frustration frustration

[mark RD]

I'm getting a little frustrated trying to find new objects, I have had an interest in Astronomy for 20 years although I have done a lot of reading I never had a good enough telescope to see very much, up till now.

Last night I took my 80mm rich Field out. Seeing conditions where reasonable maybe 6/10, Set my laptop up with Stary night pro 5 first attempt at M57 The Ring nebula.

I found Lyra without too much difficulty. I took out a 32mm 10mm and 2 x barlow giving me magnifications of 12.5x 25x 40x 80x I used the 32mm for my searching. I spent about half an hour trying to find the ring but found nothing. Next stop was M103 then M76 had no luck with then either ended up looking at double cluster then ( which I can find ) packed up and went in. One the plus side I leared the constellation Lyra

RD

[GordonCopestake]

I think we've all experienced this. One of the reasons GOTO systems sell so well.

[FLO]

Those 80mm refractors are sometimes refered to as 'one hour scopes' ... after one hour, you run out of targets!

[mark RD]

Looks like its going to be clear tonight will try again with the 127mm. However I think its the user not the scope at fault

RD

[lunator]

Mark

M57 can be tricky in a small scope. You probably have seen it but it may have looked like an out of focus star.

Can you boost your magnification a bit higher say x100-120

If you aim your scope in the middle of Gamma & Beta and move it slight southwards M57 should appear and a grey disc.

Using my 8" scope and an 18mm Orthoscopic eyepice I have a True FOV od about 2/3 of a degree this is wide enough for M57 to appear in the eyepiece if I aim the scope this way.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Ian

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

I found it so frustrating trying to find objectswhen I first went out, even when you know pretty well where they're meant to be it's still a task to actual nail the target. I ended up buying a GO-TO scope so that I could find pretty much anything once it was aligned, and I can then either continue with the go-to or line up my other scope on the same bearing and find it that way. It's alright for people to say 'learn the sky' but that's only part of the problem. Even if you know to within a degree where the target is, it may need such a high magnification to make it out that you can still miss it in that 1 degree area. I sympathise with you.

[Astroman]

M57 is very small in the EP. It's one of the things that makes finding new stuff difficult-you don't know what to expect. M57 is, I think the second or third smallest object on Sir Chuck's list!

[mark RD]

switched to the 5ich refractor took me the better part of half an hour with a 15mm E P ( 80X ) but I have found M57 I think a good part of the problem is light pollution in my area, needed to use averted vision and blink quite often to see it ( I know it sounds funny but it works )

RD

[Kain]

Took me about 3 weeks to find M57..and about a month to find M27

Your not alone mate

Kain

[mark RD]

Thanks for your kind words people. Im not giving up so easy

RD

[G1ZmO]

I had a lot of difficulty finding things with my dob before I bought a TELRAD

I cannot recommend it enough! I have found that, with a few charts, it makes finding lots of targets EASY!

The best 40 quid I ever spent

[gsjag]

Found M57 first time. Used a 32mm ep and just told the scope to take me there and there it was, right in the middle of the view. Beautiful object and one that I now visit regularly. How smug am I? Well done that ETX!

Keep looking, its worth it I promise you!

[FLO]

Well done that ETX!

Thats how I got my first view of M57 - courtesy of my ETX105

[mark RD]

Well done that ETX!

Thats how I got my first view of M57 - courtesy of my ETX105

well I managed it without

RD

[gsjag]

Think how much easier it would have been with Steve's £299 ETX though! That is a bargin Steve I must say. Surprised if you haven't sold that.

Well done for finding '57 by yourself though Mark! I take the path of least resistance every time

[FLO]

It is still available:

http://tinyurl.com/plkyk

[mark RD]

tempting but I enjoy the hunt

RD

[FLO]

I know where you are coming from. After a year of using GOTO, I realised that I had seen loads but still didn't know my way around the sky so, I boxed up the ETX and bought a Dobsonian. It has worked! I am better at finding my way around. However, in all honesty, if I could only have one scope, I'd want it on a GOTO mount...

[SteelRat]

Patience patience patience be the key. Don't scan to quickly - like has been said, you've probably seen it already and missed it. Its in a great place for finding it - slap bang between y and b. Low mag to start and just wait for the less bright but largest object to stand out. Works ok in my 80mm. And make sure your eyes are VERY VERY VERY dark adapted. Try sticking a hood over your head or something. It'll be worth the trouble and the hunt IS a lot of fun - though if a GOTO went beggin I probly wouldn't say no. Saw the Snowball the other week. Surely I must've looked in that part of the sky many times before and never new what I had been looking at... till I took my time. Best of luck.

[gsjag]

Interesting. For me the "goto" system has helped me find my way around unguided. I think this is because I have so much trouble making head or tail of planispheres (the Philips one I just brought is so shiny you can't see what's on it), that having the "goto" system showing me some key points in the sky, I have been able to piece together many of the other points of interest. My knowledge of the night sky is increasing all the time. Today, thanks to Gordon, I have found Stellarium, a freeware planetarium which is just fantastic and so easy to use. It has already confirmed a couple of constellations I was still unsure of and I am just so pleased.

So there you are. Loving the "goto" and now loving the Stellarium program as well.

BTW I hear on the grapevine that Meade are losing money and the share price is almost in free fall, but maybe that another topic altogether....

[The Warthog]

I was looking for the Ring last night. I have seen it many times, and I know where it is, but in my crappy skies it just won't come out. In August, under mag 6 skies, I put my 8mm ep in (94x) and put the scope right on it. Couldn't find it last night to save my life. I did find M31, but it was just a grey smudge. It should be bright, but the LP is such that everything suffers in the ep.

[GazOC]

I can second Gizmos "Telrad" suggestion, you still get the satisfaction of having found the objects yourself but it makes it a damn site easier. More often not I don't even bother putting an optical finder on my scopes anymore.

[GordonCopestake]

i keep meaning to look into the telrad finder. i like rdf's and have used them to great effect with my refractors

[SteelRat]

That Telrad does sound good. I am a pretty crummy starhopper though - point and shoot is my thing aided by my trusty 8x30 bins - would it take me a while to master using one? My skies aren't too poluted by streetlamp population but I have my nemesis in the one streetlight over my neighbours fence which makes things a challenge.

[GazOC]

They are easy to use, the have concentric circles of 4,2,and 1 degrees (IIRC) all you need to know is roughly how many "jumps" and in what direction from the nearest bright star the object is.