bino advise wanted ( pls )

[elmatthijs]

LS,

I plan to buy a pair of binoculars to both aid me viewing the sky at night ( next to my 6” Newtonian ) and to use as an independent tool; I am addicted to looking at the moon, and thus the bino’s will predominantly be used for viewing the moon ( and Near Earth Objects ).

When I look at the moon with my naked eyes, the aperture is the width of my pupil. When I use the view finder of my telescope ( as a monocular ), I get a head age from the amount of light streaming into my eye ( bigger aperture and magnification ), and tent to put sun glasses on when planning a longer viewing session.

When I buy a pair of bino’s, say 7x50, which seems to be the general advise, or bigger, which requires a more steady hand, do I need to protect my eyes with a moon,- or polaroid filter ?

And if so, what is the bigger issue: the magnification factor or the aperture size ? Or the combination of both ? Are there any bino’s that can have filters screwed on them ?

Any models that are especially suited for lunar viewing ?

I am currently looking at the Celestron Skymaster DX 8x56 or the 9x63 ( both fully multi-coated ). Should I go for a pair at say 20x80 or 25x100, I would need a tripod ( or an upside down broomstick ), which would make the whole setup “cumbersome”, and I would just as well setup my telescope. “Grap & point” is key here !

On the other hand, if I can get a far more superior image with a 20x80 or 25x100, then it would be “foolish” to settle for the 8x56 or the 9x63… Although the weight of the bino’s will be a damper for long term viewing, and any hand shaking will be amplified, I like to see detail J

Any advice welcome !

Thanx,

Lucas.

( newbie to bino’s – Amsterdam, the NL  )

[Steve Ward]

Hi Lucas , welcome to the forum ...  

The Celestron 15 x 70's give wonderful views of the Moon and are very manageable hand-held , and a very good price , whereas the 20 x 80's need a tripod for sure.

That said neither will beat the 6" scope though , I would recommend a "variable polarising filter" to start with to reduce the over-bright image you get problems with.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/variable-polarizing-moon-filter.html

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I can handle a 15x70 (Helios Apollo in my case) without a mount but most people cannot. I do set up my parallelogram mount for longer sessions. I would think a 10x50 is just about the largest most people can handle without a tripod.

[Nakedgun]

Lucas,

No knowing your budget, my thoughts may not help, but here goes...

First, I would advise that you visit a binocular retailer to find out just how much magnification you can comfortably hold steady, and, that will provide the field of view you seek for Earth-bound and NEOs. 

Second, I recommend a spotting scope, 60 or 80mm aperture, 20 - 60x magnification, for Lunar or detailed terrestrial work. This would be tripod mounted, of course, but can be carried outside in one hand, and will provide much more utility for observing features on the Moon, or on Earth. With higher power you are seeing a smaller field, so the brightness will have less intensity. Moreover, many spotting scope objectives are threaded for photography filters which will reduce light throughput.

In this way you'll have instruments for very wide, then wide, then(with your newt) narrow-field work. 

[edjuh]

He Lucas,

Have a look at astroforum.nl, there is a large variety of information in the 'verrekijkers' part of the forum.

For a bino to join your Dobson, find a old russian or japanese on MP. For less than 40 euro's you can not go wrong.

[ollypenrice]

I can't hand hold 15x70. Not by a million miles. I prefer 8x to 10x as well.

Quite tricky, the filter question. I honestly don't know how I'd filter the moon in bins. I use a neutral density filter in the scopes, like most people. It might be possible to adapt a pair of these.

Olly

[Cygnus_X1]

My advice, if you want to look at the moon, is to buy a small telescope rather than binoculars. The problem is that 10 times magnification really isn't enough to do the moon justice, and anything more than 10 is going to require a tripod...and viewing anything over 45 degrees elevation will mean some physical contortion. This is something seldom mentioned when people discuss tripods for binoculars.

Personally, I view the Moon at 35 times magnification via my 60mm refractor, which has a sturdy tripod. That shows the Moon very well indeed.  I have a 90 degree prism ( no doubt there is a correct technical term for this ) at the focal point so I am looking downwards and not straight forward and thus don't have to strain my neck when the elevation is too high. Under ideal viewing conditions, I have two further eyepieces that go to 100 and 140 times magnification. But anything above 100 really requires an equatorial mount with a drive, for longer viewing or the Moon passes out of the field of view in seconds.

[BinocularSky]

I honestly don't know how I'd filter the moon in bins.

I don't bother: the eyes soon adapt (after all, the surface of the Moon is no brighter than sunlit tarmac; it just appears brighter because of dark adaptation and contrast against a dark-ish sky).

I use a neutral density filter in the scopes, like most people. It might be possible to adapt a pair of these.

I prefer a deep red (#29) filter to an ND with the scopes.  A #25 is also OK, but a #29 seems to me to tease out more detail.

[ollypenrice]

Very nice point about sunlit tarmac! I'll use that if I may.

Olly

[BinocularSky]

Very nice point about sunlit tarmac! I'll use that if I may.

It's a universal truth, Olly -- yours to use as much as it is mine.