My first ever stargazing experience

[Tlawrence84]

WOW! What a sense of achievement you get when you find something. Even if it is as trivial as the below.

As a complete novice, I won't into my back garden today armed with an iPad and my celestron 15x70 bino's. Now I know this may make some more experienced people laugh, but I managed to locate the kite with a tail (not sure of its name, it's just left of The star Alltair), I then followed that down to 3 stars between m15 and m2, and down further from that to find a diamon sshape at the top of aquarius. All with the naked eye, then I hit a snag.

I was aiming for Neptune (possible with my bino's?), well I could see the patterns with the naked eye, but add the bio's, and I lose all sense of scale! A hundred stars suddenly appear that I couldn't see before, does the diamond pattern that I could just see fit in the field of view of my binoculars? How do I know I'm looking at he same thing through these lenses that I was just looking at without them? These are all question I hope to answer now that I have some clear skies to look at.

I had to come here and post something, because I now feel like I'm not 'lost', I'm beginning to understand the (very) basics. I have to apologise for my descriptions, I'm using an iPad app called "sky map" which does name every pattern or group. I was a little dissointed that I couldn't catch Neptune, but it was sitting right where the town lights became too bright to see even stars.

Looking forward to plotting the sky a bit better over the coming nights

[mdstuart]

As others will no doubt confirm you will need a better star map. Stellarium can be downloaded which will give you a start but I would also recommend getting the pocket sky atlas which is pretty cheap and great for use with thise 15 x 70's..

Do you have a tripod as it can help with moving around the stars to fix the bins on a position and then refer to the star atlas and go back etc...

I think you are referring to Pegasus with your kite reference and the tail is Andromeda.. You should be able to pick up the Andromeda galaxy with your bins just above the tail.

By the way do just get lost in the stars and scan with the bins..

Enjoy..

Mark

[Tlawrence84]

It's a very small kite shape between pegasus and Aquila I started at, then worked directly down from there to attempt to see Neptune (expecting only to see something like a dull star). Another attempt tomorrow, but being a working week, I'll be tired!

I'll give stellarium a go, thanks

[Tlawrence84]

Delphinus, then I moved down to equuleus. It helps to have the names there.

I'll need to use this map tomorrow instead. I see why people say don't rush into buying a scope now, I was more successful with the naked eye than looking through bino's. Like you say also, I need a tripod so that I can track and leave them pointing at what I have mapped out.

[mdstuart]

Oh the dolphin...I know where you are now,,Neptune is pretty low in the sky and not near any easy paturns of stars so I see why you are struggling!

You could use Carte Du ciel as well and print off some charts before you go out to use and patiently hop from star to star against the atlas.

Good luck..

P.S Neptune will just look like a faint star in bins but it will move over time against the stars over a number of nights.

[JamesF]

Yes, Neptune is quite a tough target with limited aperture. Uranus might be easier.

James

[i Drew]

I too have the Skaymaster binocular and I uses that for over a year before I bought my 6se, you will learn a lot just by using the binocular and as stated a tripod is a big help since it is a heavy binocular. If you don't have a tripod I found it helpful to hold the binocular at the front part of it.

[cantab]

With 15x70s you'll really benefit from some sort of support, and their weight and bulk does mean you need something good. The Vivitar tripod I have that was fine with my 10x50s is really marginal with my 15x70s. Even a good tripod I think would still leave something to be desired with the ergonomics (ie I get a crick in my neck).

Indeed it's challenging to relate the binocular view to the naked eye one or to star charts. As mentioned, step one is to get good charts. Personally I get on well with Taki's Star Atlas, http://www.geocities..._taki/index.htm . I just printed each northern hemisphere sheet on A4.

Then to get a feel for the binocular field of view find a couple of bright stars that just about fit in together. See how far apart they are with the naked eye, and how far apart they are on your map. Cassiopeia's a good one, gamma and delta Cas will just fit in together, while the pairs epsilon and gamma, gamma and alpha, and alpha and beta will all be ever so slightly too far apart to see both at once.

As for knowing that the star you look at with the naked eye is the one you see in the binoculars, well two approaches are useful. First is to get an idea for how bright things look, stars that are bright to the naked eye are really bright in the binoculars. Second is to check the charts for what patterns of stars will be near the one you're looking for. To find the cluster M34 I needed to start from Algol (beta Perseus). I spotted it with the naked eye, and knew that in binoculars it should appear with three other fairly bright stars (omega, rho, and pi Per) forming a quadrilateral. Sure enough, a scan around in the area located this shape.

[Capricorn]

Slight concern with this comment:

I need a tripod so that I can track and leave them pointing at what I have mapped out.

A tripod will help support and keep the binoculars stable, they will not track anything. If you point the binoculars at an object then leave the binoculars alone the object will drift out of view.

Your field of view will be something like 3-4 degrees, using the wider then from centre to edge is 2 deg and at 15deg per hour that means an object will drift out in 8 minutes.

How do I know I'm looking at he same thing through these lenses that I was just looking at without them?

Trick I find is to look with the eyes direct at the object then bring the binoculars up to the eyes without moving the eyes at all. You "simply" insert the eyes into the path you do not bring the binoculars up then move the eyes into the optical path of the binoculars as they happen to be pointed somewhere random. Takes a little practise but thats my method. Seems to work.

[Double Kick Drum]

Neptune is possible in theory with 15x70s but very difficult. It will just look like another feint star, so i'd also suggest using Stellarium / Cartes du Ciel.

Uranus will be easier.

Ceres and Vesta are in Taurus and will become more favourable to see over the next few months.

Happy hunting!

[swamp thing]

15x70 bins are a great tool for observing the sky and magical on the larger DSO,s.

They're are a great way of learning the sky too. I have "Star walk" on my iPad which is a good budget app, but for more serious observing the "sky safari" apps are very good indeed but not cheap. I don't really use my iPad at the eyepiece as I feel it's too bright but for learning the sky it could certainly prove a very useful tool.

Most importantly have fun out there, use your bins on the Milky way. They won't disappoint here, there is so much to observe in the milky way it'll keep you amused all night. You'll find as you meander about over a few hours you'll soon pick up how to point and successfully track objects in the sky.

Enjoy

[Tinker1947]

For star hopping with Bins you might do better with some 10 X 50, there easy to hold and also when you point at a star after a tiny bit of practice its in the FOV, i use some £25 Bins that's FLO where selling off, makes finding M31 and brighter DSO so much easier and learning the night sky so much quicker...

[Tlawrence84]

Capricorn, just to clarify, I meant I could manually find what I was looking for, and have it held there for a minute or so whilst I find the next star to hop down to.

It's good to know that objects will disappear or at least move a significant amount after 5 minutes, I have been wondering if the movement would be in the region of seconds, a couple of minutes, or 20minutes. Like I say, I'm a complete beginner!

Didnt manage to get out tonight, the late night yesterday has tired me out. Let's hope the weather holds until after the weekend, as it's scope shopping on Saturday!