To goto or not to goto.....

[Jeff RV]

Horses for courses as the saying goes.

It's a go-to for me, I don't see any point in letting technology over take me, it'll win every time anyway eventually, It's just trying to keep up with it that's a bigger problem for me.

Jeff.

[asteria]

Hi there - there are benefits in both approaches. I've been using non-goto for a while and its been OK, but I think the type of tube is also relevant here.

If you are using a short focal length refractor with a wide field of view, goto is less relevant as you are looking at a bigger area of the sky and for all except the really small stuff it's easy to find things through the eyepiece.

If you have a long focal length instrument (MAK or Schmidt Cass) goto is potentially a great help as finding objects is more like a 'needle in a haystack job' with the small field of view and dimmer image.

Having said all that, I was under very dark skies earlier in the week (Penwith in Cornwall) with a short focal length refractor (ST80) and Celestron Nexstar goto and it was great - I managed to track down stuff I'd never seen in any scope, for example M65, M66 in Leo. OK, the images of the galaxies were tiny in a 26mm Plossl, but galaxies they were, very clearly so.

So it's partly the quality of the sky as well, a factor that is often not considered when we start out in the hobby. Whatever scope you have, goto or not, you are going to see more under a dark, clear, non light polluted sky with good transparency.

Ed

[michigander]

After 40+ years of doing things the hard way, I'm ready to 'take it easy'. I still get a warm glow of accomplishment; but it comes after I've lugged everything outside, set it up, found my first two stars, and the display says ALIGN SUCCESS!

[AWR]

When I bought my first scope a few months back I decided that I didn't want GOTO and so chose a 5" Mak on an EQ3-2 mount (portability was a big factor for me).

I wanted to learn more about the night sky. I wanted the challenge and reward of having spent time trying to find a difficult target. I get as much enjoyment from the hunt as I do from looking at the object. For example, I was really pleased the other day when I found the Clown Face nebula, whereas to look at it through a 5" scope in light polluted sky is not all that. It is a small blue-grey smudge.

I also wanted something that didn't need a power supply and did not have complicated electronics to go wrong. I like the fact that I can plonk the scope down, point it roughly north, and I'm ready of to go. (I have to carry my scope to where I view from). I don't have to do a one, two or three star align or worry about park settings!

However, these are reasons which are important to me, and your situation and aspirations may be completely different. I guess you've got to decide how you will actually use your scope. In the future I may buy a GOTO scope as my situation and aims change. I have just bought a proper finder scope and Quikfinder to help with locating.

Decide which you think you'll get the most use out of.

Andrew

[adamsp123]

I am in the minority here, it is goto for me, years ago when I was a nipper I did it the hard way, star atlas - setting circles etc. Now I am a grumpy old man it is goto for me, I wouldn't want to go back for a Million quid...well for a million I might!

But the hours of frustration years ago is replaced by minutes of frustration getting the goto to align properly.

But it does cost money a goto, but you still need to understand the night sky to get the best out of one.

my 2ps worth

Pizza

[Astrosurf]

As other people have said on here, I started with a 6" on an equatorial mount and no goto. When I found my first object it was a real thrill. Then I found Saturn and felt drunk on the experience! Plus the Andromeda galaxy. But As I tried to find other, fainter objects, I failed miserably (lack of experience and looking for objects too faint for my scope!) so decided for goto and a larger ota. It's been a hard slog trying to understand polar alignment but once I got it sorted and did the tour, I felt complete! I'm still having a few problems but generally find what I'm looking for.

I understand the feeling of achievement knowing where an object is and finding it yourself so I've decided to learn the constellations properly and try to memorise some key objects. It would be nice to know where the scope will be slewing to!

What about buying a scope on an eq mount that can be converted to goto at a later date? Is this financially viable?? Can this be done easily??

Alexxx

[philsail1]

"BenRichie",

"The flip-side of this is that a 10" GOTO (fork-mount SCT or GEM-mounted Newtonian) is a big bit of kit and a 12" is a two-man job for many people, whereas a 10" or 12" Dob is relatively easy to handle on your own - once it's split into base and OTA (10 seconds work) I can lug my 12" solid-tube Dob around the garden without too much effort. Trying to put it onto a GOTO GEM by myself would be right out."

You are perfectly correct there - it's an aspect I didn't consider, and when I think of it, I certainly have more difficulty fitting even my 8" Orion Newt to its mount than the Celestron C8 SCT.

Regards,

philsail1

[acey]

It's down to personal taste. I started with a hand-pushed dob and have stuck with that - together with a good star atlas it is, for me, the perfect set-up for visual deep-sky work. There's also the nice feeling that after a while you're starting to get better at it. The other night I star-hopped to where I reckoned a galaxy ought to be, looked through the medium-power eyepiece, and there it was, right in the centre of field. Satisfaction!

[vlebo]

I do not think the majority of amateur astronomers buy one scope and stop there. You will evolve with astronomy as you learn more and find out what you want from it, so you will probably add to your scope collection or sell and buy different scope as your interest grows or not , whichever the case may be.

Start with something easy to set up and uncomplicated so as not to put you off , with a large aperture like a 12" dob. Get yourself a Wixey digital angle gauge Misc’ - Wixey digital angle gauge and a free program for your pc like Stellarium and just get out there and see what you can see. Then as you progress and get more experience look into other equipment that may be more suitable for your developing interest , but you will not know what you want until you get experience and that comes from just getting under the sky and looking up at what is all around you.

Hope that helps

Vlebo