Over the past decade,
I have come across a variety of people who have
expressed dislike
of setting circles in general. In short, the vast
majority of people
I have conversed with just don't like the setting
circles that came
with their equatorial mount.They all had different
reasons that they
didn't have time to go into, but the short of it is
that they all seemed
to have a reason for not liking setting circles.
And, that about
sums up my belief of ten years regarding setting circles,
GOTO's, and tracking
devices. Except the clouds just rolled in, so I
have time to go
into the different reasons why I didn't or don't like
setting circles.
I had setting circles
on my equatorial mount, and there is something
there on the Quantum
6 as well. I hate and hated them.
I just always felt
like it was a more laudable goal to 'know' the sky and
use a Telrad or
8X50 finder to find things. And, there's just something
honest and pure
about pushing a dob. I also like silence, and the sound
of an LX200 coffee
grinder just turns me off.
I didn't like my
equatorial mount either.
I don't talk about
it much, but at my inner core, I am somewhat techno
phobic. I
think that is partially why I avoid photography, equatorial
mounts, GOTO's,
and CCD cameras -- I don't think I would get them, even
if I could afford
them. I did try the equatorial mount though. I don't
like the internet
at times for much of the same reason. I am a simple
person at heart.
When Todd sold me
the 16 incher, I tried right and left to get him to
keep the encoders
and drop the price. The encoders were mounted
specifically for
the scope, and he would have had no use for them, so he
wouldn't budge.
I probably wouldn't have gotten the digital setting
circles, thanks
to my inner techno phobia, except for the fact that the
scope came with
encoders that I was forced to buy.
I have watched the
battle rage on sci.astro.amateur pro and con against
computer assisted
devices. The one camp says that real men don't need
all that, and that
if you can't find the object the star hopping way, you
have no right finding
it. That's basically where I was. Then the other
camp would say something
like, "A real man is humble enough to realize
when he needs help,
and humble enough to accept help when it is offered."
Over the last
year, the second camp has been influencing me.
I corresponded a
lot with Joe Donahue, and he lives in the suburbs of
Philadelphia; he
has the same kind skies and light pollution that I have,
as best as I can
tell. I have health reasons why I don't like to drive;
my wife does the
driving for the most part. For some reason, Joe Donahue
doesn't like driving
to a dark site either. Anyway, over a year of
listening to me
whine about not being able to find anything, about every
other month or so,
he would subtly hint digital setting circles at me.
Joe was finding
tons of stuff through his neighbor's lights and Philly's
light pollution.
One of the things
that convinced me that I really needed help was when I
spent 20 minutes
looking for the Ring Nebula because I could only see
Vega through the
Telrad and none of the rest of Lyra. I also realized
with my current
job schedule, it was going to be potentially years before
I would be able
to work in a desert session.
So, I fought the
techno phobia, and got the digital setting circles. I
have to admit, I
like them a lot more than I could have ever guessed.
They are just different
than other types of setting circles. Viewing
through cloud cover
was a hoot the other night; and, I have wanted for
five years to start
a double star viewing program.I am finding double
stars right and
left with the digital setting circles -- could never find
them through the
Telrad or 8X50 finder. Last summer, I spent 15 minutes
one night looking
for Albireo, because I couldn't see it through the
Telrad. For
some reason, I have always loved double stars since I
started the hobby
10 years ago. It's so fun to find them here in the
city, and the digital
setting circles makes it easy. When I went to the
desert, I never
looked at double stars. I considered it a waste; I
basically used the
darkness to seek out and study galaxies and
nebula.And, of course,
I could never find planetary nebula here in the
city, not to mention
galaxies. I spent a half hour one night last summer
looking for the
Dumbell through the Telrad. I have already seen more
planetary nebula
with the digital setting circles than I had over the
past 10 years combined.Anyway,
Joe Donahue called it right for my
situation.
He was convinced that I would really like digital setting
circles, and I must
admit that I honestly do. Sure, I am no longer a
'real man'; but,
I have to honestly admit that I was kind of getting
tired of looking
at the Orion Nebula and Jupiter. I just have to swallow
my pride and join
the ranks of the wimps that need help.I think the DSC's
will probably rank
as this year's best astronomy purchase for me.
Another thing I
like about digital setting circles and encoders are that
they are absolutely
quiet.But, I still don't think I will be taking the
digital setting
circles with me to the desert. I only needed a Telrad in
the desert at the
dark sites. In the desert with a Telrad, I found
everything I looked
for, except the coat hanger asterism. I might have
found that too,
but there were so many stars in the Milky Way, that I
couldn't separate
the asterism from all the stars. I think the back lit
LCD of the digital
setting circles would ruin dark adaptation by two or
three magnitudes.
I have it on the lowest setting, and it is still quite
bright. I
still believe that digital setting circles are meant for the
city, and the brightness
of the display kind of indicates that the maker
of the unit kind
of thinks so too -- need to be able to see the display
above the neighbor's
lights.At the desert, I refuse to look at planets,
and first and second
magnitude stars, as they too ruin the dark
adaptation.
I am kind of a purist when it comes to my efforts to achieve
dark adaptation
in my desert trips.Anyway, when I go galaxy hunting at a
dark site a year
or two from now, I won't be taking the digital setting
circles with me
to ruin my dark adaptation. The Telrad is bad
enough.Well, time
to let you go. But, I had to let you know that I can
still understand
the sentiment that setting circles are the pits; I still
somewhat share the
view. But, I can no longer fault the folks who fall
for them, as I must
admit that I have fallen for the digital setting
circle variety.Darwin
Bagley