Re: My thoughts about go-to

Started by Herbert Kraus, 07/27/2006 01:27AM
Posted 07/27/2006 01:27AM Opening Post
In expressing these opinions about "go-to" observing in this forum for beginners, has anyone pointed out that searching for deep-sky celestial objects by star-hopping, a method preferred by many seasoned observers, is not nearly as workable in the polluted urban and suburban skies available to most of us as at dark sky sites? If someone has already mentioned this, forgive this redundance. In my home skies, for example, I can see few stars fainter than 2nd magnitude; and if I were a beginner and not someone who's memorized the appearance of most constellations in my skies many years ago, star-hopping would be of limited value to me.

NexStar 8i SCT, Orion 80ED APO refractor, Orion 120 mm EQ refractor, 3.5-inch Questar
Posted 07/27/2006 01:47AM #1
Herb, that's THE MAIN REASON I got GOTO...
It simply got too be too much trouble finding DSOs due to heavy LP in my area... GOTO has allowed me to ENJOY my skies... (my 2 previous scopes were PUSH-TOs) wink

Ivan Gastaldo 8)
Coconut Creek, FL

Ivan's Observatory
Lat 26N 16' 48" Long 80W 10' 48"
[COLOR="Red"]Personal Website:[/COLOR] http://www.ivangastaldo.com

CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky - Moderator
I like to complain about everything - Moderator
Posted 07/27/2006 04:41PM #2
Hi Greg,
Have you owned many Go-To scopes?

[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue grin
Amateur Imager
Posted 07/27/2006 05:16PM #3
Do you have any statistics? how many broken scopes versus how many working scopes? any particular models? (mechanics/electronics WILL eventually break, same as your computer, TV, toaster, car... but we don't go around saying they are not reliable...)

All I've seen in the LX-200 & LX-200GPS Forums are a VERY small amount of people complaining compared to the total number of users...


Clear skies to all!


Ivan Gastaldo 8)
Coconut Creek, FL

Ivan's Observatory
Lat 26N 16' 48" Long 80W 10' 48"
[COLOR="Red"]Personal Website:[/COLOR] http://www.ivangastaldo.com

CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky - Moderator
I like to complain about everything - Moderator