Your favourite target for binocular viewing?

[technocat]

I have just bought my first (ever!) pair of binoculars and started exploring the night sky. Wanted to hear what you guys consider a must see (if the sky ever clears  )

[BinocularSky]

At this time of year? Pleiades, Collinder 70, Beehive, Kemble's Cascade, Eddie's Coaster., M31 - then just browse theMilky Way and see what you can discover.

[Pixies]

What @BinocularSkySteve said. Plus the Alpha Persei Moving Group (Melotte 20)

[Waddensky]

Double cluster! But there's so much within reach of a good pair of binoculars that it's hard to choose. I always like to find out how much Messiers I can catch with my 10x50 on a nice, dark night.

[robbymain]

Another vote for Melotte 20 and the Double Cluster! Both absolutely spellbinding 😃

[Merlin]

What we see in binoculars depends on the aperture and magnification.

[gurneyfan67]

The Double Cluster, Hyades, Pleiades, Beehive and the wonders of the constellation Orion.

[mikeDnight]

On 25/02/2021 at 20:37, technocat said:

I have just bought my first (ever!) pair of binoculars and started exploring the night sky. Wanted to hear what you guys consider a must see (if the sky ever clears  )

I bought a second hand pair of 12X60 binoculars way back in 1981. They were absolutely fantastic and with them I managed to not only learn my way around the sky well, but also see virtually every Messier object that dared to rise above my local horizon. So if you have a dark transparent sky, the Messier objects are within your grasp.  Sadly, my skies have deteriorated since then, but binoculars are easy to take out of town and set up in the countryside, and in some ways are better than a telescope. Whatever size of binocular you have, you'll massively improve the view, and consequently see much more, if they are mounted on a solid tripod. One of the most beautiful things you can look at, and that often gets overlooked, are the stars themselves. You'll have great fun observing the many contrasting colours in the brighter double stars as you examine each constellations major occupants.  Tracking and observing brighter comets is another fascinating avenue of study, as you can watch the tail and coma change from night to night as the comet moves across star fields. Then you could observe variable stars, which can become quite a passion if you're not careful. But don't forget the Moon, which is awesome when viewed through binoculars, and Jupiter and its Moons. Saturn and Titan, and the phases of Venus.  With proper solar filters securely attached to the front objective lenses you'll see Sun spots too, but its best not to spend too long observing the Sun, as you can end up looking like a Panda in negative.

[technocat]

25 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

I bought a second hand pair of 12X60 binoculars way back in 1981. They were absolutely fantastic and with them I managed to not only learn my way around the sky well, but also see virtually every Messier object that dared to rise above my local horizon. So if you have a dark transparent sky, the Messier objects are within your grasp.  Sadly, my skies have deteriorated since then, but binoculars are easy to take out of town and set up in the countryside, and in some ways are better than a telescope. Whatever size of binocular you have, you'll massively improve the view, and consequently see much more, if they are mounted on a solid tripod. One of the most beautiful things you can look at, and that often gets overlooked, are the stars themselves. You'll have great fun observing the many contrasting colours in the brighter double stars as you examine each constellations major occupants.  Tracking and observing brighter comets is another fascinating avenue of study, as you can watch the tail and coma change from night to night as the comet moves across star fields. Then you could observe variable stars, which can become quite a passion if you're not careful. But don't forget the Moon, which is awesome when viewed through binoculars, and Jupiter and its Moons. Saturn and Titan, and the phases of Venus.  With proper solar filters securely attached to the front objective lenses you'll see Sun spots too, but its best not to spend too long observing the Sun, as you can end up looking like a Panda in negative.

wow, you have been doing this for quite a while! I have a pair of 8x42 binoculars which should be sufficient but i live in a rather big city so even by going to a dark area im still not getting enough ligtht (class 5). Just as an example: i can barely see a little fog like spot in the center of what is supposed to be andromeda galaxy.  The Orion constallation is probably the best view im getting so far. I find watching the Sirius star flickring with colors rather fascinating. As for the moon, i just had the opportunity to look at the full moon and as beautiful as it is i didnt enjoy it as it was so bright it almost made my eyes hurt!

 As it gets warmer ill get my motorcycle out of the storage and will be able to get to areas with class 2, im looking so much forward to that! In the meantime i ordered the cambridge star atlas from the library to keep me entertained

[mikeDnight]

43 minutes ago, technocat said:

wow, you have been doing this for quite a while! I have a pair of 8x42 binoculars which should be sufficient but i live in a rather big city so even by going to a dark area im still not getting enough ligtht (class 5). Just as an example: i can barely see a little fog like spot in the center of what is supposed to be andromeda galaxy.  The Orion constallation is probably the best view im getting so far. I find watching the Sirius star flickring with colors rather fascinating. As for the moon, i just had the opportunity to look at the full moon and as beautiful as it is i didnt enjoy it as it was so bright it almost made my eyes hurt!

 As it gets warmer ill get my motorcycle out of the storage and will be able to get to areas with class 2, im looking so much forward to that! In the meantime i ordered the cambridge star atlas from the library to keep me entertained

You could try blocking out surrounding lights from entering your eye from the side. If you can make yourself comfortable and shield yourself from stray light that prevents dark adaption, you may find things may appear brighter. It takes about 20 minutes for your eyes to really become sensitive to faint objects, so don't be afraid to spend some time observing each object, and don't be tempted to rush on to the next. First Light Optics sell a binocular eye shield that you might find really helpful. ☺

[GrumpiusMaximus]

The Double Cluster and M81/M82 currently.  I have a great view of Cassiopeia from my back garden and there's a lot in there to just scan.  It's marvellous.

M42 is great too but obscured for me now and low.

[JuergenB]

Let me add the Coma Star Cluster (spring), the Veil Nebula complex, M8, M16, M17 (summer), M36, M37 and M38 (winter). Those are always beautiful.

Juergen