First light with new binoculars

[AllanJ]

Finished watching A Bridge Too Far on TV (again) last night, and realised that for the first time after a month of clouds, rain or holiday absence, there was an unexpectedly clear sky over the Exeter area. So I said to my wife I'd just pop out for definitely not more than half an hour to try out my new binoculars. Since I got started with a telescope a few months ago I haven't tried to see much with our little compact bins, and I'd been contemplating getting something bigger for a little while. We were in Cley in north Norfolk a couple of

weeks ago, and when I saw a stack of 10x50 Bressers in the Cley Spy shop at the nature reserve I decided that perhaps waiting for a Lidl special offer might take too long, and so Iashed out on these, plus a tripod mount. Then I didn't get a chance to use them until last night. Out I went at 1140. The garden chairs and table were soaked, so I perched on a folding stool, with my chart more or less keeping dry on one of the dog's towels. I wanted to use the tripod mount for stability, but it was a bit of a fiddle with my very old, simple tripod (I pulled one of the legs off at first), and I was too high on the stool, and not reclining, and trying not to kick the tripod over, but I started to get the hang of it after a while. Finally, after a general survey of the south-easterly sky visible from the patio, I started with the Coathangar then slowly worked my way across to Pegasus thence to Andromeda to easily find M31 – first time I'd looked at it for years! When I stood up, I realised that Jupiter had crept out from behind the house next door, so before it vanished behind some trees I managed a good look at it for the first time, with some of its its attendant moons quite clear – two were more or less overlapping. The realisation that my half-hour had more than tripled, and that I was getting rather cold and damp, brought me back inside. I really enjoyed myself out there, realising just how much you can see with inexpensive binoculars. Now it's gone cloudy again.

Allan

[starf]

hello allan. having a break from imaging and doing what you have done is so relaxing from time to time. as you say you dont need much in the way of optics.

im still amazed at what the bresser skylux shows. putting a 4mm eyepiece and moon filter and you can easily pick up two bands on jupiter... and like your binoculars if anything hides itself behind obstructions you can easily pick it up and move it around.

makes an nice evening and the views you get will stay a lot longer with you than a photograph.

[Doc]

Sounds like you really enjoyed yourself Allan. It's great to just get outside and relax with a bit of stargazing. I used to lay down on a recliner elbows at my side and bins to my eyes. I found in this position I could hold binocullars dead still and just watch the stars go by.

[Albireo380]

Sounds like a good observing session Allan. Sometime the simple things are best, gazing up at a few objects with Bins.

Tom

[philsail1]

Yes, Alan, I don't think you can beat a pair of binoculars for showing the sheer "majesty" and "vastness" of the night sky - simply. No set up time, no cool down time, no "go-to" needed, no weight issues, just total freedom to scan where one likes.

I do use my "Lidl" Bresser 10x50's a lot.

Very relaxing and satisfying way to see the wonder of the heavens.

Regards,

philsail1

[saturns_rings]

nice report, as soon as i got the scope, i sort of neglected the binos a bit. deffinately the best thing to head out with if you're just lookin for a quick session. ill never forget the first time i saw the orion nebulae in them.

[algol]

yah bins are great too. i love lying on a sun loungr in back yard freezin to death with neighbours muttering lol