First evening observing

[Ronseal]

Just thought I tell you about my first observing session with 10x50's... ever!

Sky cleared after a rainy day, bit cold at 4deg. & now I beleive there's too much light polution in my back garden from the high streetlights behind.

Anyway, I set up in a camping chair, with stellarium on the laptop besides me scanning north NE / NW.

I recognised Cassepia prettty quickly, then moved on to Cephius & Ursa Minor, and some of Draco. looking directly overhead I could make out Ursa Major.

Then I scanned east and picked up Arcturus (I think) which was the brightest thing lowish in the sky, then picked up Saturn on the arm of Virgo.

Lastly had a good look at the moon & was impressed with the detail I could see, then noticed the Pleiades above & to the left.

I can see what people mean when talking about the limitations of binos, but I think I need to get away from the streetlamp pollution to fully appreciate what I could see with 10x50's.

My main aim is to start to learn the constellations & recognise them so I can navigate the sky. Next I think I need a clamp to mount the binos on a tripod, then I need more power!

[yeti monster]

10x50s are great for hunting things down, I often use them in conjunction with a scope to help in aligning the scope on those difficult to find things.

20x80 (and larger, I suspect) really pull in the fuzzies, tripod mounted I often prefer them to the 114 as the wide field binocular view means more signal and less noise. With the 10" obviously the one eye is recieving plenty of light, but the 20x80s I can grab and go just about anywhere.

For learning the constellations I have a set of laminated star charts, which I can make notes on with a dry board marker, and 10x50s are probably better as you get more of the field, so that the stars actually bear some relation to the charts. Too much magnification seems to isolate things a lot for me.

[Talitha]

What a great first session, you'll learn the constellations in no time. A layer of cirrus clouds hid the Sisters here, but Luna looked lovely... like she was wearing a gauze veil.