10 x 50 bins

[downesy89]

i have got 10 x 50 bins and i need to no if they are strong enough for the night sky? i'm in an area that has some light pollution but have a nice dark spot, i also have a jessops astronomical telescope 1100-102 but i'm new to using it and could do with some help looking a northern atmosphere tips would be most welcome and thanks

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

10x50 ins are great for stargazing. You should be able to see loads of stuff. I have spotted quite a large number of Messier objects with it (M31, M33, M81 & M82, M51, M101, and loads more). The double cluster in Perseus is also great.

[Schorhr]

Hello Downesy,

sure, 10x50 are a common type for astronomic purpouses, if those are not the cheap one's from ebay ;-)

They will show you larger objects such as the Andromeda galaxy, you will see Jupiter's moons, and even Saturn starts to look a tad oval.

Open star clusters are pretty to look at, and larger nebulae will be visible too if the light polution is not too much (or if you drive outside of town)

I would reccomend getting a book AND go install Stellarium, perhaps even set up your binoculars as "telescope" (ctrl+a, alt+a, for example just ad a 120mm eyepiece with 60 degree of apparent field of view, for a 200/1200 telescope, not realistic, but will give you 10x magnification and a common field of view, depending on the binoculars this can vary though).

Your telescope will be a great starter device, and combined with your binoculars, makes stuff easy to find. Especially if your telescope has no red dot or telrad/rigel finder, you can first search the region with your binoculars (as it's easier to handle and shows more field) and then have a go with your telescope. Even if you can't pin point an objects location right away, the binoculars can help finding prominent star patterns to star-hop to the desired object you want to observe.

But a book such as Turn left at orion, or, less beginner friendly but very usefull, The Observer's Sky Atlas.

There are also maps to print and books dedicated for binoculars, I am sure someone will know & post a link to an english website with some maps and guides as I know none by memory :-)

[VigdisVZ]

I've done most of my casual observing with a cheap pair of 10x50. Caught a bunch of messiers and bright clusters with them from a light-polluted spot during days of good seeing/transparency. Get a printed starmap and a red-light torch or you can do like me and use a night-vision enabled app like Starmap on iPhone .

[BinocularSky]

i have got 10 x 50 bins and i need to no if they are strong enough for the night sky?

Yes, as others have said, they are a very useful hand-held size.

As you might guess from my user-name, I'm a big fan of binoculars for astronomy. If you click on the banner in my signature, it will take you to my web site where, amongst other things, you can go to Observing -> Object Search where you can filter objects for your location and binocular size ; it will then throw up lots of objects that are potentially available to you. Either that, or you can do it via the Whole Sky maps: just select month and time, and a chart will give you a clue what is available.

Also, I write a monthly "binocular tour" for Sky at Night magazine; 6 objects a month, with at least 4 or 5 of them suitable for 10x50s. (Try your local library -- they ought to have it)

go install Stellarium, perhaps even set up your binoculars as "telescope"

Easy way to set that up is F2 -> Plug-ins -> (check "Load at Startup") -> Configure -> Eyepieces -> Add -> (check "Binoculars") ->then:

Name: 10x50

aFOV: 5 (or 6, if yours are wider angle, but I find 5 to be most useful, as the outer bit of the FoV is usually a bit mushy)

Focal Length: 1

Field Stop: 0

Please do ask if you need any help.

[Schorhr]

Oh, I was not aware that there is a binocular simulation now ! :-)

[ronl]

Steve's web site is superb, it's the only web site you will ever need

to find anything you need to know about bins, page 58 in the

Sky at Night magazine, don't miss it.

[Miranda]

wow - many new happy hours playing with the Bin-Sim on stellarium! Thanks Steve for the help