BinocularSky

I reviewed this for S@N about 8 years ago (seem to be a later incarnation of yours). 10x50s are great for astronomy and, despite its limitations, this is OK as an entry level model. If you're enjoying it, you can always upgrade later.

The latest edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

* Three grazing lunar occultations 
* Daylight occultation of Venus
* Ice giants in evening sky

I hope this helps you to get the best out of these darkening autumn nights with your binoculars or small telescopes.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to http://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.

The latest edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

* Milky Way Season is here!
* Daylight lunar occultation of Antares
* Ice giants in astro-dark

I hope this helps you to get the best out of these darkening autumn nights with your binoculars or small telescopes.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to http://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.

On 16/09/2023 at 21:17, Merkhet said:

Can anybody tell me if the    APM ED APO    MAGNESIUM SERIES  16x70  binoculars have threads for filters?  Or any other means of fitting eyepiece filters?

They do not have threads. 

The latest edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

* Asteroid Flora within range
* Lunar occultations bright stars
* Ice giants Uranus and Neptune

I hope this helps you to get the best out of these lovely August nights with your binoculars or small telescopes.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to http://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.

On 08/07/2023 at 07:39, tooth_dr said:

I would use this website to check the sun before setting up my solar scope

https://gong2.nso.edu/products/mainView/table.php?configFile=configs/mainView.cfg

Ah. Thanks. 🙂 

On 02/07/2023 at 20:25, SwiMatt said:

I did not expect 10x to be such an improvement from 6x. Do you use them for longer sessions or one should just expect to use them from time to time for quick views?

Just for quick views to decide whether I think it's worth getting the PST out.

On 04/07/2023 at 00:20, The60mmKid said:

lightweight, sturdy, smooth, inexpensive

Hmm. Might be some mutual exclusivity there 😉

On 03/07/2023 at 16:24, heliumstar said:

binocularsky.com redirects to parked.need-less.org.uk for me in Firefox on Linux for some reason. Other browsers are fine. 

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll see if I can figure out what's going on there. (Gave up on FF for Linux - and Windows - ages ago 🙂 )

Edit: That should be fixed now; let me know if you have any more issues with the page, & thanks again for letting me know.

I've spent the last few months putting the new Bresser Slider Mount through its paces.

Detailed review here.

TL; DR: It does exactly what it says on the tin.

On 28/05/2023 at 19:47, stuarts said:

I've seen good things mentioned about the Argus and wondered if the same can be said for the Lightquest ones. (I guess that goes for the 16x70s as well)

The LQ are pretty good. My reviews are here.

On 20/06/2023 at 19:18, tooth_dr said:

I have a set I bring to work on partial eclipses, for myself and to show my staff.  You can only see the largest of spots and not in any detail but they are safe to use and handy. 

I use the Celestron EclipSmart 10x25. You get to see a fair bit more at 10x, and the theoretical lower resolution of 25mm is not an issue at that magnification.

On 26/06/2023 at 17:40, John said:

My astro society were recently gifted this amazing setup. We are currently installing it at our observatory in a special roll-off type housing. The chair is motorised and controlled with a joystick. The instrument (which we were also given) is the Fuji Meibo 25 x 150mm binoculars - which are huge !!! 😮

Hopefully it will all be up and running for the return of darker nights in the Autumn. I'm certainly looking forward to having a go 😁

 

I spy a StarChair. Regrettably, no longer made, I believe.

The latest edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

* The return of the ice giants
* Some lunar occultations
* Mini-review of an innovative binocular mount

I hope this helps you to get the best out of these short, but gradually lengthening, nights with your binoculars or small telescopes.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to http://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.

On 04/04/2023 at 21:23, bomberbaz said:

Ok so really not sure if this is right but here was my calculation as there isn't a focal length on Bressers website for my bins.

They are 16x42 which gives a 2.6 exit pupil. 

Devide objective by exit pupil gives F ratio 16\2.6=6.1.

Is this correct or am I barking up a wrong un?

You're dividing the magnification, not the objective, by the exit pupil (dividing objective by exit pupil gives you the magnification). Unless I'm missing something, to get the focal ratio, you need the focal length of the objective. If you know the focal length of an eyepiece, you can work it out from that (multiply by magnification).  If you're interested, there's a CN post on it:  https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/13186-focal-length-in-binoculars/#entry157926

Happy New Year! The first edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter for 2023 is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

• Neptune's last gasp (for a while)
• Two lunar grazing occultations (on of them of Uranus, tonight!)
• Comet ZTF is beginning to put on a show

I hope this helps you to get the best out of these short winter nights with your binoculars or small telescopes.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to https://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.

