I'll render an opinion too (I have plenty of them to spare....)
Star hopping is a lot of fun, and a skill that everyone should develop. I've got a LX-90, but one of the first things I did was to start working on my Messier Certificate from the Astronomical League, which doesn't allow the use of goto's for that award. I really learned the sky and the art of observing by chasing faint fuzzies through the guide scope. I just received my copy of "Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects" by Stephen O'Meara yesterday, so I'm about to jump into the Caldwell Award, which also prohibits goto's.
All that being said, the goto scopes have several advantages.
First, you'll see a lot more objects in a given amount of time. As my observing time is limited, this is a real advantage. You can always turn off the goto if you want to starhop.
Second, starhopping is dificult under urban skies because of light pollution. You can always see your guide stars to align, and then use the computer to find faint objects that would be extremely difficult to starhop to because of the bright skies.
Third, it is great for star parties, because you can zip back and forth between object quickly to show visitors a variety of objects without saying "Uh, I know it's around here somewhere...."
As they say, "you pays your money and you makes your choice".
If money is an issue, you'll get a lot more scope for the money with a dob.
I guess a final reason is that I'm a self-admitted geek and I like playing with all the buttons, interfacing the scope with my computer, etc.
I'm sure I'll get a big dob some day, but in a sense, I'm still doing my apprenticeship. If I got a big dob now, I'm sure I wouldn't appreciate it as much as I would if I spent a few more years with 8".
Rob
From: twforte@...
Reply-To: backbayastro@...
To: backbayastro@...
Subject: Re: [backbayastro] New / Used Scopes
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 11:59:00 -0500
I agree too ... just to throw my two cents in.
I get a great deal of satisfaction in starhopping. After all, I'm out there to enjoy learning the sky. But I have to say that computer aided observing has its place. For me that place is low in the sky where star hopping can be painful or in those Aquarius-like constellations that offer so few signpost stars that it just isn't any fun.
Now as to the Messier marathon: "real" observers not only turn off their computers they leave their charts (and lists) at home too! How many can you get purely from memory? Hmmmm?
Ted
In a message dated 2/14/2003 9:32:56 AM Eastern Standard Time, "S. Kent Blackwell" <kent@...> writes:
I agree with Lelane about finding objects by starhopping. In all my years
of stargazing my true love has been the "thrill" of finding something on my own. It's a rewarding experience one cannot attain by simply dialing it in on a computer. Now, I'll admit some people simply don't have the time to devote to spending half the night looking for a handful of objects but I do suggest every once in a while turning off those computers and brushing up on starhopping. I did this a few nights ago and will say I had more fun stargazing that evening than I've had in a long time. So there!
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