Right A & declination??

Hi all,

I understand what R.A and Declination is...what i dont understand is how to use them? Are they away to use it without computers or go-tos..I want to learn the sky with-out relying on go-to or auto-star...i even think that using my sky-scout im cheating some what...what i want is to be able to look at a sky-chart get co-ordinates and find something without help? maybe im to green but id like to have an idea

RA and Dec are merely a grid reference system for the skies. Declination = height (up or down) in the sky from the horizon and RA = the position something is at while moving left to right across the sky from your viewing point.

I dont know how to use my scope to set these values to find objects so i dont use them. More often then not when i am looking for an object, i look for something on a star chart that is close to it that i know. Then i go hunting the object. It's kinda hit an miss but to me thats half the fun.

I also felt like you about the scout (that its cheating), but i now think of it as a valuable aid to my observing. When the clouds break i'm sure its gonna let me find and see things that i may never have been able to find or see without it.

Ye i agree with you there its only a lil cheat :lol: but your right its an essiantial aid for me aswell now and i think it will open up some viewing for me too...Actually what i normally do is logon to havens above and print off the interactive sky chart for every hour il be out and work from there

Tony

Declination and RA co-ordinates are usually used in conjunction with the setting circles on your telescope's mount. The idea is that you point and centre your scope on a bright star and set that star's co-ordinates on the setting circles. You can then use the setting circles to find another object as long as you know the other object's co-ordinates ie you move the scope on both axes until those co-ordinates are showing on the circles, look through the eyepiece and ( in theory) Hey Presto, there is the object. Sounds easy, but, in reality, using setting circles is now a dying art, and most observers either use go-to or, as pj described, star-hopping, in which you find a bright object near your target, and, using a star atlas, hop from one star to another until you reach your target.
The setting circles provided on most modern mounts are pretty useless, and this reflects the decline in their use.

Here's a fairly good description of how to do it

www.astro-tom.com/telescopes/setting_circles.htm

Hi steve,

thanks for that il check that out....itl probably be to hard for me anyway :lol:

Stevie, I absolutely agree.
Setting circles on most telescopes can be very frustrating.
One of the few telescopes with really working setting circles is the Meade LX-50 (out of production since many years) which has huge setting circles (8" diam on the 10" LX-50).
They work excellent on Messier objects and bright NGCs, but when it comes to faint galaxies, one always needs to do some star hopping with eg: Uranometria, in order to locate the object from its relative position in the star paterns.