binoculars or telescopes wich is best

[hullobservertory]

I have celestron 15x70 and bins alot easier to use

[ronin]

Binoculars are easy but like yours they are fixed in magnification, 15x in your case.

You can look at Jupiter and see a disc and the moons around Jupiter. I have a small scope - same diameter as your binoculars - I can alter the magnification and at 40x and 50x I can see the bands of Jupiter and the 4 moons and the GRS.

It is the level of detail that a scope can drag out via altering the magnification where they have the (sort of) advantage.

My little 70 will show M57 quite nicely, 15x binoculars will not.

Your question in a way is incorrect. They are not instruments for the same use and really asking which is best should not arise. Binoculars and telescopes compliment each other they do not compete with each other.

I find that binoculars will show me where M13 is, a telescope will show me what M13 is.

I will however tell a person not to get binoculars when the question is should I buy a scope or get a set of binoculars first. Generally astronomy is done with a scope and buying binoculars diverts money from that.

[brantuk]

It's a bit like asking which is the best car. If you wanna go local shopping then it's probably something like a Ford Fiesta, if you wanna cruise 200 miles of motorway to London and back daily then a big comfy Volvo is probably better.

Bins are great for learning the sky, looking at open clusters, even some galaxies like M31, but if you want fine detail on planets, or you're trying to eek out very deep objects, then a scope is gonna give you more than any bins.

Even asking which is the best scope will be debatable. A 4" refractor is a totally different tool to a 20" dob, both have  differing strengths and weaknesses (similar for bins).

[mikeDnight]

I think the thing to keep in mind is that not only are binoculars a handy tool that nearly all amateurs use, they are also a very serious and capable instrument in their own right. Many of us cut our star teeth using binoculars by learning our way around the night sky, in the days before GOTO. In fact, many serious amateurs use nothing but binoculars even today.

To get the most out of a pair of binoculars, they really need to be mounted on a sturdy altazimuth mount.

Mike

[mikeDnight]

Attached is the only, very poor, photograph that i have of an altazimuth fork mount i built back in 1981. It was made out of plywood and was designed to hold my 12x60 binoculars rock solid. It was superb and I've seen nothing on the market today that comes close to it.

The fork arms were tilted back and were wide enough to accommodate my head, with the altitude pivot situated around my temple area. This kept the eyepieces at the same distance from my eyes as altitude was increased or decreased. It was very comfortable to use.

Mike

[Stu]

Attached is the only, very poor, photograph that i have of an altazimuth fork mount i built back in 1981. It was made out of plywood and was designed to hold my 12x60 binoculars rock solid. It was superb and I've seen nothing on the market today that comes close to it.

The fork arms were tilted back and were wide enough to accommodate my head, with the altitude pivot situated around my temple area. This kept the eyepieces at the same distance from my eyes as altitude was increased or decreased. It was very comfortable to use.

MikeIMG_20150529_085959.jpg

That's an ingenious looking design Mike, I can see how that would be comfortable to use.

[jabeoo1]

......... binoculars will show me where M13 is, a telescope will show me what M13 is.

That is a really good way of putting it.   

[spike95609]

I bought my 15x70s first and spent a year learning a lot about navigating the night sky before I got a telescope. I did much umming and ahing before getting the scope though as I really liked binoculars and was considering a much bigger binocular with 25+ magnification. I got to try something in that league but wasn't overly impressed with the difference it made. In the end I'm glad I went with the scope as it's undeniably the much more powerful and flexible of the two.

So I'd say binoculars are fantastic for finding your way around the night sky because they're low power and the sky is the correct way up when looking through them. What with everything being back to front in a telescope and magnified in so much, it would be a much more confusing way to learn. As many others have said, binoculars and telescopes is not an either/or, they complement each other.

[Digger1895]

I find binoculars are the best, well for the Pleiades anyway.