I know this has been beaten to death, but Charles' comments did stir my brain a bit. I've been in the hobby for 43 years. I have a Starmaster w/goto, a TV76 I use on a Gibraltor mount with Skytour DSCs and a Tak P2Z equatorial mount for starhopping. I don't see goto/DSC and starhopping as mutually exclusive. I like all three--depending on the mood, etc. I think having DSCs the past dozen years and goto the past 4-5 years has actually made my knowledge of the sky better, not worse. That said, I get great pleasure in taking my Sky Atlas and red flashlight outside and finding things by locating them in the Atlas and then find either the object or the background stars in the finderscope or at low power in my little refractor. Hey, I even enjoy using the mechanical setting circles--imagine that!
What do you think is best? This isn't a troll and I'll tell you right now, I do not think there is a right answer. For me, the object is to observe and I don't think it matters much how you get there--or maybe it does?
Randy
What do you think is best? This isn't a troll and I'll tell you right now, I do not think there is a right answer. For me, the object is to observe and I don't think it matters much how you get there--or maybe it does?
Randy
Randy Roy