Hello! , ive been gone for a while

[johnk81]

Hello again everyone! , I would like to ask some quick advice on a recent purchase I have recently bought some 30x60 zoom binoculars as my reflector telescope isn't up to scratch for me , and all I would like to ask is are these good for astronomy? I am trying my damnedest to get some good views of the sky , and with all the good skies we have had lately I was assuming to see something like galaxy , nebulae with the binoculars.

But so far I have not , is it possible being in a populated area would really hamper my efforts with the light pollution?

Any help welcome as I am getting to grips with my Planisphere and really really want to see Andromeda!

[philf]

andromeda galaxy is magnatude 3.5 so i'd have thought it would be barely visible to the naked eye in a light poluted area but that you should be able to see it with your binoculars - I'm a newbie so couldnt tell you what it is you should be seeing but there is a representation of a binocular view at http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/m31-p.html but I guess it is just possible that, what with seeing conditions etc, your light pollution is stopping you getting a godd view.

HTH

Phil

[John]

The Andromeda galaxy is just about visable to the naked eye on a good dark night and easily visable in binoculars. If your binoculars have 60mm objective lenses (30x60 ?) then you should be able to find it. With 30x magnification however you will need to put your binoculars on a tripod to steady them as hand holding anything above 12x or so is a real challenge I find. Nebulae are more of a challenge but you should be able to make out M42 in Orion as a misty patch below the 3 stars known as Orions belt.

John

[TheThing]

andromeda galaxy is magnatude 3.5 so i'd have thought it would be barely visible to the naked eye in a light poluted area

Apologies Phil, but an incorrect assumption. It is not visible from light polluted skies with the naked eye. A common misconception! Bins should pick it up, but it can be darned hard to track it down under LP even using them!

[premo]

welcome back