Total Noob with a pair of binocular's....

[weemax]

Hi all I have got an interest in whats out there, its just a slight interest - but im curious!

I have a quick read through some of the forum & after i seen a pair "recommended" (i use that term loosely), i picked up a pair of 10x50 Bresser's from Lidl's for £11 odd - its a start i suppose

Im just wondering, and its the most noob of questions, what could i expect to see using these?

Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated as we are having some lovely clear nights over here in Northern Ireland lately.

Kind regards

[roberte76]

stellarium is a great download on the computer to help you see exactly what is in the night sky at any time (just search for stellarium its a free programme),it will help you with the constelllations etc etc

other guys with those binos will tell you the limit of viewing with them

but their are going to be plenty of open clusters and even messiers objects to be seen

[weemax]

Super, thats a great start - thank you very much... Some of those terms are a bit over my head, but im gonna learn

[jgs001]

I have a pair of those bressers, and they are a pretty good pair. Have a look at "Stargazing with Binoculars" published by Philips (My Review, I can't find it in the reviews section here at the moment). It's got sketches of what to expect to see and some targets that are quite easy to see in Binoculars listed. If you take a quick look here, this has my first couple of outings with Binos detailed. I've used them quite a few times since getting a scope to look at Melotte 111, M44 The Beehive cluster (probably a bit low in the sky now) and others.

HTH

[weemax]

Thank you very much John, looks like i have a lot of reading to do.

All the replies are greatly appreciated

[peeceeTal2M]

Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies

Binocular Certificate Handbook

How to see 110 extraordinary celestial sights with an ordinary pair of binoculars.

I have this handbook in pdf form if your interested. Send me a private message with your email address and i'll send you a copy as its too big a file to upload here. It should give you an excellent start to observing with Binos

[phillc]

Hi weemax and welcome to SGL. I started with binoculars and still use them. I would Recommend you get a planishere, costs just a few pounds, you can get them from any astro shop or good book shop.

Will show you whats about at any time, 365 days a year. And perhaps a small red torch, helps keep your night vision.

phillc :wave:

[scotastro]

Hi Weemax

Came across this website a while back which lists what objects to look for in bins at different times of the year.

http://www.fvastro.org/beginners/bino/

Some are a little ambious for a beginner (or if your sky is not very dark) so don't dispair if you don't find an object at the first attempt. Stellarium will show you where each object is.

Learning the sky through binoculars is a step in astronomy many beginners miss out which is a shame because it sharpens your observing skills and you learn more of the night sky.

Scotastro

[EA2007]

Stellarium ain't that good, fair enough it looks the part, but content wise and versatility its poor, it also slows you computer right down.

I would use Voyager 3 /4 by Carina Software or Cartes Du Ciel...far better programs.

[phillc]

I agree with EA2007 about Stellarium. I find Cartes du Ciel a very good programme, but Weemax you have to persevere with it,as it is not as simple to use as Stellarium

phillc

[weemax]

Super guys, im d/l the basic Cartes du Ciel now.

Thanks to everyone for the very warm welcome & peeceeTal2M i will take you up on your offer & have PM'd my email address.

One other noob question

What is the "best" thing i should look for tonight, you know, something i haven't seen before but good to get started with, another planet perhaps - is this possible with binos?

[jgs001]

Mel111 in Coma Bernices is a really nice target in bins. If you can get away with it early enough, M44 in Cancer, but by the time the skies get dark enough here, it's sinking into the murk over the town in the west now. Both can be a little tricky to find if you don't know your way around though as the two constellations aren't the brightest to look at and they sit between bright constellations.

[weemax]

Ok, thanks Will have a look tonight what about other planets -something easier maybe lol

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

You should be able to make out the rings around Saturn with them. You'll see its definitely not round, but has ears or wings on. Also you will be able to see loads more stars than without the bins. Have a look at the plough and you'll see one of the stars is a double star. You can then check your eyesight as you might be able to see the double without the bins once you know which one it is.

Great fun sweeping about, as you will bump into cool clumps of stars and you can then lok up what you found to put a name to it. Clusters are good with bins.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Vega]

If your Eastern sky is clear, I'd have a go at the Great Hercules Cluster, M13. Should look like a small fuzz ball in bins

[DanDare]

and so the spending starts....

It can get a bit wearing holding binoculars for a long time and can be difficult holding them steady enough to get good views of individual stars or Saturn for instance. So you might want to think about getting a camera tripod and mounting the bins on it.

Have you tried the Moon yet? always looks good in bins.

Welcome to SGL

Roy

[weemax]

Hi Roy, I had a look at the moon a few nights ago. To be honest, i suppose i only ended up looking at it because that's all i can see

Was much too cloudy last night to see anything - even the moon. Hopefully tonight will be a bit better.

thanks also to Vega & Kaptain Klevtsov, loads of nice info there to get me started.

Thanks you too peeceeTal2M, i received the Bino doc

Appreciated

[rusirius]

Stellarium ain't that good, fair enough it looks the part, but content wise and versatility its poor, it also slows you computer right down.

I would use Voyager 3 /4 by Carina Software or Cartes Du Ciel...far better programs.

Have never had a problem with Stellarum, nor has it ever slowed my computer down. I'm using it on an old laptop with a 1gz Celeron processor and 512mb RAM with no problems. I even use it to control my scope. I also have Cartes du Ciel, Redshift 6, Starry Night 5 Enthusiast and Autostar Suite, but I still find Stellarium the easiest to use. My main gripe with it is entering your co-ordinates, but you can edit the stellarium.ini file under C:\documents and settings\username\stellarium which is much less frustrating!

Autostar Suite on the other hand is horrible! To be fair, the content does vary between packages and some describe objects with more detail than others. Some have more, less or just different features than others. All will take some time to learn to use. Stellarium is a good for begginers and as a free tool does a reasonable job. No doubt everyone will have their own preferences so by all means try out the available options and you will soon make your own choice as regards what you prefer.

[roberte76]

Stellarium ain't that good, fair enough it looks the part, but content wise and versatility its poor, it also slows you computer right down.

I would use Voyager 3 /4 by Carina Software or Cartes Du Ciel...far better programs.

Have never had a problem with Stellarum, nor has it ever slowed my computer down. I'm using it on an old laptop with a 1gz Celeron processor and 512mb RAM with no problems. I even use it to control my scope. I also have Cartes du Ciel, Redshift 6, Starry Night 5 Enthusiast and Autostar Suite, but I still find Stellarium the easiest to use. My main gripe with it is entering your co-ordinates, but you can edit the stellarium.ini file under C:\documents and settings\username\stellarium which is much less frustrating!

Autostar Suite on the other hand is horrible! To be fair, the content does vary between packages and some describe objects with more detail than others. Some have more, less or just different features than others. All will take some time to learn to use. Stellarium is a good for begginers and as a free tool does a reasonable job. No doubt everyone will have their own preferences so by all means try out the available options and you will soon make your own choice as regards what you prefer.

totally agree very user friendly for beginners,no problem on computer!