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Total beginner, advice needed please

Cotterell55

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Cotterell55

Cotterell55

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Hi folks I'm a total beginner and I've been advised to start with a pair of bins, so can anyone recommend a decent pair for under£100 if I catch onto it I will upgrade as i go along. I've seen in jessops they sell the Nikon 10 22x50 action VII, are these any good? Or could you recommend a good pair and where to get them from, Help would be greatly appreciated, thank folks

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catman161

catman161

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Hi,

I am very new to astronomy also (since christmas).The bins I have are fantastic. Quite large but not too bad, easy to use for scanning the skies but after a while may need to put on a tripod for extended viewing of one object.

They are called Celestron Skymasters 15x70. You can get them on amazon.co.uk for around £50. I can't fault them. Great clarity, very crisp images.

Can easily see the more major objects like Orion nebula(M42) pleiades (M45) and andromeda galaxy (M31). The M numbers in brackets are the order of the objects as categorised by Charles Messier. You pick them up as u go along.

I seriously recommend the binoculars they also come with a tripod adapter.They got me so hooked that I recently bought a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dobsonian telescope and I love that too!

Felix

Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dobsonian

Celestron Skymaster 15x70 Binoculars

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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kenmyers

kenmyers

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The Bino's suggested by Catman161 are best for astronomy. These ones will give you an exit pupil of 7mm. If you are under 60 years old and have good eyes, then the 15x70 will show you brighter images without loss of light.

The 10x50 bino's are also exceptional for astro.

Do not expect to see too much except stars and fuzz with binos. Some galaxy's are visible though as a white blur for example the Andromeda galaxy.

Star clusters look amazing.

You can see jupiter and all four moons with just binos. :D

Keep a lookout on Heavensabove website for irridium satalites and the international spacestation passing ahead. I saw a great irridium flare two nights ago, it was brighter than Jupiter!

enjoy yourself, and if it is too difficult to keep them steady buy a tripod or rest the ends on a fence etc.

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Madhatter

Madhatter

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Im going to go against the grain here..With your budget i would say forget bins and buy yourself a telescope!! yes bins are a good way to scan the skys and some objects look nice in them, but the views are not going to start to compare to a telescope and they will be wobbly, you will struggle to even see crators on the moon! - its 10x magnification vs upto 250x magnification!!.

I would recommend this telescope..Great optics, and should you catch the bug it will always remain extremly usefull as a "grab & go/travel" telescope. save the extra money and get this, your far more likely to take to the hobby with it. Its worth noting you will need a collimation tool that is £25..But even in poor collimation this will wipe the floor against bins.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html

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bish

bish

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I'm on the fence a bit. The bins are great for finding things, which will help keep your interest. The scope will show you alot more, as well as craters on the moon, saturns rings etc. It will just take longer to find things. Sorry - I'm normally more opinionated!

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catman161

catman161

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Think I'm gonna go for the Celestrons, although the tripod adaptor seems to be gettin terrible reviews

I've not had a problem with my tripod adaptor yet. You can always buy a metal one separately if you wish. You will live the celestron bins-awesome. I use them without fail every time I got out with the scope. Good luck. A planisphere or sky and telescopes pocket star atlas are also a good buy.

Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dobsonian

Celestron Skymaster 15x70 Binoculars

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Simms

Simms

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Another vote for the Skymasters (15x70) I have a pair and LOVE them - great to use alongside my SW200P - and with the added benefit of being useful for Nature, hiking etc.. A bit of the weighty side but great with a tripod. Downisde is not being able to see detail on planets and the moons craters - but you can see Jupiters biggest 4 moons!

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sirmetin

sirmetin

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The 20x80 Celestrons come with a metal tripod adapter - if you add the cost of one to the 15x70 then there is not a lot of difference in price. I would actually recommend the hawke range for between £70 and £100 they have some great binos and they are well spec'ed at that price. I personally would go for 8x40 or 8x32 to start they give a good upgrade allow you to get a feel for finding things and as they are light and small they will be used often as an aid in finding stuff after you get a scope. With the larger ones you do need a pretty hefty tripod and once you add that you may as well get a telescope.

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Chris

Chris

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If I was starting out and had around 100 quid I would be pretty tempted to go for a Startravel 80 on an eq1 mount instead of bins on a tripod, and this is for the following reasons:

1) Its cheap as chips but its a telescope that you can get used to i.e. playing with lenses and an equatorial mount.

2)very portable and no collumnation worries

3) I looked through one recently and was surprised how good it was for a short tube small achro - Jupiter demonstrated two contrasty bands plus four moons with little purple fringing!

4) its widefield like a pair of bins so good for scanning the sky and star clusters

5) if you get into imaging an ST80 is suppose to be very good as a guide scope.

6)if you get a larger scope it will always be handy as a grab and go scope.

7) very cheap RA drive option if you want to automatically track objects

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/skywatcher-startravel-80-eq1.html

p.s. also check out the 130p reflector for not much more

hth

Chris

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John

John

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If I was starting out and had around 100 quid I would be pretty tempted to go for a Startravel 80 on an eq1 mount instead of bins on a tripod.....

So would I. I have a pair of 15x70 binoculars but I prefer the views though a scope - even a small scope :D

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Jonny

Jonny

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spend £300 and you'll be amazed by views of the moon. really amazed. I've never personally tried looking through binoculars at anything in the sky, so I'm not sure what they're like, but definately spend money on a telescope rather than binoculars. Better to jump in at the deep end than work yourself up :D

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kenmyers

kenmyers

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I have crystal clear nights when I just can not be bothered to take out the scope, set up the scope, wait for it to cool, let my eyes dark adapt before viewing.

I just grab a pair of binos and spend hours on a journey through the galaxy. I have a deckchair that lays flat and enjoy lying down in the garden contemplating these magnificent sights.

Telescope will show you more detail, up close. But for getting to know the sky and still seeing some amazing things, NOTHING beats a good pair of bino's.

My opinion.

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