PeterW

Exit pupil is what controls the brightness, aperture just makes stuff bigger. It’s not uncommon for binocular observers to detect nebulae that large scope users can’t. Peter

Well mounted angled bins are a must. I’ve had to add dew heaters to the objectives. I also made a laser holder, but now mainly just rest the laser in the groove on the handle (so I can keep it warm in my pocket). I’ve made winged eyecups for all my bins/eyepieces out of bike inner tube... straylight reduction is important. I have the blackrapid tripod jacket on my old horizon8115 tripod (designed for tripods without a spreader, works with others just fine), it’s got huge pockets for storing eyepieces and all sorts in. I don’t currently use it for binoculars, as I normally use a lighter manf

Grab the chances as Orion makes way for “boring Galaxy season”... Cygnus and friends will be back in the summer and Cepheus is a treat! Good to hear you’ve had a good session. Peter

Very nice shot, there are lots of other IFN up there, Mel Bartels has a long list, though few seem to be imaged. Wonder how many more you could pick up? Peter

The neewer trigger ball head on a monopod would do OK if the binoculars are not too heavy, beat used when reclining or lying on the ground so the zenith is easier to view. With mounts it’s always best to get one that is chunkier than it needs to be. The trigger head needs regular ball cleaning and tension adjusting to prevent slippage. P-mounts are not common and historically not cheap. peter

https://binocularsky.com/reviews/AstroDevices_Parallelogram_Standard_III_Pro.pdf parallelograms aren’t as cheap as tripods as they need to be robust to stop and hem giving you wobbly views. peter

The steadier you can mount binoculars the more stuff you will see with them. If you can find a well reviewed parallelogram mount then get whichever sized bins fit it stably. Faint nebulae want larger exit pupils and larger apertures will show fainter stars, though the number visible in one field of view won’t change much... https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/binoculars1405754339/which-binoculars-will-give-you-maximum-star-counts-r88 I enjoy observing with a range of instruments, depends on what I want to see or how I want to observe it. I certainly use binoculars more t

The issue with straight trough binoculars is that the big ones need crazy big parallelogram mounts to use properly. I had some 25x100 on a heavy tripod, but it wasn’t easy to use and I sold them. The big angled binoculars are much more practical. If you want big binoculars then 10x50 or 16x70 or so and a monopod and reclining chair are a good bet, the APM ED series will give you very nice views. Any binoculars will show a whole more stars and help you understand how things fit together. To see the smaller/fainter stuff get an 8” dobsonian to complement the binoculars, should fit the budget. D

I use Option 3, which is Cassiopaea into the top of Perseus, down andromeda and then up. Easy to start (cassiopaea is always up) and easier to follow, even when there are fewer stars visible. Well done! Peter

If you can find a pair at a sensible price... old glass has less good anti reflection coatings, though the views are impressive. Peter

For Astro having angled binoculars is useful to avoid neck ache and the meed to buy ungainly parallelogram mounts. The bushnell rangemasters give nice wide 7x35 views. There is the tasco 124 7x50, though the edges ain’t too good. Large apparent field and large exit pupil, for astronomy is a hard combination to find. The Ascot were not very good optically, unlike the WX which is just unreal in width and sharpness to the edge - heavy, expensive and bad eyecups, but optically the best. Peter

F4 using the “67mm” afocal system will get you plenty fast enough. “Aperture doubling” depends on objects, can be more can be less. Peter

NV is about speed, not so much aperture, depends the size of objects you are looking for. Have two NV uses to feed both eyes is a good deal better than one eye..:. Just saying Peter

The main differences are achromatic vs ED/SD, the latter giving sharper colour free views, those for general astronomy the differences are less than for high contrast daytime viewing. All of these have around f5.5 focal ratio and all are limited to 1.25” eyepieces, so 68degree field of view unless you use more magnification when you can move into Nagler width eyepieces. Is AFOV your driver or do you want to keep the exit pupil large for nebulae? Ideally I want large exit pupil and large AFOV, but there are many reasons this is not easy or common. I’d check the rear prism clear diameter, I