this trips bino DSO's

[astroeddie]

Guys ,

Here's some PDA sketches I made whilst going to and fro the Falkland Islands.

Sorry if the thread is a large on, attached 6 pages.

Any questions, fire away.

Eddie

[andrew63]

Welcome back Eddie - it's amazing what you are able to see with transparent skies! Thanks for posting the sketches, many of us have never seen these objects from this latitude.

andrew

[LukeSkywatcher]

You saw all these objects so well with 15X70 bins?

I guess location really does matter.

I have 20x90 bins and cant see them as well from my location.

M31 blows me away.

[astroeddie]

Guys,

I'd have dozens more if I could correctly ID them. When in the tropics things fog up for over an hour before you can use them, so, daren't chance taking my laptop out with Skytools 3 as the planetarium.

INK BLACK skies. Guess I'm spoilt, Milky Way shines on the sea. The Zodiacal Light is also seen with amazing clarity. Though never seen the Gehegen Shine (spelling??).

The area around the southern parts of Sagittarius would keep you going for ever let alone the rest of the skies.

I was very happy to nab the two galaxies in Sculptor NGC 55 & 253. Quite easy once located. Helix Nebula is huge in binos. I'm more than tempted to get a decent pair of 20x80's. Hand held so that'd be the limit I reckon.

Off down again on 24th November, so fingers crossed for clearer skies towards the Falklands and I can sketch more deep south clusters etc.

Cheers Eddie

[Polar Bear]

Hi Eddie

thanks for sharing the reports and your great recording.

I would express a word of caution if you are contemplating hand-held 20x80's.

I am quite stocky and strong and struggle with bins of this size hand-held. Yes you can hold them and see things but you would not be able to achieve any constructive observation.

Which 15x70's do you own ? If they are an inexpensive pair such as the Celestrons I would suggest an upgrade to some better ones rather than 20x80's.

It is not generally the weight but the magnification that limits what can be achieved hand-held.

Also depending on what you use at the moment a quality 11x80 like the 11x80 Opticrons Opticron 11x80 Observation Porro Prism Binocular at 249 may be a better option or as an upgrade in 15x70's the TS Marines TS 15 x 70 MARINE - Outdoor - Weitwinkel - Stickstoff gefüllt

Paul

[astroeddie]

Paul,

Cheers, I'm 6'3" ex bodybuilder, so weight is again no issue.

My binos are about 10 years old Helios. Very light aswell. I'll have a look at some binos in the shops next time on dry land.

Cheers Eddie

[Polar Bear]

Paul,

Cheers, I'm 6'3" ex bodybuilder, so weight is again no issue.

My binos are about 10 years old Helios. Very light aswell. I'll have a look at some binos in the shops next time on dry land.

Cheers Eddie

Hi Eddie, remind me not to knock your pint over !

I have done a bit of bodybuilding in the past but I am a mere 5'10"

Seriously though I find hand holding my 20x90's fine in daylight for birds and passing 747's.

However 20x is very unforgiving hand held when viewing stars although I sometimes just use a good Velbon UP4000 monopod with a metal tilt and pan head.

I look forward to your next reports and would be interested how much nebulosity you can observe in Orion with bins....

Paul

[astroeddie]

Just back from our latest jaunt to Tromso, Norway.

M 42, M 1 and M 45 are my next targets once we sail south again.

I'll keep you informed when I return, 14th January.

Cheers Eddie

[astroeddie]

Guys,

Here's my actual sketches inverted, think these are better than the PDA efforts.

Eddie

[rory]

fantastic sketches. and through bino's. !

my sisters fells is in the navy and he said the skies out in the middle of the oceans are just mindblowing.