Point and hope?

[sammy1404]

With my scope arriving tomorow I was just wandering, does pointing and hoping work? With manual scopes like mine surely it can be a good idea every now and then? With thousands of viewable objects surely if you just nudge the scope randomly you'll find something right? I'm not saying I'm going to rely on that and have already studied th skies with my eyes and binos and I just saw the Orion nebula and Jupiter last week. But does it work to point and hope?

Thanks

[oldfruit]

Hi , sometimes it is better to plan what you want to observe and you can do this by downloading stellarium from the net and it is free, or you can buy a star atlas. Stellarium is a free planetarium programme that shows you what stars are visible from your location any time and at any time of the year.

You can point and hope and you will probably come acroos some nice stars and clusters etc but i have found great satisfaction on setting out to find an object and finding it myself.

[Moonshane]

hi Sammy,

I'd call this 'scanning the heavens'. It's how my wife most enjoys observing, just put in your widest field eyepiece and scan around until you see something nice. Try and work out where you are and hey presto you find objects all the time. Personally though I get more satisfaction from setting out with a series of targets and finding them over an evening. Each to their own and good luck with your observing!

[Cloudwatcher]

Try taking a visual trip down the Milky Way.......... loads of interesting sights swim into view........ great fun and educational as well!

[BazMark]

I have evenings when I go out with my scope and a pair of 10x50 bins. I scour the skies with my bins till I find something that appears a little different then train my scope on it. Then check with 'Stellarium' (the free planetarium software) to see what I've found. My scope is on a GoTo mount but I haven't used it for ages.

[umadog]

Just sweeping around the sky can certainly work if you have a sufficiently low power and wide field of view. If not, you're unlikely to spot the interesting stuff.

[tuc]

Just sweeping around the sky can certainly work if you have a sufficiently low power and wide field of view. If not, you're unlikely to spot the interesting stuff.

Not always. I miraculously `discovered` NGC 7008 last summer by scanning outside of Cygnus with an 11 mm Nagler. At first I thought it was a comet, but adding an O111 and looking again cancelled that dream.

That was a fluke though, and usually I too get more satisfaction out of a planned observing session. Still fun to find it like that though.

[umadog]

Of course not always! Thanks for the info, I haven't seen that object yet.

I remember as a 10 year old I saw the double double for the first time and excitedly thought I'd discovered something new until I found it on the star chart. Looking back on it, I don't know why I assumed it was a "new" object. I suppose being new to me was enough.

[stolenfeather]

After a planned viewing, I do this often. I call it being "lost in the stars". Like life, sometimes you prefer to simply go off the beaten road and float aimlessly. Why not?

I remember when my relationship with my telescope was very young and I stumbled across Saturn!

Imagine that,.. the third time ever with my telescope and seeing,.. seeing,.. something I knew so well! I screamed and starting jumping up and down. I'm sure my neighbours thought I had completely lost it.

Now, after many years, I'm sure my neighbours are quite sure that I am indeed crazy.

Isabelle

[LukeSkywatcher]

I most often scan the skies with my widest EP (30mm) and just enjoy the views while doing it. When i spot something of interest i increase the magnification bit by bit until i have a nice view of the object.

[Nexus 6]

Hi Sammy,

I like to find objects by using my bins or with the scope unpowered. I think that as one gains more exsperience this is a great way to view the night sky, it is still so interesting to observe familiar objects, mostly due to changable conditions, seeing/transparency, from one session to the next as the views can be quite dramatic on a good night. Sweeping the skies for anything of interest is something I am sure is about to change for me, I am due to start using a new set of 20x90 bins which I will be taking to a nearby dark sky location.

Clear skies

Alan