it you will find it easier next time around. M101 has a very low surface brightness and took me 2 or 3 attempts to find. I was actually looking at it without realising it and if your sky conditions are at all hazy or light polluted it will be lost.

What worked for me was first finding them from our dark site where they were more obvious, then when I wanted to observe them from home I knew where to look.

[faulksy]

have you considered a telrad or push to system

[John]

I think sticking with it is the best suggestion that I can make. We often say that observing the planets for some time brings more rewards with regards to the details that you can see but it's the same with deep sky objects as well.

I've often complained on here that my back garden is not good for deep sky viewing but I've recently been making a bit more of an effort, been a bit more careful about the parts of the sky that I plan to scrutinise, and when they are most favourably presented and found a star atlas that I get on with. I've found that I can actually see quite a lot of DSO's and get some satisfaction from doing so. I managed to find 57 galaxies in and around Ursa Major and Leo in a single 4 hour session with my 12" dob plus a couple of plossl eyepieces a couple of weeks back and thats despite having street lights, some tall trees and being surrounded by neighbours houses with the odd kitchen and bedroom lights going on and off periodically.

Dark skies would give even better results of course but I've proved to myself that I can be a "galaxy hunter" even from my less than optimum back yard

[Moonshane]

Try my star-hopping guide. It should help.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/197640-collimation-and-star-hopping/ 

[Jase_v2]

Many thanks for all the advice - its going to be clear again tonight so will have another go - hopefully with a bit more patience. Collimaton was spot on when I checked and will be taking the guides with me this time (TLAO and my old collins Stars and Planets). Will definitely consider a telrad as I was getting confused with the RACI and view through the scope. Great tip on the card with circle/ expected view on the guide. I live in a place with virtually no street lighting and reasonable dark skies  - once I get my man cave / observatory finished away down the end of the garden I should be away from most stray light and hopefully improve my odds.

Cheers

            Jase

[dick_dangerous]

Well done on finding M81 and M82 - that's still quite an achievement! I always have to resort to TL@O for instructions when trying to locate them. They're both reasonably high surface brightness, as far as galaxies go - I can spot them from a light polluted London street in my 6'' Dob. M101 is another matter entirely - I've seen it twice and both times from extremely dark skies. M51 is a bit easier, but I've never attempted it from London.

Stick at it and you'll find you get better at finding stuff with practise!

DD

[DeepSkyBagger]

Star-hopping is a skill that takes time to perfect. I spent over 35 years star-hopping before I got a Goto scope. I never got *very* good at it! Be aware, though, that even with a Goto system, you may still end up doing some hopping. It's rare for a Goto (at least for my Goto) to land exactly on the object selected. I usually have to examine the field in the eyepiece and then match it with a high-quality chart of the region (I use and highly recommend Guide 9 from www.projectpluto.com). From that I then have to hop a little bit to the object I want.

I *do* look for extremely faint objects, though, which I often can't see in my 'finder' eyepiece (x81). Once I have the exact field in view, I step up to x150 to search for the actual object.

The moral of all this rambling is - Don't Despair! Star hopping takes time and LOTS of practice, but it's a skill that you'll never lose and one which will come in very useful whatever you plan to do in your observing future.

[Jase_v2]

Thanks for all the advice and tips - had a much better night the other day - guess Im a bit rusty given my lack of observing. Have some time off now so hoping for more clear skies

Thanks again

Jase

[niallk]

Thanks for all the advice and tips - had a much better night the other day - guess Im a bit rusty given my lack of observing. Have some time off now so hoping for more clear skies

Thanks again

Jase

... It must have taken me 5 nights to find M31 Andromeda if I'm honest!!

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Yeah I would definitely stick with it, trouble I find with a goto is the faff of getting everything outside over the readiness of a dob, I actually thinking about getting a dob for when I cant be bothered to set the goto up, but resist from spending money on something else that I don't really need!

Clear skies.

Matt.

[bish]

You need to look at astronomy like photography or playing an instrument. Give it time and plenty of practise. Even a GoTo can be frustrating at first.  There have been plenty of times I have thought of just selling my guitar, and plenty of times I've wasted half the night failing with a telescope. But when it does come together it's worth it. The things I rely on are my 10x50 bins, a good star map, and recently a telrad (which are really helpful)

[ronin]

Wonder how Jase is actually getting on?

Their last post was 19-March so it could be all has fallen into place or the scope has been thrown off a West Cumbrian hill.

[ollypenrice]

I don't do much star hopping. I use a Telrad on the scope and a virtual Telrad on the charts and try to put my scope's Telrad into the same position realtive to the bright stars. This suits my particular way of seeing things and I often get to the target in no time. Of course, I have my bad days as well!

lly

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Wonder how Jase is actually getting on?

Their last post was 19-March so it could be all has fallen into place or the scope has been thrown off a West Cumbrian hill.

He was last online 2 days ago according to his profile, so may of overlooked his own topic or just be taking the advice on board.

Matt.

[bish]

Wonder how Jase is actually getting on?

Their last post was 19-March so it could be all has fallen into place or the scope has been thrown off a West Cumbrian hill.

Might have his 25" Obsession on order by now?

[mapstar]

Maybe it was just a case of the sky conditions had deteriorated and you'd not noticed?

I have had cracking pin sharp views some nights then later on really struggled with dso's due to the high faint cloud or smog just making the views so mushy I couldn't see anything.

As others say don't despair, M81,82 prove you can do it

Damian

[ronin]

Might have his 25" Obsession on order by now?

So the next post could be in The Lounge asking about how long it takes to get over a slipped disk. :eek: