I thought I would be an unlikely person to post about this topic having been at it for such a short time. But then I thought my experiences in the learning curve might be useful to others at my skill level, and maybe ellicit helpful comment from the old hands.
My star hops are usually confined in scope. No pun intended. I mean that my hops are not cross sky marathons.
The beginning for me was with the planisphere, the Jumbo Edition of Pocket Star Atlas, (which I purchased a month or so after I began to use the planisphere), my Pentax 8X43 binoculars, and my
ES 80mm telescope.
I would scan the sky with my binoculars in the area of my planisphere view. I believe the first time I did this was shortly after I had viewed M6 and M7 in Scorpius by accident. I saw on the planisphere the indicators for M8, M20, and M17.
I opened the Pocket Star Atlas and with the help of a small flashlight over which I had taped some red cellophane I studied the area. This is on page 67 of this atlas and my copy is fastooned with notes and checkmarks.
I used the stub of a pencil to mark off distances, and as I studied the overall field I realized the orientation of the atlas did not quite coincide with the actual bino view. I made a mental note of this. I thought through as best I could what the measure of my bino
fov was and how that related to the area I was targeting. The Pentax have a 6.3°
fov. Then I had to think through how to translate hour angle nomenclatur to degrees. I did not really need to think about this because there was a standard of angle measure printed on the inside cover of the atlas. But it was still good to think about it. This is old hat now, but then it was all new to me. I tore a small piece of paper to approximate the
fov of my binoculars using the guide on the inside cover of the atlas and covered the atlas view with this to get some sort of idea of what should fill this view. I made many trips back and forth from binoculars to red light and atlas in the back of my van. I could feel an understanding growing. Then I thought through the same things with the
fov of my telescope and the
EP I was going to use.
The result is the following report which I posted in 2017 on AF under the alias "Eagleheaf".
After setting up I went back to the Binos to let my scope cool. I continued to be amazed at the look of the Milky Way. In about 20 minutes I was on the EP with my eye on M7. My idea was to practice navigation again. M7 to M6. Easy I know. I could see so well I could have stood behind the scope and looked over the top to point at these two. I wanted to see the new fuzzy I had seen in the Binos west of M24. On the chart I measured it roughly 13 degrees north of M6 and about 2.5 degrees East. With the TV22 pan 21.8X I had a TFOV of 3.1 degrees. I drove north 4 FOV and nudged East a bit. BINGO. It felt so good. This was the first time I had put this all together. I was smiling!
M23
M23 is large and bold. Much more dispersed than the clusters 6568 and 6583 I had seen a few nights before. With a 3X barlow and my Pen 14XW and 102X Mag many, many more stars resolved. I could not count them all. Averted vision brought even more to view. Looking straight on I counted over 80.
I wanted to get back to M8 which I had seen before. Back to the TV22pan, no barlow, roughly 4.5 degrees south, 2 degrees East from M23. Drive down one FOV plus a tad and east 2/3 of an FOV. Again...Powerball Winner!
I checked the charts again. M20, Trifid Nebula. Not sure if I could see it. But it was nearly in my FOV already. It was an easy tiny jog and a nudge to M20.
M20
M20 presented a large field of dim nebulosity. 2X barlow and TV22Pan 1.5 degree TFOV. It did not look like the AP images I have seen...I did not expect that it would. I could not resolve the trifurcated nebulosity I see in the AP images. But this was a beauty. The south eastern portion of the Neb is roundish with two tiny but very bright star points just off center in this part of the Neb. North of this area was more dim Neb and a small group of stars. All these star points were within the Neb field in my view.
From M20 I tracked back to M23, just to see if I could do it. From M23 I checked charts and plotted course to M17. I have been here before so I knew what it should look like when I arrived. I had M16 in my sites...in the South Eastern corner of Serpans Cauda.
From M23, M17 was about 3 degrees North and about 5 degrees East. With TV22pan I drove North one full FOV and East 1.5 FOV and was nearly there. A very little circle jogging found my target. M17. Again I was amazed how this was working. As long as charts are somewhat accurate I think it will work anywhere in the sky when I have a known starting point.
I left out the parts where I moved the wrong way because I get mixed up looking in the EP at the direction the view moves...it moves opposite to the movement of the scope....well there...I did not leave that part out...it happened more than once. :-)
M16 THE EAGLE
So now I am on M17 and I want M16. Easy right...north not quite a complete FOV and a nudge west. But when I did that...nothing was there...I thought. It just looked like another little cluster...small but bright...with averted vision more bright. As I continued my view with intermittant averted vision the little field broadened into a dim nebulosity and the small cluster suddenly bloomed on the north side of the dim Neb field. Drilling again with 3X barlow and 22pan the cluster filled and I could not count all the stars again....like M23 but this time the field was much more dense and smaller. Averted vision now presented a rather brilliant cluster of stars tightly packed....this is as I saw it. I could not count with averted vision, but It seemed like hundreds...am I exagerating...maybe, but not to deceive. As I continued my view the Nebulosity began to make a larger presence. The field protrudes at the top and folds out to each side...I suppose that is supposed to be the Eagle? Very crude. This is as I saw it.
This was my first experience in manual navigation. It was crude, but it worked for me and lead me to many more adventures under the stars.
I am glad I began my observing in this way.
I want to thank Bryan (Bladekeeper). He has encouraged me from the time we first met back in February 2017. And Gabby helped me understand exit pupil and how to calculate
fov among other optical secrets. There are many who have helped me in this hobby.
I also want to mention the book "Turn Left at Orion". I have just been reviewing it again. It is a wonderful resource for starting in this particular style of observing.
Peace and clear skies.
