Can you recomend a great finderscope size beyond 8x50 size .. i want the best , i do alot of deeep sky hunting

Question

Can you recomend a great finderscope size beyond 8x50 size .. i want the best , i do alot of deeep sky hunting

Answer 1

A Telrad-------- and some Telrad sky charts--

http://www.telescopes.com/telescope-acce...

Answer 2

I haven't used one, but Stellarvue makes quality stuff, and this looks pretty good: http://www.stellarvue.com/f80.html

Answer 3

If you really want to go after faint DSOs, than bigger finderscope is not the answer.  Most DSOs are simply to faint to find/see them even with an 80mm finderscope.

You can use different techniques to find DSOs.

You can "star hop" to the approximate location using the finderscope, then verify that you are in the right place by comparing the stars you see in the finderscope vs. a good quality sky chart, and then look for the DSO using the main telescope and a low power eyepiece.

If you use a telescope on an equaterial mount with accurate RA and declination scales, you can use them to locate faint DSOs.  First, you need to precisely polar-align your scope.  Find the RA and decl. coordinates of the DSO you want to see.  Then look for a relatively bright star in the vecinity of the DSO.  Point your scope to that star, and then use the RA and decl. scales to "navigate" your telescope to the DSO.  This is the technique I use to photograph very dim DSOs that are to faint to see them visually even under the best conditions.  Usually, I end-up within +/- half degree or less from the desired location by using this technique.  The finderscope I find most useful is actually the non-magnified red-dot one.

If you have a computerized telescope, then finding DSOs should be a no-brainer, but that's a double-edged sword.  Maybe I'm old fashoned.  Although I have used GoTo telescopes owned by some friends, but I still have not found the justification to buy one.  I can find any objects in the sky in 3-5 minutes using just a star chart and a decent equatorial mount (Vixen GP).  I know dozens of "experienced" amateur "astronomers" who grew up using GoTo scopes and are helpless without one.  They can't even find their way around the sky to find naked-eye objects, much less DSOs.  That's why in every decent college or post-grad astronomy course you start by learning how to find objects using RA and decl. coordinates, and your professors won't allow you to "graduate" to computerized scope until you have learned the basics.  (OK, enough rant, lol).