Star hopping targets?

[popeye85]

Last year I upgraded from a 6"goto to a 8"dob. One of the main reasons was I was finding it a bit too easy and it felt like I was cheating  so I am keen to learn the art of star hoping!

I've watched a couple of videos on you tube and reckon I have the basics down but I'm wondering if anyone knows of or can suggest a set of lists consisting of hard, medium and easy  targets to practice  my star hoping? 

Cheers.

Popeye.

[John]

Hi Popeye,

This is a good web article on star hopping which includes advice on method, tools and some targets including star maps:

https://britastro.org/node/12846

My favourite star hopping tools are:

- The Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas

- A red torch to read the above

- A zero magnification finder such as a Telrad or Rigel Quickfinder

Here is a link to a more in depth and challenging set of hops to aid a messier marathon by Rob Hawley:

https://www.robhawley.net/mm/SHG-MM-text-v6a.pdf

[Whistlin Bob]

I bought an 8 inch Dob 5 years ago and it lit a fire that burns even more strongly now. I did struggle to start with, but the things that really moved me on were:

- Quikfinder as John suggests, for getting in the right area.

- A RACI finderscope (I'm just not very good at the yoga positions a straight through one requires and my skies are too light polluted for the Quikfinder alone).

- An adjustable ironing chair for comfort.

- Skysafari on my phone, with the field of view set up for the finderscope and the eyepiece I'm using on my scope, and with my phone dimmed to preserve dark adaption.

None of these things are critical, but all greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the hobby.

[Whistlin Bob]

Apologies- I've just re-read your original post and you're looking for targets, in which case I'll defer to John's advice! 

[John]

3 minutes ago, Whistlin Bob said:

Apologies- I've just re-read your original post and you're looking for targets, in which case I'll defer to John's advice! 

Your additional tools suggestions are good ones

[Stu]

Not a target list, but @Moonshane posted some good info on star hopping some years back, link here.

Oh, and I amended the title of this thread to hopping from hoping, although given the amount of cloud around, perhaps hoping was more appropriate! 🤣🤣

[joe aguiar]

first I used the 20 maps that came with the book nightwatch

then I got the map called deepsky 600

later 1 got the 2 books package (I forgot the name but its white books) altho later they made a book for the sourthern sky. Its 2 authors

I agree u need a rigel or telrad and some people like a 8 to 10x50 finderscope. I just use a 56mm meade super plossl ep and something that gets me a low power like 12x to 20x depending on the scope I use which can be almost a finderscope.

joejaguar

[popeye85]

On 07/01/2020 at 19:12, John said:

Hi Popeye,

This is a good web article on star hopping which includes advice on method, tools and some targets including star maps:

https://britastro.org/node/12846

My favourite star hopping tools are:

- The Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas

- A red torch to read the above

- A zero magnification finder such as a Telrad or Rigel Quickfinder

Here is a link to a more in depth and challenging set of hops to aid a messier marathon by Rob Hawley:

https://www.robhawley.net/mm/SHG-MM-text-v6a.pdf

That's great John-just the thing I was after!

 

On 07/01/2020 at 19:50, Stu said:

Not a target list, but @Moonshane posted some good info on star hopping some years back, link here.

 

Cheers stu! That was one of the first things I read and was a great resource in teaching the basics, now I'm just after a list of targets to practice with varying degrees of difficultly!

 

[almcl]

Coming a bit late to this, but with Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas and a piece of card with a circular hole cut in it to match your finderscope FOV, start at Denebola and try and hop your way through the Virgo Galaxy cluster to Vindemiatrix.  

Here's the chart I made up for this (the orange Messier numbers don't work too well under a red torch!) but you get the idea:

Edited January 11, 2020 by almcl