Chuck, Actually, while they encourage you to still find objects the same way Herschel did, the A. League's Herschel Certificate requirements do not put any restrictions on using setting circles or goto scopes; (hey, let's face it, he also didn't have the same light pollution challenges we face today!). The only requirements are that you record the date, time, seeing conditions, equiptment used, a brief description, etc. of your observation in a logbook, and encourage (though also do not require) you to make a sketch of what you saw. DSC's are NOT allowed however for the Messier certificate (probably what you were thinking of); traditional star hop methods are required there (and rightfully so). Info on the various observing clubs can be found here: http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/obsclub.html if any of you SLASers (and thereby A.L. members) are interested. Rich --- Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> wrote:

Isn't the use of DSC's prohibited when trying for an A.L. Herschel certificate?

When confronted with DSC's, I only use them if A: I've found the object before, the old-fashoined way;

B: There's no finder on the main scope, or C: The line is long and I"m getting heckled for taking more than 10 seconds to find an object.

Those of you who use them regularly, do you ALWAYS use them? Do you never try and find objects unassisted?

I don't mean to dig on you guys who use them habitually, but c'mon, it's kind of like a handicapped sticker on your car, don't you think? (I'm KIDDING!

No hate mail!)

Thanks!

Chuck

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