Binocular Advice

[Ziggy Stardust]

I am looking to get into astronomy and want to buy a set of binoculars for star gazing. I have recently moved down to Cornwall (where the skies are much clearer) and am about to move into an attic room in a secluded house, which would be perfect for viewing the skies.

After doing some research, I realized that with my budget (£100-ish, preferably less), it would be much better to buy some Binoculars as opposed to a cheap telescope. I am currently looking at these:

Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 15x70: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

I'm interested in your opinions on this. I also understand I will need a stand, will this do? Will this work with the Binoculars i'm looking at buying?

Hama Star 61 Tripod: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

I appreciate your help. I also want to know what kind of things I will be able to see through these. I have read up on this and I don't expect to see colourful nebulas and distance planets in full detail, but I would like to see the moon in much closer detail and the milky way.

I understand you probably get asked this question a lot so I appreciate your help. Thanks.

[brantuk]

Hi Ziggy

I have these and they are great - you'll see a lot of moon detail and also be able to pick out the main orbiting moons of Jupiter and Saturn (when in the fov).

They're just a tad stronger than a pair of 10x50's and the optics are fine for a starter's excursions in the night sky. As a guide though you won't see jupiters banding or saturns rings with them. You'll also see a lot more stars than you bargained for and the milky way is splendid with them.

However - they are quite heavy to hold due to weight/length, and you will need a tripod to avoid stars jumping all round the fov as your arms begin to ache lol

I got a cheap s/h tripod from a local camera store - it needs to be as solid as possible - you can weigh it down by hanging something heavy under it. You will also need an adapter (£10-£15) to attach the binocs to the tripod. Most astro websites sell them - or you can get them from some camera shops too.

A smooth head movement on the tripod is useful - I still have to wait a few seconds for mine to settle down and then try to view close to but not touching the eyepieces or tripod. The price you have there seems competetive.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

[pvaz]

First of all I must point this is only a personal opinion.

I started out with binos and it was great as it allowed me to learn my way around the sky in a very fast way. However I was soon unhappy with the trembling and, most of all, the low magnification and it toke me only a month to decide I wanted a telescope for steadier views with higher magnification.

You can solve the trembling part with a tripod but the price of those binos and a steady tripod (which I suspect it's not the case with the one you picked) is about the same as some very fine starter scopes that will allow you to see much more. With binos planets look star like. You'll be able to see some large nebulas (Orion nebula, Veil), if you have dark skies, and some other large Deep Sky Objects (DSOs) but it will always be very limited when compared to a scope.

For this reason I would say you should buy cheaper binos, without tripod, such as this ones:

Celestron UpClose 10X50 Binoculars: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

And save the rest of the money for a nice starter scope, when you start knowing your way around the sky:

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian

or this

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

If you want a cheaper one this is also a good option: http://firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=sw130p

Under dark skies this scopes will allow you to see hundreds of objects with magnifications ranging from 30x to 300x, provided you have the EPs needed to achieve these magnifications. They all come with 2 EPs already and if you add a decent barlow (such as the tal 2x for 35£) you can achieve 4 good magnifications that will cover all the basis.

PS-> On the "colorful nebulas": Unfortunatly the best you can aspire to see is a green tint to the Orion nebula. These objects are too dim for the human eye to pick colour in them and you need long exposure photos to bring it out. The planets will be colorful, as well as some double stars.

[emagine]

I also started out with binoculars, haven't moved to a telescope yet. Need to save up a bit more. I use a pair of Nikon 10-22 x 50. They cost e £109 including postage from amazon when I got them a few months ago. Here is the link

Nikon Action VII Binoculars: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

This is from a beginners point of view, I mean my point of view. They are a great pair, the view being really sharp and crisp. I don't go over the 10x since it gets a bit hard to keep them still, especially when looking at the stars (22x is still manageable if looking at the moon). I haven't really been much fussed about the tripod, just been using a cheap Sony (£30-35). But its not that sturdy, and wobbles a bit under windy conditions.

You should be able to see quite a few objects using any such pair. The description here is all what I see from my backyard. Orion nebula is a great sight, even from my severely light-polluted backyard in Eastbourne. M31 is a very easy target, which appears like a large, grey fuzzy oval patch in the sky. Some people find it really disappointing but you won't be able to see any colors or detail on any of the objects, and binculars won't make any difference when you're viewing at the milkway. If you can't see it (the milkyway) with your naked eyes, you can't see it with your binoculars. I've noticed that the best I can see under my skies is about mag 7.0-7.5 stars. The least magnitude of messier object visible to me is about mag 5.0-6.0. M81 is visible if the weather is really clear, but even seeing any shape is rather hard. Never seen M82, even after minutes of constantly staring at the spot where it should be. Overall, almost all objects I've seen appear to be very dim, fuzzy grey blobs of different shapes, but I still get goosebumps everytime I look at something through my binoculars. The description I've given is what I can see from my backyard, surrounded by brightly lit tall hotel buildings, and tons and tons of airglow. I hope you find this helpful, and goodluck.

[Mike W]

Hi Ziggy Stardust,

I have just recieved the Celestron 15x70 this morning from FLO, I must say that I am very impressed with them for the price and also from the service that you get from flo. Hope this helps.

[emagine]

Basically, you can buy anything of any price, basically, whatever floats your boat. But personally I decided to go for my pair because I know that even when I do buy nice big & expensive telescope. I will still be using the same pair of binoculars to help me navigate through the night-sky with ease, and locating objects (larger field of view). I'm not that keen on using binoculars with tripods anyway, thats why I didn't go for a larger aperture, but I still do it sometimes when I really don't have anything else to do. Binoculars I guess are all about portability and ease of use. But if you are forced to use a tripod all the time to view the sky, it pretty much killsthe purpose of binoculars, and as "pvaz" said, you'll be better off getting a cheap scope.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Thanks for all your advice, I would like a cheap scope but even the cheapest ones are double the price of binoculars.

[brantuk]

I feel budget is a prime consideration here - I would advise to go with the binocs for now - once you start with scopes there's all sorts of other stuff you'll want to spend money on - best left till a more managable time.

The SW 15x70's will fit the bill well for you, for now - you'll learn the night sky - and when a scope is within reach you'll get a lot more out of it with your accumulated sky knowledge.

Do join a local astro soc - they'll show you all sorts of stuff you can do with the binocs - and you'll get to look through loads of different scopes to get a better informed idea of what you want when the time is right

Oh - also get Stellarium - the perfect software companion and totally free to download

[Ziggy Stardust]

I feel budget is a prime consideration here - I would advise to go with the binocs for now - once you start with scopes there's all sorts of other stuff you'll want to spend money on - best left till a more managable time.

The SW 15x70's will fit the bill well for you, for now - you'll learn the night sky - and when a scope is within reach you'll get a lot more out of it with your accumulated sky knowledge.

Do join a local astro soc - they'll show you all sorts of stuff you can do with the binocs - and you'll get to look through loads of different scopes to get a better informed idea of what you want when the time is right

Oh - also get Stellarium - the perfect software companion and totally free to download

Great advice, thanks. Thanks to everyone, you've all been incredibly helpful.

[orionhunter]

Thanks for all your advice, I would like a cheap scope but even the cheapest ones are double the price of binoculars.

only true of new prices.

getting a used scope can be cheaper than a new pair of binos.

i bought a used helios 114mm newt for 30 quid.

that and a pair of 50/70 quid binos is not a bad starter kit for under a 100 quid.