10X50 Celestron Bins

[jeremy1]

Hi Guys. I bought some 10X50 Celestron Bins for my Brother inlaw for his 50th Birthday I'm just wondering if they are ok for a starter in general astronomy ? Thanks in advance for any comments.

[Lenny147]

I bought a pair of 10x50s to start off with before I bought my scopes and I was blown away with the views, actually I bought my dad a pair and he loves them

[dtr42]

yup decent binoculars for the price and a good size to use hope he enjoys them

[jeremy1]

Thats great news. I know he is keen on astronomy but has never taken up the hobby. He spends many nights fishing and gazes up at the skys so I thought a pair of bins and the Philips book on stargazing with binoculars would be a great prezzie.

[SplintUK]

You're going to have to give more details like the model name. At the minute you just said the equivalent of "I've bought a 2 litre Ford, is it any good?" Just as some cars are better than others by the same brand, it goes the same with astro gear, especially 10x50 bins.

In general, 10x50 bins are a good place to start, but but bear in mind a pair of bins is a pair of matched achromatic telescopes with focusers and 2 eyepieces which all need to be factory collimated. In those terms you shouldn't expect Ferrari performance or Range Rover quality from a ford Ka. However a Ford Ka will get 2 people effectively and economically from a to b, and a top of the line mondeo will do it with a lot more comfort and toys...

It's worth googling on how to hold bins for astronomy as that helps a lot with stability and arm ache.

My top tip for a newbie with bins is to point at Cygnus - which is in the direction of the milky way and go wow at the sheer volume of stars there. Then just wait for Orion and the Pleiades to come up in autumn.

[jeremy1]

Hi Splintuk. All I know is they are called Celestron upclose 10X50 Binoculars. If thats any good ????

[brantuk]

So long as they're fully coated porro prisms they'll be fine. Sir PM allways recommends a decent pair of 10x50's and that's good enough for me - though I have been looking at IS binocs of late lol

[dtr42]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000CAOGV/ref=asc_df_B0000CAOGV9079999?smid=ACUI6XIFHPGYO&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22242&creativeASIN=B0000CAOGV they are ok bins

[Lenny147]

I should say I didn't buy Celestron I bought Olympus DPS 1 10x50

[jimieee]

I don't know if this is any help, but you can also buy an adapter, to attach them to a photographic tripod. This cost me about £15, but might be less on ebay, or around the web. It's great because 1) No arm ache, may be neck/back ache if you keep bending over though 2) When I spot something I can easily show someone else what I have found.

IMHO bins are a great place to start. With my 10x56 Helios Mistral bins I can see

• Amazing detail on the moon
  
• I can't see Jupiter's planetary disc, but I can see some of it's moons.
  
• The brighter DSOs - like M15 and M31 appear as bright fuzzy discs.
  

The Philips book you mentioned is a good buy.

[jimieee]

• The brighter DSOs - like M15 and M31 appear as bright fuzzy discs.
  

I meant M13, not M15.