Easier way to find deep sky objects.

[daveangie0110]

Hi All,

I have a Star adventurer and a Canon 600D and was wondering is there a easier way of finding deep sky objects, i can spend 30 minutes trying to find and frame the object but still can not get it in the frame.

Thanks

[Martin Meredith]

I also have a Star Adventurer and there are a couple of things you can do. One is to use a declination circle. There are several threads about this

 

An alternative approach is to find a bright nearby star with roughly the same RA or Dec (I use a Rigel Quickfinder for this), then just move in RA or Dec until you hit your object. This approach works well if you have a deep enough atlas (for my 77mm refractor I find Interstellarium is not quite deep enough). This is my preferred approach as you can spot a lot of potentially interesting stuff on the way. The issue with a camera is that it is likely to show many more stars than an eyepiece, hence the need for a deepish atlas when using this approach. 

Good luck

Martin