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Old 15-03-2014, 01:26 PM
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Amaranthus (Barry)
Thylacinus stargazoculus

Amaranthus is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Judbury, Tasmania
Posts: 1,203
I make consistent use of the observer lists in SkySafari Pro, and use this to guide my GOTO scope over the course of the evening. Incredibly convenient, and allows me to read up about the objects I'm using, cross check the starfield (it goes down to mag 15 stars) to make sure I've located my object, etc.

I also regularly do constellation tours. I typically pick a mix of bright, double and variable stars and DSOs from a high transiting constellation, and then work my way through them over the course of 1-3 nights (depending on the constellation). One fun way to do this is to work through EVERY object mentioned in Ridpath & Tirion's 'Stars and Planets'. Lots there to keep the visual observer busy!

I leave moonlit nights for my planetary observations, and some stellar/point source work (doubles, minor planets, etc.).
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