Star Hopping with a new finderscope

[bomberbaz]

Ok so nothing new here, many of us have done star hopping with a RACI finder but last night I did it for the first time with my new to me RACI finder with accompanying EP and found it a cinch.

Just thought I would go through the equipment used and how I couldn't fail even with horrid milky skies later on.  

These days technology is getting easier to use and my eyesight goes from bad to worse every eye checkup so this was something of a revelation for me.

Finder - TS Optics 80mm RACI (F4.2) with helical focuser coupled with a TS Optics 20mm - 70 degree illuminated reticule eyepiece. When coupled together you obviously get a nice crosshair to aid with centering but also an extremely useable x16.5 magnification and 4.8 degrees FOV.

 In case you don't know, this is an illuminated reticule crosshair  😂

Map - Sky Safari 6 Plus which, like some others has a telrad overlay which as we know gives a 4, 2 & 0.5 degree reticule.  In this case the main interest is the 4 degree which sits just inside my eyepiece FOV so they marry together perfectly. 

  In my eyepiece I can see pretty much every star in the 4 degree circle. 

Now I have mentioned this before but for those that do not know my home skies are blooming awful because of severe LP, I struggle to see the Albireo double naked eye and that's a mag 3. Last night with the setup above I was mainly hopping using stars of around 5  but did occasionally go down as far as a 7. However I could easily have gone much deeper but there are sufficient stars under 7 to negate such. It even managed to find the dumbbell which to me was amazing. Officially I have Bortle 6-7 skies here but locally it feels like an 8.

I started at a suitable bright-ish starter star and from there with phone in hand, app open it was very quick to move from one star to the next, easy to refer back to SS6+ all the time and no remembering long star hops, (something I am useless at),. The telrad overlay gave excellent reference compared to finder FOV in the map and I moved accross the sky in good time from one target to the next, and the crosshair is great for centering stars if needed as the FOV is obviously very large &  well, it just helps . As mentioned later on the skies got quite milky with high mist but the finder setup still punched through sufficiently to continue hopping.

It is a bit difficult to get across how impressed I was with this setup but previously when using a basic 50x10 raci finder from my home the results were dismal and last night it was both satisfying and quite a pleasure. 2.5 hours seemed to fly by.

One other point worth noting it is pretty low tech so even technophobes should master this with out too many problems. The fact you are reading this should mean you could handle the setup 😅

[NGC 1502]

Great to hear that your starhopping is successful 👍

Manually finding objects definitely gets easier the more practice you get. After a while finding previously difficult objects becomes routine.  Then you’ll find yourself finding more difficult stuff, then that too becomes routine……

For those who use a “bells and whistles” scope- please don’t take the above in the wrong way.  The best way to do astronomy is the one that works for you….not what works for me😊

[bomberbaz]

8 hours ago, NGC 1502 said:

Great to hear that your starhopping is successful 👍

Manually finding objects definitely gets easier the more practice you get. After a while finding previously difficult objects becomes routine.  Then you’ll find yourself finding more difficult stuff, then that too becomes routine……

For those who use a “bells and whistles” scope- please don’t take the above in the wrong way.  The best way to do astronomy is the one that works for you….not what works for me😊

As your signature says, your a low tech, old school kinda guy and what you do works for you. I wish I had your patience. Sadly, not my greatest virtue although improving with age as this post testifies too. (Like a fine wine) 😆 

Personally and to clarify I have actually had the tools for a while, just never used them hence the new to me (should have stated in use).  I just wish I had tried earlier!

[PeterW]

Interesting upgrading the RACI. I don’t get much use from the 9x50, mainly just poke the laser down its eyepiece to stop me having to bend down to get the scope in the right rough location. Then starhop through the main scope… SkySafari providing suitably invert/rotated views so life is good… no mentally flipping the chart view like we used to have to do! Goto is nice, but you lose the connection and the context of what you’re looking for/at. More satisfaction when the object you’re after suddenly appears where you expect it to be.

 

peter

[Muc]

My bug standard 9x50 RACI and Stellarium on the phone have massively changed my time manually hunting the sky. On the rare occasions I don't succeed in finding the target, I'm still having a great time

[Spile]

I also like the app and RACI pair for star hopping. https://astro.catshill.com/finding-dim-objects/

[Guest]

I started with a RACI then added a laser, then went to a setting circle and angle gauge.  Now i hardly use the RACI or laser.  

[bomberbaz]

1 hour ago, Mike Q said:

I started with a RACI then added a laser, then went to a setting circle and angle gauge.  Now i hardly use the RACI or laser.  

Well I also use either a laser or rdf to get me close, the laser is more fun though.

I do also have the angle gauge too, really must give it a whirl sometime. 

I think the more things you try the better, just gives you something to fall back on. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, bomberbaz said:

Well I also use either a laser or rdf to get me close, the laser is more fun though.

I do also have the angle gauge too, really must give it a whirl sometime. 

I think the more things you try the better, just gives you something to fall back on. 

The setting circle and angle gauge make finding stuff easy.   It is like GPS for your scope.  I like the laser too.  People ask what are you looking at and you press the button and say that. 

[bomberbaz]

14 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

The setting circle and angle gauge make finding stuff easy.   It is like GPS for your scope.  I like the laser too.  People ask what are you looking at and you press the button and say that. 

I researched this method myself and it had been my intention to install one to my Taurus dob, however after listening to a respected members advice I decided to have the makers install a DSC. To be fair the setting circle and gauge are basically diy DSC, just a lot lower tech and more importantly a lot cheaper.

[Guest]

The catch to making setting circles work, digital or otherwise all depends on how accurately you align everything.  Mine is a fixed circle so I have to get zero pointed as close to true north as possible.  I am usually inside of one degree one way or the other.  Now with this said I have a full on go to on order at this time.  So eventually i will have to learn how to do that too. 

[bomberbaz]

1 hour ago, Mike Q said:

The catch to making setting circles work, digital or otherwise all depends on how accurately you align everything.  Mine is a fixed circle so I have to get zero pointed as close to true north as possible.  I am usually inside of one degree one way or the other.  Now with this said I have a full on go to on order at this time.  So eventually i will have to learn how to do that too. 

Done that before with  a SW !" flextube Mike, still have a goto mount but I am using for solar only plus my mini imaging rig.

I won't go big goto again but I would like a tracking platform for my DOB.  So many times recently it would have been great to have one but that's another story. 

[Guest]

I hear what you are saying.  

[Spile]

For me an app on a tablet and a RACI finder view are all I need to find my targets.

[bomberbaz]

13 hours ago, Spile said:

For me an app on a tablet and a RACI finder view are all I need to find my targets.

Wish I had made this revelation (to me) a little earlier, it will mean more use for the ED100.

I am actually moving my Telrad along as it will no longer gets used on the back of my RACI finding exploits. It had been stuck on my dob gathering dust.

[Alan White]

So do you have a picture of the new RACI fitted to your Dob Steve?

Be interested to see how it looks.

[bomberbaz]

10 hours ago, Alan White said:

So do you have a picture of the new RACI fitted to your Dob Steve?

Be interested to see how it looks.

I will put a picture up next time it gets used (looks at weather forecast) although it's unlikely to be very soon. 

It's last outing was on the side of the Sky-Tee 2 with the ED100 on the other side and a RDF on the centre one.