The latest edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

    * A grazing lunar occultation on a track from Brighton to Derry
    * Lunar occultations of Uranus and Mars
    * Ice giants 
    * Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) in the reach of medium-aperture binoculars

I hope this helps you to get the best out of these long winter nights with your binoculars or small telescopes.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to http://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.

On 04/10/2022 at 16:33, Gfamily said:

Although for Saturn, I think a telescope would be better, I wouldn't rule out getting binoculars, there is so much that is really accessible with a simple pair of 10x50s or 8x40s, and these can give you a lifetime of great observing. 

A member here ( @BinocularSky ) writes a monthly newsletter specifically for binocular observers, and that will give you enough to enjoy each month.  It can be found at www.binocularsky.com. 

With binoculars there are lovely asterisms, open clusters and nebulae to look out for - and they are ideal for observing the moons of Jupiter and the changing face of the Moon from night to night. It's just that their magnification is limited, and Saturn is one of the targets that are just too small to be really impressive.  

@Binocularsky writes regularly for magazines about what to look for in the night sky with binoculars, as well as binocular reviews. He knows his stuff.  

Late to the party 🙂 

Hand-held binos are really not the weapon of choice for solar system objects unless you just want to detect (say) Neptune, Uranus or one of the brighter asteroids. On Saturn, at 10x, you might just make out that it's an odd shape. I have once managed to see dark space between the planet and the ansae at 15x (mounted, and fleetingly visible in moments of steady seeing, Saturn's rings wide open); detecting the rings is easy at 25x, but I need at least 35x with the rings wide open and steady seeing to be able to make out the Cassini division. Frankly, it's not worth the faff.

The strength of binos is the brighter "faint fuzzies", where a £75 bino can reveal more than a £75 telescope.

On 14/09/2022 at 16:58, Tomatobro said:

 Second, when you have Saturn or whatever you can move away and folks can go to the eyepiece and see what you just saw.

You cannot do that with Bins.....

I can and do 🙂 . I mount them on a parallelogram, so not only can I move away, but I can adjust the eyepiece height to something suitable for the next person before I do so. Very handy when showing stuff to both adults and youngsters; no faffing around with observing steps for the little-uns, or having Dad trying to hold kiddo up to an eyepiece.

Some of us have been rigorously testing the Neewer camera crane, ever since les Brand came up with the idea of using it as a P-mount. You can see my take on it here.

We also had a thread on it earlier in the year:

On 14/09/2022 at 15:16, Louis D said:

Did anyone on here find binocular astronomy anywhere near as exciting as telescope astronomy?  Without excitement, passion quickly wanes and interests migrate elsewhere.

First used binos (my Dad's) for looking at the night sky (actually, for Sputnik) on 4th October 1957. I still use them more than any other instrument for visual. It's not a question of what is right or wrong, just what rocks your boat.  I simply love the portablility and the challenge of hunting stuff with small apertures and low magnification.

On 17/09/2022 at 10:35, Mr_mojo97 said:

 What I’m after now though, is a set of really good quality set of binos. My primary focus is lunar - probably 90% actually. Not so much interested in planets and DSOs at the moment.

Late to the party, but as the person on this forum who almost always recommends binoculars, I'll add my £0.02: Don't!

As others have already indicated, for lunar you'd be far better off with a small refractor (although I prefer a little Maksutov - more bang for bucks, IMO). 

3 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

Nikon is usually very good glass and pretty well regarded. Wonder if @BinocularSky is around to comment as it is one he recommends IIRC and that model has been suggested on other threads so you're pretty safe I'd think.

Very good Centre-focus 10x50. Knocks spots off the Aculon. £80 is a bargain if it's in good nick.

19 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

great list for August, the Sagittarius targets are amazing, still never had the lagoon, hopefully this month. 

A good southern horizon is key. I'm lucky in this regard, living relatively close to the south coast: from Purbeck, the nearest settlement to the south is Cherbourg, about 60 miles away.

The latest edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

    * A grazing lunar occultation for southern UK
    * Enjoy some asterisms
    * Ice giants 
    * Asteroid Vesta 

I hope this helps you to get the best out of these still short, but lengthening, nights with your binoculars or small telescopes.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to http://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.