Bortle 2 dilemma!

[Beulah]

Bortle 2 dilemma...🤣

It's amazing how much you can see with even small-apertured equipment in such dark skies. If it were me, I would take something that's grab-and-go, so you can either sit and scan the skies or have a little wander away from outdoor lighting. The key is, you are on holiday to relax, so the setup has to be as light and easy to use as possible. 10x50 binoculars are ideal; large enough to see a lot of stuff plus the image is steady enough not to be frustrating hand held. Enjoy the night sky with the unaided eyes as the Milky Way will be a sight to behold!

[badhex]

5 hours ago, jetstream said:

I can tell you for a certainty that the scope youre bringing will give mind blowing views, if the conditions co operate. You will see Barnards Loop easily, with and without an Hb, go for the shade edge next to M78. Keeping in mind that dark adaptation is a must as is zero alcohol

Yes, I never drink even a beer if I'm observing. The darkest sky this scope has seen has been Bortle 4 and it was actually almost overwhelming at first, because so many more stars were visible I couldn't initially recognise some parts of the sky, so I imagine at Bortle 2 it would be incredible!

[badhex]

14 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Use the cheap gear. My first bortle 2 experience was with binoculars. I was so blown away, the Skymax 102 stayed in the tent...

 

One downside to the cheap scope is that the max FOV I can get would be about 4 degrees of sky, assuming I take the MaxVision 24mm SWA which I had not planned to take. The ZS73 will net me 5.5 degrees!

I would take my bins also but I never find the experience as enjoyable somehow. 

Edited August 6, 2021 by badhex

[badhex]

3 hours ago, Beulah said:

Bortle 2 dilemma...🤣

It's amazing how much you can see with even small-apertured equipment in such dark skies. If it were me, I would take something that's grab-and-go, so you can either sit and scan the skies or have a little wander away from outdoor lighting. The key is, you are on holiday to relax, so the setup has to be as light and easy to use as possible. 10x50 binoculars are ideal; large enough to see a lot of stuff plus the image is steady enough not to be frustrating hand held. Enjoy the night sky with the unaided eyes as the Milky Way will be a sight to behold!

Yeah that is definitely the plan. I have taken the ZS73 travel kit away before but not like properly on holiday, and whatever happens I will be taking it on the first holiday where things are a bit les of an unknown. Maybe I will evaluate then if it was worth it, or whether I'd have been just as happy with a more basic setup. 

[Captain Scarlet]

The biggest wonder and impact I get from going from bright to dark skies are naked eye and with binoculars. Look for the things you couldn’t dream of seeing naked eye where you normally live, M31, beehive cluster, Coma Berenices cluster, the ladder in Auriga, even M13 for example. Then M51, M101, M81/2, M33 with the bins. Anything beyond that aperture-wise and with filters is a bonus.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Captain Magenta

[Beulah]

21 hours ago, badhex said:

Yeah that is definitely the plan. I have taken the ZS73 travel kit away before but not like properly on holiday, and whatever happens I will be taking it on the first holiday where things are a bit les of an unknown. Maybe I will evaluate then if it was worth it, or whether I'd have been just as happy with a more basic setup. 

Would love to read a report of your astro adventures abroad. Hope you have a great time ☺️.

[badhex]

49 minutes ago, Beulah said:

Would love to read a report of your astro adventures abroad. Hope you have a great time ☺️.

Thanks! Whichever I end up taking, I will be sure to report back!

[Victor Boesen]

I will go ahead and add to this again since I'm currently on a trip to a Bortle 3 location. What did I bring? Well, I brought my Helios Apollo 15X70 binoculars and Evostar 72ED together with all the eyepieces seen in my signature and OIII/UHC filters. Not to mentioned my naked eyes!

I just came inside after a couple hours under the stars and I felt like I could share my experience. To cut it short - my 24mm 82 degree eyepiece stayed in the refractor (sometimes with an OIII filter) and I switched between the binoculars and wide field telescope setup. In the end I noticed the performance was roughly the same (perhaps a little better in the Evostar & 24mm EP.) And if I were to choose between the telescope with eyepieces or the binoculars with screw-in OIII/UHC filters I'd probably go for binoculars. I also managed to sport M33 for the first time ever with the binoculars (star hopping is easy!). Observable was M101, M54, M81, M82, M13, M45, Veil, North American nebula, Sadr region.... and the list goes on. Could only imagine the possibilities under Bortle 2 skies.

With that said, I also spent a very long time just gazing at the Milky Way with my naked eyes and managed to catch three excellent Perseus meteors which lit brightly for a short while and left a glowing trail. My best meteor display ever! The North American area was visible naked eye, so was the double cluster in Cassiopeia, M31 and a bunch of other interesting objects/star patterns that I could later examine closer with the binoculars.

I hope this was somewhat useful for you or someone doubting how useful a pair of binoculars can be under dark skies.

Victor

[Roy Challen]

On 04/08/2021 at 20:58, JeremyS said:

For really dark skies I like nothing better than binoculars. And if the Milky Way is on view, some of those vixen ultra wide field opera glasses

Vixen SG 2.1 x 42

I was gonna say this too. I've been fortunate enough to experience Bortle 1 skies (if there was ever such a thing as Bortle 0, this place would be it), and I only took my 12x50s with me. The views are absolutely unforgettable.

Larger optics would've been great, but not a necessity by any means.

[M40]

On 05/08/2021 at 07:38, RobertI said:

Take the ZS73 and a good pair of binoculars - you’ll be in astronomy heaven! Last year I scanned the Milky Way with my 10x50s, holding an OIII filter up to one eyecup and a UHC filter to the other - it was like having X-ray vision, the emission nebulae just popped into view! 

First time I saw the milky way was in mid Wales, telescope didn't get out of the car, I just stood and looked. I like the idea of a couple of filters on 10x50's as Robertl said, great idea. So I think my choice would be a comfy chair, a pair of binoculars and a shopping list of things to look for. Have a great holiday.

[badhex]

Thanks all, perhaps I will revisit the binoculars idea. I guess I've just never found the experience that comfortable, even though I have a tripod bracket - but obviously the ease of star hopping and scanning the sky whilst hand held is a big attraction.

Still very much undecided! 

[PeterW]

I’ve thought over what I’d bring if/when I can get to such dark skies and for a first trip it would be bins, probably 10d50 and a monopod to steady and the 2x54, with some filters. As noted there is so much of the large stuff - no one has mentioned dark nebulae yet - go find the stuff you’ll never be able to spot from home, bring a scope next time if you feel you’re missing it… or bigger binoculars. Looking forward to the observing report.

Peter

[jetstream]

On 05/08/2021 at 14:40, badhex said:

I would take my bins also but I never find the experience as enjoyable somehow. 

Not to take away from those that do... but I find binoculars underwhelming. I use a 90mm f7 apo for really wide views, which are stunning. Just looked up the WO Zenithstar 73 III-what a great looking scope! The NAN will be very bright in this scope as will so many others. Your 73mm will also chew up galaxies, giving very bright presentations with the mag upped for many.