Woodland Hills Telescope & Camera has all products and accessory to meet the amateur astronomer's needs.
The Ext-90 PE is a great telescope to observe the stars under the night sky!
The amateur astronomer often starts out their astronomy hobby star hopping. Star hopping is a technique of locating the galaxies, the stars, the planets in the night sky. Star hopping composed of making leaps from a star that is visible either with the unaided eye or using a finder scope from one star to another until the astronomer has reached their desired target.
Astronomers often use star hopping in conjunction with setting circles. Setting circles is used on telescopes that are equipped with an equatorial mount to help locate celestial objects in the sky by using their equatorial coordinates that are often used in star charts.
Amateur astronomers often find one bright star or constellation as a starting point to begin their journey in the night sky. Once the stargazer has their telescope set up along with their guide book, they will determine the visual field by the eyepiece on the telescope. To locate the visual field of the eyepiece, amateur astronomers will guide the telescope to a star closely as possible to the celestial equator. The astronomer should set the celestial object, they wish to view at the edge of the visual field and then the astronomer needs to measure the time it takes for the object to cross the eyepiece without moving the telescope. Stars close to the celestial equator move one degree every four minutes, knowing this will help the stargazer calculate the visual field of the eyepiece.
The visual field of the stargazer's eyepiece should be as large as possible as to see several stars in the sky and to serve as reference points. Once the stargazer has their reference celestial objects then the astronomer can start star hopping from one galaxy to nebula to the next celestial object. Star hopping will get easier as the amateur astronomer continues on their journey of the dark night sky.
A good celestial object to start with is M92, a globular cluster in Hercules. It is one of the easier objects to spot for the stargazer using a telescope or even on clear nights using binoculars, if away from light pollution and the city lights.
Star hopping can be a fun and exciting journey into the dark night sky!
Sky Spot's Star Chart of Messier's Objects will help any stargazer locate celestial objects in the night sky!
Orion StarShoot Monochromer Imager II is available at telescopes.net
Information on:
Meade Instruments: Then and Now
The History of Meade Instruments Telescopes
The History of Celestron