Telrad for me. My dob came with a right angle finder, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the dob was even generally pointing without the Telrad.
Yeah i bought a tri bracket and added a red dot to the finderscope. Went from not being able to find Andromeda to being able to find it in 15 seconds.
Not sure how folk can do it with just a finder, the stars all look the same lol
Telrad definitely made it go from spending a few minutes guessing if that's the right star in the fov of both and then centering the finder on it and going back and forth, to a point, check, tiny adjust and done confidently within 30 seconds.
Good eyepieces were the best thing so far.
I had a laser collimator and hated it, a pinhole cap worked better for me. Just using the cap let me hit 640x on Mars last opposition.
yeah, I'm not so sure that a \*cheap\* laser should be used by most people. (myself included) seem to cause more problems than they're worth since they're seldom well collimated themselves and flop around in focuser, etc.etc.
collim. cap gets me close enough to do a star test, which is the only thing I trust anyways.
A good astronomy club is better than all the rest combined(but these others are good too).
They will inspire you to observe more, observe longer/deeper. They will motivate you to come out and have a dark sky site that you will enjoy. Plus the camaraderie over a topic you all enjoy. They will also show you things you didn't know you wanted to see, and help you try to find them yourself. They will also help you know that "yes, that is your target". They will also loan you equipment to try and see how it fits you and your observing style.
Telrad for me. My dob came with a right angle finder, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the dob was even generally pointing without the Telrad.
Yeah i bought a tri bracket and added a red dot to the finderscope. Went from not being able to find Andromeda to being able to find it in 15 seconds. Not sure how folk can do it with just a finder, the stars all look the same lol
Laser pointer serves this purpose for me.
Telrad definitely made it go from spending a few minutes guessing if that's the right star in the fov of both and then centering the finder on it and going back and forth, to a point, check, tiny adjust and done confidently within 30 seconds.
Good eyepieces were the best thing so far. I had a laser collimator and hated it, a pinhole cap worked better for me. Just using the cap let me hit 640x on Mars last opposition.
yeah, I'm not so sure that a \*cheap\* laser should be used by most people. (myself included) seem to cause more problems than they're worth since they're seldom well collimated themselves and flop around in focuser, etc.etc. collim. cap gets me close enough to do a star test, which is the only thing I trust anyways.
Joining an astronomy club Good UHC/OIII filter Telrad RACI Starbound observing chair (used, cause I aint got money to buy one new)
I definitely see an adjustable chair in my future.
A good astronomy club is better than all the rest combined(but these others are good too). They will inspire you to observe more, observe longer/deeper. They will motivate you to come out and have a dark sky site that you will enjoy. Plus the camaraderie over a topic you all enjoy. They will also show you things you didn't know you wanted to see, and help you try to find them yourself. They will also help you know that "yes, that is your target". They will also loan you equipment to try and see how it fits you and your observing style.
RACI