RobertI Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 It was late when the clouds cleared, and I was heading to bed. Not wanting to waste a good sky I grabbed the 10x50 bins and headed out for a quick peek. Random scanning of the southern aspect revealed a lovely wide double of roughly equal brightness yellow stars; Alpha 1 & 2 Capricorni as I discovered from SkySafari. Sweeping further revealed another nice wide double with a bright yellow primary and fainter secondary; this turned out to be Beta Capricorni. Gamma Aquilae (Tarazed) which sits prominently above Altair, was very orange through the bins - I had never noticed this with the naked eye - I wonder why? I found Neptune with the help of SkySafari, but it was not really distnguishable from its stellar neighbours. On to Alberio which looked gorgeous through the bins and tiny. At 30" separation it was a close double and I reckon 20" separation might just be the limit for my bins (and eyes!). A quick look at the unmistakeable Coathanger asterism, then on to the beautiful starfields of Cygnus, possibly a fleeting glimpse of the Veil but no North American Neb although plenty of nebulosity; I'm sure it was there I just can't quite make out the shape, I have a feeling that one day it will just suddenly pop into view. Over to M32 - it looked vast covering a good proportion of the FOV. Then some clusters. The ET cluster was actually larger than I expected through bins - it always makes me laugh and tonight was even better, with little ET floating there looking down at me! Quick visit to some old favourites, the double cluster, NGC752 and M45 just rising. Finally Kemble's Cascade, definitely one to the most beautiful and unmistakable binocular objects that I have seen. And all this with a huge greasy thumprint on one of the lenses courtesy of my son! I must make more use of my bins, I can honestly say I get as much satisfaction out of them as any of my numerous telescopes, I just keep forgetting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 Nice report Rob. Binos can certainly be great for a nice relaxing session, often so much moreso than a scope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastman Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 14 hours ago, RobertI said: The ET cluster was actually larger than I expected through bins - it always makes me laugh and tonight was even better, with little ET floating there looking down at me! Great bino session, the ET cluster is one of my favorite open clusters. It has many nicknames like the dragonfly or owl cluster. It's what you see in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 1 minute ago, Eastman said: Great bino session, the ET cluster is one of my favorite open clusters. It has many nicknames like the dragonfly or owl cluster. It's what you see in it. I love the ET Cluster, same as others it always makes me smile. Looks great filling fov of a scope. Upside down for us here though in a frac, better in a Newt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 That’s a great report and I have to agree using bins is effortless and rewarding. I looked at Zeta Lyr at 44” separation in the scope s week back and didn’t linger. But looking at them in 10x50s a few nights later and Wow!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin StCleeve Posted September 17, 2018 Share Posted September 17, 2018 Some nights, if it's clear, I just drive a few miles outside the city glow and do a binocular session by the side of the road. In 10x50's I bet the majority of Messier Objects can be seen, and it's a great way to get to know the night sky. Last year in Shropshire, under a really dark sky, I did a galaxy hunt with an old pair of battered 10x50's and bagged five or six galaxies, (Bodes, M31, a couple in Leo.. ). It made me really consider binocular astronomy in earnest, and since then I've bought a pair of Opticron 10x50's, which I love! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertI Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 Thanks for the replies and likes. My Bausch and Lomb Legacy's are pretty good in that they have a wide FOV of 6.5 degrees, show nice sharp stars and seem to be able to reveal pretty faint stuff, but focus becomes significantly less sharp as you get closer the edges of the FOV. The price of a wide FOV I guess? I'd love to look through a premium pair of bins to compare and see the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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