14
Star Hopping
In the star hops at left are
two of the best regions of
the night sky as seen from
the Southern Hemisphere.
The winter milky way has
the centre of the galaxy
going over head during the
night and the constellation
of
Scorpius
is
most
conspicuous
by
it’s
distinctive shape.
Using just the finderscope
and a low power eyepiece
and beginning at the bright
star Dschubba in the head
of Scorpius we move one
finderscope field we find
the 4.5 magnitude star
Omicron Scorpii. In the
same field of view is the
Globular Cluster M80. (NGC
6093) Now that we have it
in the field of view we can
use low power to have a
look at this object. If the
conditions allow change to
higher power for an even
better view.
Back to low power and
move one finder field to
Alpha Scorpii (Antares).
Messier 4 (NGC 6121) is a
bright Globular Cluster with
a line of 10th magnitude
stars running north south
through it.
By using the low power and
moving one field at a time
many objects will be found.
In the summer Milky Way
the Puppis – Canis Major
region lies south east of
Orion.
Begin at the brightest star
in the sky, Sirius. By
placing Sirius at the edge of
the finderscope Messier 41
(NGC 2287) should be at
the other edge of the field.
Centre it and using low
power before moving to
higher power.
Follow this star hop to see
some of the summer skies
best kept secrets.
The secret to starhopping
is to take your time and
start with low power. The
more often you star hop the
easier it will become and
before you know it you will
be navigating the skies and
seeing more objects than if
you just looked for single
objects at a time.
Figure Above shows the Scorpius area of the Winter Milky Way.
Each circle is of a finderscope field of view.
Figure Below Shows the Puppis area of the Summer Milky Way
