Goto's vs the old fashioned technique.

[beamer3.6m]

I agree that he hunt is fun but it can also be very dissappointing when you spend an age (sometimes years) trying to find an object only to be underwhelmed by the view.

I find many DSO's pretty dull through the eyepiece, but then I like the photography side of the hobby. I want to see the fine detail and the colour and looking at a smudge is not my idea of fun.

However with GOTO you can find an object and image it, no hassle (well the finding part is not).

At the moment I do not have GOTO and I find my imaging time is limited by the hunt for the object, sometimes to the point where I just cannot locate it and give up.

[Jonileth]

Good point, when i started this thread i believe that i must have been thinking about success at the end of the hunt. However i must admit that if the hunt continually ends in failure it can lead to feelings of annoyance/dispair with your equipment/skies. having read what others have posted on this subject, (feedback has been good, with alternating arguements and general comments) i feel that having goto is a bonus, at least you have the option of finding it yourself. however whatever your means of capturing the target, the important thing is that you enjoy the process, thanks for all your comments people, you've been a great help.

Jonileth

[661-pete]

Well I'm certainly not going to lay down any law about GOTO or not GOTO, but my choice is also starhopping - we seem to be a swelling throng! And I do imaging, not visual. But I do DSOs at prime focus with a f/4.8 'scope, so I don't have to aim that accurately! Also I'm lucky with good skies.

I use the finderscope for all the hopping, knowing I won't see the target (not if it's a galaxy or a faint glob) at the end of the trip, but I get there all the same! Part of the fun! And it's quite a thrill to do the first test piccy on the camera and see from the result that I have got the target in the FOV! Of course that doesn't always happen .... :?

For planning the star-hopping, I use Cartes du Ciel. Can't fault it. I can set the magnitude limit to just match my finder scope.

[thing]

Interesting that most of the starhoppers seem to add on 'but I do have good skies' or variations thereof. And Astroman, we know you have probably the best skies out of all us. The light pollution in my garden is so bad I can actually read the lettering on the side of filters etc quite clearly. I would say even with my 8 inch Newt I'm limited to about mag 9, 10 on a good day objects. To find anything at all unless its something like Sun or the Moon you need Go To. I know where a lot of stuff is in the sky, I've been observing for years with binos. But to give an example, on a normal night here M13 is invisible with 15x70 binos, an it's only because I know exactly where it is that i know it's invisible.............

I would love the luxury of good skies, i might even star hop myself under those circumstances, but for most city dwellers like me, Go To isn't a luxury, it's essential.

[Eclipse]

I have a GOTO, but have recently splashed out on a handraulic EQ5. I use both, and find they have advantages and disadvantages.

[geoff_k]

I agree with Eclipse. If I had the money, I would have both Go-to and non Go-to mounts. For example, one of the biggest problems with the Synscan is the hand controller seizing up in very cold weather. You can of course warm it up, but it still happens.

Sometimes go-to isn't necessary for the brighter objects anyway, and even with it, you still need to know your way around the sky to some extent as the alignment routine can give you stars that might not be immediately recognisable. I find that my star atlas or planetarium program if I am using the laptop is still essential.

On the other hand, I have spent a number of enjoyable and productive evenings doing a Messier tour using the Go-to. Whether I would have tried the same thing without it is a moot point.

Heres to enjoying the wonders of the night sky whichever way. Can someone just sort out the bleeding weather.

[Vega]

Hi Geoff... re: weather, I'll get right on it but maybe lets wait till end of July

[GazOC]

I have GOTO and non-GOTO setups and won't rehash whats already been said but one thing I do find is that I spend more time studying an object if its just taken me 5-10 minutes to find it than if I've used GOTO where the temptation is for a quick look and then onto the next object.

[dph1nm]

I would love the luxury of good skies, i might even star hop myself under those circumstances, but for most city dwellers like me, Go To isn't a luxury, it's essential.

Hear, hear! I agree entirely. It also maximises the use of the precious few hours of good weather certain parts of the country actually get.

I also think GOTO is a GOOD idea for beginners.

NigelM