La Palma is an excellent place to hone one's observing skills. I am definitely a better observer now than I was before the trip. DSO are so bright that a quick look is obviously not enough. Prolonged studying reveals more and more detail, and the active use of different degrees of averted vision brings immediate rewards. Strongly averted vision for the most tenuous light at the edges of galaxies and large interstellar clouds of nebulosity, very slightly averted vision for the minuscule details in planetary nebulae. Changing magnification makes dramatic changes in the view, and only experimentation can show how far you can go. Add slight movements of the telescope and allow objects to drift in the field of view, and you can see a lot!
Inge is an excellent mentor in this respect. He finds tens of objects per night (including objects new to him) without a map, or with maps memorized, which works best with large aperture and dark skies. He shares eyepiece time of his optically excellent Portaball generously! He never asked 'Do you see the dark lane' or 'Can you see the hole in the middle', he most often asked the same question: 'What do you see?' That is exactly the question any observer should ask him- or herself again and again. It immediately triggers active looking, studying, scrutinizing. And when you are reasonably sure that you have seen all you could see, it's time to relax and enjoy the synthetic view at the best magnification found. For example, to try to see all the five galaxies of Stephan's Quintet at the same time. Or to soak all the detail of M42 without loosing the whole huge loop of nebulosity.
Dmitri
Inge is an excellent mentor in this respect. He finds tens of objects per night (including objects new to him) without a map, or with maps memorized, which works best with large aperture and dark skies. He shares eyepiece time of his optically excellent Portaball generously! He never asked 'Do you see the dark lane' or 'Can you see the hole in the middle', he most often asked the same question: 'What do you see?' That is exactly the question any observer should ask him- or herself again and again. It immediately triggers active looking, studying, scrutinizing. And when you are reasonably sure that you have seen all you could see, it's time to relax and enjoy the synthetic view at the best magnification found. For example, to try to see all the five galaxies of Stephan's Quintet at the same time. Or to soak all the detail of M42 without loosing the whole huge loop of nebulosity.
Dmitri
