Technology and Observing Programs

Hello, all,
I am wondering how the new observing technologies, including DSC's
and go-to, have affected our observing programs.
This topic came to mind because I am starting a Binocular Messier
Certificate program of the Astronomical League. . Since I live in the
city and will be doing some of the observing of the 50 required objects
from there, I will be using my 15 x 70 Oberwerk binoculars. This should
be much easier than using the 7 x 50's or even the 11 x 80's
contemplated in the program, since magnification is so important in
detecting many of these objects. It's pretty obvious from the AL web
site that the availability and popularity of inexpensive good quality
binoculars of the 15 x 70 type was not contemplated when the program was
designed. I would use my excellent Sky Window with the binoculars except
that I find I can't fuse the mirror image of the stars it provides. A
limitation of mine, not of the Sky Commander device.
Issue #41 of Amateur Astronomy, a fine magazine uncluttered by
glossy ads or reviews of the products of major advertisers, has a
wonderful article by Paul B. Jones on Marathons, describing his first
Messier Marathon, undertaken with two friends. As he recounts his many
adventures during the marathon expedition, I notice that some were
found with binoculars, and most were found by starhopping. But a few,
such as a strangely elusive M14, had to be found by resort to analog
setting circle offset from other objects, in this case M10. His setting
circles were small, so using them no doubt involved a good deal of
skill.
With better and better technology becoming available, including
digital circles for Dob and go-to for Dobs, as well as for other scopes,
finding the Messier objects, or the Herschels or the Best 100, or
whatever, becomes an order of magnitude easier. Jones actually completed
the marathon with 110 objects on his first try, catching M30 with just a
minute or so to spare. It t was apparent that he wouldn't have made it
in time unless he had used the setting circles for some objects.
Fine with me. that the searches become easier. If I did a Messier
marathon, I would probably use two, not necessarily contiguous, nights
for it, perhaps one in the early spring and the other in the late fall.
or one in the summer and one in the winter. This would spare me a lot of
fatigue. But if I did try it in one night, I would likely use my Sky
Commander push-to dsc's on my 11 Dob. That would be a lot easier than
using say a 4 inch refractor and star hopping, but each is a valid
approach.
It does seem to me though that star hopping is not as purist an
approach as many appear to think. People have always star hopped to some
extent, , but the technique came into prominence with the advent of
Dobs, which had given up the advantages of equatorially mounted scopes
in finding objects. The old equatorially mounted scopes used analog
circles, often large enough to be very useful, and star hopping was
mainly a supplement used when you were already looking at an object
quite close the to the next object you wanted to see. But right angle
offset and other methods using circles, especially if the circles were
clock driven, were very common, as examination of Edmund's Mag 5 Atlas
for example, will recall to mind.
I myself don't feel very called upon to find objects the hard way.
It is a great luxury and convenience to find them using the Sky
Commander DSC's. But once I have done that a few times, I become able to
find them just by pointing with the Telrad or my green laser finder,
two more technological innovations that have changed amateur astronomy.
I star hop only when for some reason the other methods don't seem to be
working.
Computerized planetarium programs are another innovation that makes
a program like the Herschels much less intimidating, I would think. With
TheSky, the program I use, I can zoom in to get almost any level of
detail in a star field if I need to do so to indentify an object. A lot
more objects and a lot more starfield detail is available on TheSky than
the Antonin Becvar Skalnate Pleso Atlases that guided the development of
some of these Al programs, and which I own.
As a result of these technological improvements, though, informal
and formal observing certificate programs become something of a
metaphor, or a free-form artistic creation, rather than an algorithmic
procedure. With go-to on a sizable scope, it might be difficult fail to
complete, or almost complete, a Messier marathon.. I guess it might be
fun to find everything by star hopping.
I have star hopped for years, so I know much of the sky reasonably
well and can find lots of the Messiers and other popular objects simply
by pointing the Telrad or laser finder.. What the new DSC technology
does for me is reduce the challenge of finding objects, , and now poses
the new challenge of actually observing the objects well and
appreciating them more. I like the new challenge more..
As for using the larger binoculars to do t he Messier Binocular
Certificate, or a similar informal program, it is less of a challenge
than with 7 x 50's, but I will do it with the 15 x 70's anyway since I
like the views better in the latter.
How have these newer technologies affected your own observing
programs? I would be interested to hear.
Clear skies,
Bill Meyers