Star chart

[baldeliftman]

Hi anyone no of a star chart with the star names that my skywatcher mount might use for the alignment process just for quick reference because it comes up with funny names I never heard of.

Baldeliftman 

[Davey-T]

You can put star names in the search on Stellarium and it will find them

Dave

[baldeliftman]

I could do with a chart with the constellations on with the star names just for quick reference to put  into the keypad.  

[SilverAstro]

1 hour ago, baldeliftman said:

Hi anyone no of a star chart  /funny names I never heard of.

Try this one :-  http://www.jimscosmos.com/wp-content/plugins/stars/docs/synscan-finder-stars.pdf   ( thanks to @ronin who found it and posted in this thread https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/65954-synscan-alignment-star-list/?do=findComment&comment=2378629 )

Also you might like "Home Planet" by John Walker a nice quicky lightweight display. http://www.fourmilab.ch/homeplanet/

those "funny names" are a pain to remember ! and are derived from ancient arabic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arabic_star_names

[baldeliftman]

To right can't even pronounce them.

[Putaendo Patrick]

On the Stellarium program, if you press the sextant symbol on the main toolbar, it will highlight the navigational stars. Despite their difficult names it's well worth learning to identify them. Sometimes at dusk I spend a few minutes watching the first stars and try to name them as they begin to appear.

If you prefer old tech, you can print out the monthly star map at  http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

[baldeliftman]

Yes prefer old tech it takes me ages to type this lot out with one finger.

[Flyingfuzz]

I have made A4 starcharts of all the Skywatcher stars with the correct star highlighted so you can print them out.

Send me your email via PM and i will send you the files. 

[ronin]

Skywatcher did their alighment stars a bit odd, they have a lot of them and as you said many are somewhat in the lesser known catagory and that generally makes them somewhat unknown as well.

Meade seem to have gone for the fewer but brighter ones and Skywatcher/Celestron for the more is better approach.

When trying to set up a Skywatcher it asked to be pointed at Algeiba, not too difficult if you knew of it but neither of us did. When it was worked out (later on Stellarium) it seemed strange that it did not simply request Denbola or Regulus, both better known, both brighter, both to me easier to find and to know about.

There is a chart of the Skywatcher alignment stars and the preferred times of years they are likely to be chosen. It is a fairly dense selection of stars in the sky. Meade as said have much less, their approach is a bright star sat more or less alone. The scope slews to where it should be (dependant on the set up being good) and you basically centre the big bright one in the eyepiece. You do not need to know what it is although it does say the selected victim. Meades do like Arcturus if it is at all half visible. You soon learn Arcturus with a Meade.

[brantuk]

I found that if I learn the winter and summer triangle stars, and one or two stars from each constellation as they come round each year, then that's about all I need to initially align any goto mount. I used the center page star charts and "wots up" sections from SaN and AN each month for a year. Doesn't take long to pick up a lot of star names just by doing a little reading each month and adding a couple more to what you already know.

[Flyingfuzz]

If you have a smart phone use Google sky, just hold your phone tsovthe sky and it will display the stars in your field of view, simples.

[baldeliftman]

Hi thanks for the info I went on to jim cosmos and printed some off at A 3 i can read it that size.

[RT65CB-SWL]

I downloaded the complete set of 'TriAtlas' (3 volumes) in .PDF and saved them to a CD-ROM. Volume 3 is also available on iTunes for iOS.

[Galactic Wanderer]

There is an app called sky guide which is 2.29 which is quick and easy to use. It also has a nice interface. If you want something a bit more professional go for stellarium which is a planetarium software which is also very good. Stellarium is free and you can download it from their website. You can also control your telescope form stellarium!

Seb

 

[Dave In Vermont]

Regards Stellarium -

Here's my cut & paste for downloading and for usage-instruction. And I'll leave a screenshot of mine, which is set up in an advanced mode to my needs. Freshly installed it is much more simple and awaits you're choices to show:

On this link is the main page for downloading Stellarium. Choose which version is correct for your computer. Here you go:

http://www.stellarium.org/
 
As for instructions, the most current one's are posted in Wiki due to there being new features & functions being created almost daily. There is also a Pdf. that's almost up-to-date, absolutely enough 'up-to-date' in all needed ways. Here's the Wiki-Link:
 
http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Stellarium_User_Guide
 
And the Pdf. is here:
 
http://barry.sarcasmogerdes.com/stellarium/stellarium_user_guide-new.pdf
 
This should help you to find just about everything under the Sun.

 

Have fun -

Dave

Click-on image for full size options.

[Galactic Wanderer]

other screen shots from stellarium