I BEAT A GOTO!

Last night at a Star Party there was a guy there who just bought a Meade LX
200 14". Now lets get something streight. He is using this telescope for CCD
imaging so in that case GOTO is moral. For deep sky observing it is not. So
I don't hate this guy like I hate deep sky observers with goto. This was
first light for the telescope. So he was testing the gps goto and the
optics. In other words having fun just dicking around.
He said I am going to have it point to M 13. I said I will race you. Now I
had my dob out with Telrad only. I pointed it to the horizon for a fair
starting point. I said I am going to take out the 32mm and put in a 15 mm
eyepeice to add to the challenge. So I put in the 15 mm and said ready. He
pushed the go button. Well I love challenges so I gave him a head start.
After he pushed the go button and the LX200 was off to find M 13 with its
wake up the dead ice cream maker noise. I counted 1 GO VOLS!, 2 GO VOLS!, 3
GO VOLS!, 4 GO VOLS!, and 5 GO VOLS! to give him a head start. I then sprang
into action. I looked up and located the keystone of hercules. I then
pointed my trusty telrad in the correct spot. I looked in the 15 mm eyepiece
and there was M 13 dead center. I said found it. The LX 200 was still moving
at a slow snail pace towards M 13. 10 seconds after I found M 13 it found
it.

The moral of this story is if you learn the sky well you won't need goto or
DSC because you can star hop faster. Yes folks star hopping is more
productive.

Shawn Grant:
... I hate deep sky observers with goto...
You hate? Like Usama Bin Laden, Mullah Pat Robertson, and Usama Bin
Falwell hate?

I said I will race you...
To prove what?

The moral of this story...
Bzzzzzzt! No moral here.

Next weekend is a three-day weekend. Try to use the time to put
together some kind of a life for yourself.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

Shawn Grant:
... I hate deep sky observers with goto...
You hate? Like Usama Bin Laden, Mullah Pat Robertson, and Usama Bin
Falwell hate?

I said I will race you...
To prove what?

The moral of this story...
Bzzzzzzt! No moral here.

Next weekend is a three-day weekend. Try to use the time to put
together some kind of a life for yourself.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

Fantastic, what an accomplishment. I still can't seem to find this very,
very difficult deep sky object:-) Do you think you could find Mars faster
than a GOTO scope? Now that would really be an accomplishment:-)

Why don't you try some of the difficult located objects instead? Afraid of
losing to a GOTO scope?

Ok what about Stephen's Quentet? You name the object no mater how faint or
obscure I can find it faster then a goto.

Fantastic, what an accomplishment. I still can't seem to find this very,
very difficult deep sky object:-) Do you think you could find Mars faster
than a GOTO scope? Now that would really be an accomplishment:-)

Why don't you try some of the difficult located objects instead? Afraid of
losing to a GOTO scope?

Ok what about Stephen's Quentet? You name the object no mater how faint or
obscure I can find it faster then a goto.

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 10:03:59 -0400, "Shawn Grant"
wrote:

Ok what about Stephen's Quentet? You name the object no mater how faint or
obscure I can find it faster then a goto.

That's a ridiculous claim. Of course you can quickly center M13, a naked eye
object. But there are objects almost too dim to see that are very tough for
anyone to find by starhopping, and regions in Virgo so thick with objects that
even the most experienced starhoppers need a little time to figure out exactly
what they've got.

There's another way of looking at this, though. Let's just suppose for a minute
that you really can beat any goto mount out there. How long did it take you to
acquire this skill? How many hours at the eyepiece, improving your starhopping
skills? Take all that time and amortize it into your observing, and suddenly
you've spent a lot more time searching at the eyepiece than any goto scope has
spent slewing!

I didn't know it was a race, anyway. Some people just don't enjoy starhopping. I
don't know why you "hate" them and their "immoral" way of enjoying the sky in
their own way.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 10:03:59 -0400, "Shawn Grant"
wrote:

Ok what about Stephen's Quentet? You name the object no mater how faint or
obscure I can find it faster then a goto.

That's a ridiculous claim. Of course you can quickly center M13, a naked eye
object. But there are objects almost too dim to see that are very tough for
anyone to find by starhopping, and regions in Virgo so thick with objects that
even the most experienced starhoppers need a little time to figure out exactly
what they've got.

There's another way of looking at this, though. Let's just suppose for a minute
that you really can beat any goto mount out there. How long did it take you to
acquire this skill? How many hours at the eyepiece, improving your starhopping
skills? Take all that time and amortize it into your observing, and suddenly
you've spent a lot more time searching at the eyepiece than any goto scope has
spent slewing!

I didn't know it was a race, anyway. Some people just don't enjoy starhopping. I
don't know why you "hate" them and their "immoral" way of enjoying the sky in
their own way.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

"Jon Isaacs" skrev i en meddelelse
...

It would not be much of a challenge if you include the setup times in the
contest or even just alignment time...

That wasn't the original question. Besides cool down time is also a factor
as are a lot of other things.

But we all know Shawn the troll...

Personally I am not in any races with GOTO scopes, different strokes for
different folks...

That is also my view. By the way, I own both dob and GOTO scopes and like
both. Sometimes it's nice just to punch in the objects and just watch and
then just punch in the next. Other times it's nice and very satisfying to
hunt down the objects by your self. And almost all of my favorite objects I
can find at no time with the dob.

In my view, adding GOTO to my scope is like adding a motor to my bicycle.
I
would miss out on the fun and the challenge. Seeing the sights along the
way,
exercising my mind and body, looking at what is there regardless of
whether it
has a name or not....

You are right, but then again it depends on what you use your bike for! Some
use a bike just for the fun of riding it, while other just use it for
transport and don't see it as anything else. I bet most of them would like
an added motor:-) The same probably goes for scopes and the choice of GOTO.

People race bicycles, not telescopes....

Anyway, that's the way it SHOULD be


Peter M


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"Jon Isaacs" skrev i en meddelelse
...

It would not be much of a challenge if you include the setup times in the
contest or even just alignment time...

That wasn't the original question. Besides cool down time is also a factor
as are a lot of other things.

But we all know Shawn the troll...

Personally I am not in any races with GOTO scopes, different strokes for
different folks...

That is also my view. By the way, I own both dob and GOTO scopes and like
both. Sometimes it's nice just to punch in the objects and just watch and
then just punch in the next. Other times it's nice and very satisfying to
hunt down the objects by your self. And almost all of my favorite objects I
can find at no time with the dob.

In my view, adding GOTO to my scope is like adding a motor to my bicycle.
I
would miss out on the fun and the challenge. Seeing the sights along the
way,
exercising my mind and body, looking at what is there regardless of
whether it
has a name or not....

You are right, but then again it depends on what you use your bike for! Some
use a bike just for the fun of riding it, while other just use it for
transport and don't see it as anything else. I bet most of them would like
an added motor:-) The same probably goes for scopes and the choice of GOTO.

People race bicycles, not telescopes....

Anyway, that's the way it SHOULD be


Peter M


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Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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On 24 Aug 2003 15:30:26 GMT, (Jon Isaacs) wrote:

On the other hand, those hours spent gaining that experience were not wasted
hours, such hours are joyful and happy, full of excitement and discovery.....

I didn't suggest that they were, although there's no reason to expect that
everyone would feel this way. But really, I was just pointing out the fallacy in
Shawn's effort to reduce it all to a question of time.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com