I finally gave up on my phone app and went back to a paper sky chart

For about 2 years I did all my star hopping with a phone app, but last spring the screen glow kept wrecking my night vision in the backyard. So I printed a free chart from Sky and Telescope and taped it to a clipboard, and now I actually find things like the Ring Nebula in Lyra without staring at a bright display. It takes me longer to get there, maybe 15 minutes instead of 5, but I see way more faint stuff along the way. Anyone else still using paper charts, or am I just being stubborn?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

blair_hill593d ago

A buddy of mine did the same thing last summer but he went even further and red film over a headlamp only. He said the first few weeks were rough because he kept getting lost between stars he used to just tap on his screen. After about a month though he knew the area around Sagittarius so well he could find the Lagoon and Trifid in under ten minutes with zero light. The kicker is he swears he spots way more faint fuzzies now because his eyes stay dark adapted the whole time. He still keeps the app on his phone but only checks it after he's done for the night. Sounds like you two are onto something real, not just being stubborn.

4