Helpful Video

xelasnave · #1 14-03-2019, 09:13 AM

I thought to post this as beginners may find it useful for selecting viewing targets.https://youtu.be/7d5ANwI-Ws0

Alex

JeniSkunk (Jenifur) · #2 14-03-2019, 10:40 AM

I'm trying to think how that video, full of great astrophotography images, could be useful to a beginner, stuck in the serious light pollution of urban areas.
How do you find targets like those, when due to light pollution you can't see them with your naked eyes, to line up your scope on their general area? To my thinking, answering that question would be far more useful to a beginner.

xelasnave · #3 14-03-2019, 11:04 AM

Hi Jenifur
You are correct.
I notice that when in Sydney I have great difficulty finding most objects whereas in a dark location I have no problem.
I dont onow what to suggest to be honest.
Maybe someone else has some ideas that can help.

Alex

sil (Steve) · #4 15-03-2019, 09:52 AM

Guesswork really, dont have a tracking setup to use, am stuck with dslr on tripod. i use a trigger grip ball head for easier pointing and adjusting position. Using SkySafari on phone I find the major stars in the sky around what i want to shoot, use binoculars to see more detail. zooming in on phone to my target i try to look for a star pattern close/adjacent to my target, thentry finding that in the sky. usually by triangulation. using both I try to narrow down to something like" its in line with stars X & Y about 1.5x distance as the gap between X & Y. The I try to get camera pointed at that bit of space, if the stars are bright enough i can use live view to position quicker. Then I take a single test shot and zoom in to see if i can find the grouping close to my target, when i'm confident its in shot i can start taking subs. Comets are usually too dim to see in a single sub on camera certainly not by eye but still this approach works. Planning and patience. With a dob style scope its all about star hopping, and a tracking got, get balance correct and use the best refinable star alignment options your mount supports. Plus make certain things meant to be done uptight really are. When using and seting up any gear NEVER say "its close enough" at any step ALWAYS take your time and get everything as perfect as you can, dont use excuses to be lazy, you wont get your target behaving that way.

ChrisV (Chris) · #5 15-03-2019, 11:48 AM

Some great images in that video Alex.

I don't see the problem with Alex pointing out this video for AP beginners. As Steve says, with a camera and widefield lens I just point, hope, then verify a single shot. Also, most of the images on the video would require a telescope, rather than wide field with a camera. In that case you surely wouldn't be relying on eyeball identification of location for AP. You'd be using a GOTO mount with various forms of software to point your scope at the right spot - otherwise, fat chance of finding anything.

xelasnave · #6 15-03-2019, 12:38 PM

Hi Chris
I dont use goto to find anything☺
Cause I was out each and every night in the early days I got to know where most stuff was simply by running into it when cruising around.
If in the bush I can look at the spot I am after and line the scope up like I am playing pool☺. It is surprising how good you get at it...I have told the story many times but here I go again...I wanted to observe the Ring Nebula so I looked at my star chart ..looked up...mmm aboit there...yes that will do...and there it was..not in the center but in the field of view with a 1200 mm refractor...cant remember the ep but probably around 20mm...but in the city it just looks so different..I have trouble finding easy stuff there.

I spent years night afyer night searching with binos for a glow or a darkness and then investigating with a scope...I knew where stuff was but never knew most of the names☺ but you end up wandering atound like its a big city.
Alex

ChrisV (Chris) · #7 15-03-2019, 05:10 PM

You're better than me Alex.
I do a very, very careful polar alignment.
But then just a rough as guts star align. Or even just use last alignment.
Then the rest is plate solving

xelasnave · #8 15-03-2019, 06:35 PM

I am using Polemaster with the HEQ5 now that I have one.
But still lne up objects like a pool shot☺ although I have recently added a finder scope which is handy☺.
I have loaded a plate solving program on the Lappy but have not tried it out yet...but it will be handy when I start looking for new objects.
Alex

Startrek (Martin) · #9 15-03-2019, 09:26 PM

For accurate goto on your HEQ5 try Ascom / EQMOD , Stellarium or CDC
I’ve been using Stellarium since day one and it’s a real time saver
Once you get your first star lined up and sync’d I just leap frog from star to star to get close to your target then click on your target
9 times out of ten it ends up very close to being framed up ready to capture only a minor tweak usually
I use BYEOS which is fantastic for my DSLR
Whole goto process initially from SCP to object target only takes a few minutes
Cheers

xelasnave · #10 16-03-2019, 01:44 PM

Hi Jenifur...

