Beginner Star Hopping

Been observing for quite a while with binoculars at most of the popular
night sky objects, constellations and planets. Ive been hopping around
following some easy guides with reasonable success but now I have a
telescope its a whole different ball game!

Its a reflector so theres a back to front and upside down thing to get used
to, which is fine, but how specifically do more experienced observers star
hop?
Do you look through the viewfinder, hop around and locate the object this
way or do you tend to move around whilst looking through a wide field of
view eyepiece?

I'm guessing this may be where I need to get a decent star chart that shows
much more detail than I am used to looking at.

"AB" wrote in message
...

Been observing for quite a while with binoculars at most of the popular
night sky objects, constellations and planets. Ive been hopping around
following some easy guides with reasonable success but now I have a
telescope its a whole different ball game!

Its a reflector so theres a back to front and upside down thing to get
used to, which is fine, but how specifically do more experienced observers
star hop?
Do you look through the viewfinder, hop around and locate the object this
way or do you tend to move around whilst looking through a wide field of
view eyepiece?

I'm guessing this may be where I need to get a decent star chart that
shows much more detail than I am used to looking at.



Hi AB,

When star hopping I usually navigate to a naked eye star using the
finder. Then, using a laptop and some sky chart software
( I have the basic Celestron application and Carte du Ciel ) - I set the sky
chart up to give slightly larger FOV than my scope and adjust the max mag to
show whatever the current seeing condition are. So now the chart looks just
like the view through your scope. That way you can move along the path from
your start point to your target without getting lost. If you can't work out
where in the sky you are go back to the start. It's quite easy really and
loads of fun.

I use an eq mount - so I find it easier to find a starting point that is
either similar dec or ra to my target - that way you only have to move one
axis.

Its a great way to find fizzies, which aren't always easy to find directly.

Hope that helps

Marc

Hi AB,
A few years back I wrote an article on star hopping (my specialty!):
http://www.astrobuysell.com/paul/starhop.htm

Regards,
Paul.