The first ever viewing with the bino's!

[will-i-am]

So into the dark i go! well i wouldnt say dark more murky than anything for my first ever look at the moon through my bino's! I wasn't sure what to expect having practically no knowledge of anything the sky has to offer except for the big bright guy in the sky. So a good starting point, i managed to see some features using turn left at orion. I think these included Clavius on the sourthern highlands which was dark in the crater and looked amazing and aristoteles and eudoxus in the north. I managed to get about 20 minutes viewing before the clouds came in. At the moment i'm pritty happy with my £40 binoculars.

[Stargazing_Cliff]

My first time viewing with binoculars was looking at orion star system and then looking at plaides with 50mm which i no longer have as they broke so i turned them into monoculars.

and was amazed when i seen moving objects i thought where ufo's at first till i checked stellarium satelites info then again some info never showed up so maybe some where ufo .

[Andy_E]

There are some excellent sights to be had with binoculars. there are some great links here on SGL in the binocular section if you haven't already seen them. also, have you tried stellarium? it's a virtual planetarium and is an excellent suppliment to something like turn left at orion. Best of all its free! link below.

www.stellarium.org

Andy

[will-i-am]

I'll have to get myself over to the binocular section Andy and yes i've had stellarium for a while hopefully i can start using it when the clouds dispurse!

[murgen]

I asked a question recently (it's still there on the second page) about what was good to look for with bins and received besides some good recommends, a link to binocularsky.com, which looks a very good place for the current lowdown.

I'd put both of the links (the SGL location and the .com web-site) in here now if i could work out how to do it!

(I've just been shown how to include a picture in a post, perhaps learning how to add links is too much for one day)

M

[will-i-am]

Hi murgen, i've found your topic and book marked binocularsky i think i'll have to invest in philips stargazing with binoculars it seems a good source of information.

[gurneyfan67]

Hi, I had binoculars before I had telescopes and I still have 'em. Some objects are better viewed in bins...Len

[Spec-Chum]

Edit: Silly Android keeps double posting!

[Spec-Chum]

Wow, I've finally had a chance to look at the moon through my cheap 10 x 50 upclose bins. Amazing, I mean I know these bins are cheap but I could see craters!

Very impressed for under 20 quid.

Can't wait to see it in my scope, but it drops behind a house before dark, hopefully won't be long...

[estwing]

bins are the one thing that every stargazer should own

[Hals]

Binoculars - the best way to get into astronomy in my opinion.

There is so much to see and they are an excellent way of learning the sky.

Can be used for valuable research too, variable stars !

[will-i-am]

well i've been out again tonight having some clear skys, i will mention that i live in a small village and i have the advantage of no street lights from where i'm observing and very few near by! I went onto binocularsky and the object of june is M5, so i thought i have nothing to lose lets get observing! bit disappointed at 10.30 with it nowhere in sight but then i realised it probably wasnt dark enough, another half hour and i managed to view it. Very faintly and not looking directly at but you could make out the smudge so i was very pleased with that

[paul schofield]

I have 2 sets of bino,s 15x70 and 10x50 I would not be without them. I think they are the best grab and go astro gear available. Great for looking between the clouds too. Clear skies.

[Mr Q]

If you (anyone) wants the utimate binocular observing atlas, it can be downloaded and printable for free while it lasts. I have used it for years and it's awesome! See the link below.

http://www.philharrington.net/tuba.htm

[murgen]

thanks for that Q it looks really good, I've loaded it up and will have a good look later.

M

[will-i-am]

i've also downloaded it, i'll give it a browse later!

[Saleratus]

Thanks for the Binocular Atlas recommendation. I've really enjoyed Phil Harrington's Cosmic Challenge book, and think he does great work.

My favorite astro bins are medium sized canons with image stabilization. I don't want big bins as I'd rather use a scope for the faint stuff. But my 10 x 42s show me a lot of widefield images that I could never fit into a scope's field of view.

[StarryBob]

I actually put my scope away last night as most things I wanted to view were behind the neighbours ever growing tree/weed/thing and got out my bino's instead. I sat down and was really enjoying just casually browsing in the garden when I torch shone in my face from over the fence to the back lane. I was just about to get all rambo on them when they announced it was the police lol. They had reports of someone in gardens down the street so I ended up explaining why I was up at 2am and giving a statement. It was still great to get back to basics with the binos though.

[Kirkos73]

I just got me a pair of Celestron Skymaster 15x70s for £45, awesome bargain!

[will-i-am]

Thanks for all the interesting replies, I have one question which has been niggling me, when i was viewing M5 a fast moving small object passed by in my view. I'm assuming it is a satellite but was not showing up on stellarium and this was the case for some other similar objects which i tracked across the sky. Does stellarium not show all satellites?

[Saleratus]

There are far too many satellites for Stellurium to show.