Starmap, DSO map dewshield

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #1 21-05-2006, 06:01 PM

What to do when the weather turns bad? Turn your ETX into a mini-Questar by making a starmap dewshield for it. No longer do I have to worry about forgetting my starcharts. The little GOTO has everything I need right there, wrapped around the OTA. Extend the dewshield and I have a map of over 500 double stars listed by their SAO number (Ving take note), extend it further and I have every DSO listed in Hartung that is observable from my latitude.

Jealous?

janoskiss (Steve H) · #2 21-05-2006, 11:52 PM

Sure looks the part. Try it out under the stars yet?

iceman (Mike) · #3 22-05-2006, 06:15 AM

That's a fantastic idea, well done! Looks great.

ving (David) · #4 22-05-2006, 03:19 PM

I love it when my name pops up, i get such a big head!!!

very interesting idea

do they come in 8"

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #5 22-05-2006, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ving

I love it when my name pops up, i get such a big head!!!

very interesting idea

do they come in 8"

Ving, Ving, Ving, Ving, Ving, Ving.....

I'm working on it, David, something similar for my dob. Mainly useful only if you've got something like an Argo Navis preloaded with SAOs, I would have thought. (Picture me polishing my fingernails on my lapel.) I've got a similar A3 chart of double stars though, if you want to try that.

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #6 23-05-2006, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janoskiss

Sure looks the part. Try it out under the stars yet?

I tried it out night before last, Steve. No problems at all. (And no dew, either!)

I've had the charts for a while, they make it easy to hop from one object to the next closest. Much more detail than a planisphere, and it has the advantage of not having to look at it with your neck craned backwards. I usually start with the furthest north and work my way southwards, SYNCing on each one as I go. I never lose alignment that way, and GOTOs remain very accurate all the way across the sky. The main problem is perhaps psychological, in that I sometimes neglect to spend enough time simply looking at some objects. Also, 5-10 % of SAO stars on my list aren't in the Autostar's database. (A good argument for Meade to add flash memory to it.)

Cheers,

Brian.