Starhopping

Star hopping refers to a technique for locating celestial objects in visual astronomy and amateur astronomy and can be used both with the naked eye as a basis for orientation in the night sky as well as with optical instruments ( telescope, binoculars ) are used to locate objects with the naked eye are not visible.

Term

Star Hopping, a term used in English-speaking Astronomy scene has established itself in the German- speaking world among amateur astronomers, an adequate German term does not exist. Star hopping or star hopping perhaps suits him best, as the activity of star hopping or star hopping means hopping from star to star.

The performer person is referred to as Star Hopper, derived from one speaks of Starhop.

Is applied to derive Starhop in relation to this the Discovery or search method. There are already plenty of guides for Starhop to a desired object in the Internet but also in books.

Method

Star hopping jumps or lurches of users of known objects in the sky (yet) unknown objects. Or in other words: from the visible to the invisible. This technique is particularly appropriate to if you want to acquire bases for orientation in the sky ( constellations or individual stars ) and if there are no bright stars very close to the object, which can be targeted directly to the viewfinder ( search with the telescope ). With this method, the user learns very quickly to orient themselves in the sky.

The Star Hopper is thus geared towards first roughly at the constellations or him already known stars. He then used a Aufsuch or Auffindekarte in as many, even faint objects that are not visible with the naked eye, are shown. He then moves through binoculars or a telescope from star to star, until he has found the target object. The Orientation is relatively easy, as it is done in geometric patterns that are easy to memorize in memory.

A simple example is the discovery of the famous globular cluster M 13 in the constellation Hercules. If the observer made ​​the constellation in the sky located, he moves with his binoculars or a telescope at the line leading from Eta ( η ) to zeta ( ζ ) Herculae (the " long edge " of the inner quadrangle ). At about 1/ 3 of the way to M is 13

Equipment

Required are at the beginning of a rotating star map, also called a planisphere, for orientation in the sky and the corresponding Aufsuch or Auffindekarte for the details that are no longer visible to the naked eye.

Starting from a known star or a summary map of the desired object is then searched and found with a detailed map.

Thus, for even small instruments ( telescope or larger binoculars - in theory already in the 10 × 50 binoculars ) find all Messier objects and many other globular clusters, planetary nebulae, and galaxies.

The Messier objects M 76 and M 97 with a visual magnitude of 12 may make due to the low luminosity already high demands to the untrained observer. The challenge here, however, to not so much in finding the desired goal, but in the recognition and perception of the object that is reflected in the small optics as nondescript, barely perceptible faded gray spots that are still far less spectacular than M 13 Zoom Binoculars are due to the tunnel vision that they produce and the small field of view for this technique is not suitable.

What can be visually seen with the respective optics, can be calculated with a Grenzgrößenkalkulator.

With a little practice can also be dispensed with the finding chart. Then the Star Hopper is as it were a walking GoTo and needed except a clear sky and a monitoring device no other aids.

Astronomy programs - such as the free Stellarium - planetarium simulate, help with orientation at the sky. To quickly identify the constellations and brighter objects in the sky there are now apps for popular mobile phones, such as the free Google Sky Map.