I have been thinking about how to help.
I expect you have star charts and apps etc but have a look at this utube video...it is one of many but you may find it helpful for findi g objects....particularly if you have a printed out widefield photo handy...there are many vids for finding objects ...personally I like the approach.
https://youtu.be/5M3F4jUorCk

Alex

JeniSkunk (Jenifur) · #11 18-03-2019, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I have been thinking about how to help.
I expect you have star charts and apps etc but have a look at this YouTube video...it is one of many but you may find it helpful for findi g objects....particularly if you have a printed out widefield photo handy...there are many vids for finding objects ...personally I like the approach.
https://youtu.be/5M3F4jUorCk

I use Stellarium, Sky Safari, on my 10.1inch Android tablet, and a compass app, and a bubble level app, on my Android phone, and Stellarium on my PCs. The phone has gyroscope and magnetic compass sensors, whereas the tablet doesn't, so I use the phone for lining up the alt/az on the scope.
I prefer Stellarium for looking for targets, due to it being able to simulate the impact of light pollution.
Sky Safari is more like a planisphere in that it cannot filter out a lot of stuff you simply cannot see with the naked eyes, when you have light pollution, for lining up your scope.
Currently, my area of Brisbane is around Bortle 8, so there's a lot of stuff I can't see with my naked eyes to line my red dot finder up on.

In the YouTube video you linked to, you get to see a bit of a chart at the 53 to 57 seconds mark.
Checking it against Stellarium, you have to rotate that map image anti-clockwise by 90 degrees, to get it to Australian current.
You'll need to be looking approx South-East, and about 27 degrees up, at about 11PM AEST to roughly line up on where it is.

xelasnave · #12 18-03-2019, 07:14 PM

Wow Jenifur you are way ahead of me☺ so I guess all you need is a dark site☺
You would kill it in the bush I bet.
If you have a tent you are more than welcome at my dark site...
Alex

JeniSkunk (Jenifur) · #13 19-03-2019, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Wow Jenifur you are way ahead of me

Hardly.
My little scope has no alt or az scales marked on it, so I needed to figure out how to be able to measure those for comparing where the scope was pointing, in comparison to the data on the target, in Stellarium and Sky Safari.
The phone sensors are good enough to get that job done. Which means it should also work for lining up the scope on a target I can't see with my naked eyes. Unfortunately with the storms Brisbane has at present, doing that has to wait.

Using a phone with the suitable sensors and apps, and a tablet with the appropriate apps, is a device combination any beginner should be able to make use of for lining up a scope on a target.
A tablet is nice and big for reading the info on. A phone is small enough for using on the scope itself to line things up.

Quote:

so I guess all you need is a dark site

I'd love to be able to get to and from a proper dark site, or even just somewhere that's Bortle 4 or 5.
I had to hunt up the info on Google to learn why I could see so little with my own eyes. It's why I now know about the Bortle scale, and its impact, all too well.

Quote:

You would kill it in the bush I bet.
If you have a tent you are more than welcome at my dark site...

No drivers license, so I'd need transport to and from any real dark site.
I use a rollator walker to help me get around due to arthritis in knees and ankles. Even when folded up, the rollator pretty well completely fills the boot of a car. Then there's the chair I set up my scope on, and the scope itself (you can see both in the pic on all my posts), which would fill the back seat of the car.
The arthritis makes it impossible to get down low enough for using camping stuff, so a tent and camping bed is out.

xelasnave · #14 19-03-2019, 12:54 PM

I popped back in at the right time☺.
I use a similar walker if going shopping but fortunately my legs are getting much better such I can manage with just a stick.

I got me a shooting stick which you can use as a chair when you find you just cant stand anymore.

I tried to motorise a walker with a little platform to stand on ..a poor mans Segway☺ but standing only about five inches off the ground I could not handle so it was never used.

I am looking at putting hub motors in my wheelchair one day..in expectaion of the day coming where I may need it more.

I will work on how to get you to a dark site somehow...of course it will rain then☺ but the lady who lives at my other place travels to Brisbane so maybe she could help but it will be at least a month before I see her... she may have a room whereas I stay with my daughter and sleep in the lounge room so there is no space there.

Alex

JeniSkunk (Jenifur) · #15 24-03-2019, 09:55 PM

We have clear skies here in my part of Brisbane tonight, so I gave my idea of using my cellphone a go.
Right idea, but the compass app only displays whole degrees, so I couldn't properly line up the azimuth.
Altitude worked better, I was pretty well on target. The spirit level app was jumping between .2 and .4 of a degree alt, and at the time, I needed .292, so I held it on .4 and hoped. With the 12mm eyepiece I was using, Spica was low in the eyepiece, but easily visible, and easy to centre on.