A binocular to start with

[borris83]

I am trying to find out the binocular of which specification is good for watching planets.. I have a 15x15 monocular using which I can't see anything special except that the moon looks little closer..Stars look better in the naked eye than this monocular..

I find 10x50 costing rs.4000 but 30x30 costing half that price.. Shouldn't price go high for higher magnification? Which one should I go for?

[Pete Presland]

i would go for the 10x50 every time! 30x30 is going to have a very small field of view.

[kniclander]

binoculars are not really ideal for planets because the mag is too small - with 10x50s you would see jupiter as a disc but no markings on it and probably 4 moons. Saturn might just show her ring; that's about it. You could see mars, uranus(?) mercury and venus but just as dots (venus may show a phase but more likely just a splodge).

If planets are really your thing, you are better off saving for a small scope.

btw, how much is 4000rs in euros?

[russ]

I agree, in this instance, a small cheap scope is far better than any 10x50 binos, regardless of cost. I also have no idea what 4000rs is in Euro but something like a 90mm Altaz refractor would be more what you need. Even a Skywatcher Mercury 70 would be a much better tool for planet watching than even the worlds most expensive pair of 10x50 binoculars.

[Moon Lander]

4000 rupees is about EUR68 (GBP57).

[borris83]

I haven't used any telescopes yet... Should learn how to use them or will it be pretty easy, similar to Binoculars?

[Tugboat]

My 10x50 Bressers cost about £22. They are fine for getting a look at the night sky in general, but I tried pointing them at Jupiter the other night and the experience wasn't great!

As mentioned by kniclander the disc will appear bigger, but you can't make anything out on it. Unless you are using a tripod (or have very steady hands - I don't!) it will be quite difficult to focus.

In terms of telescopes it doesn't have to be difficult. I bought my first scope a couple of years ago, pointed it at the bright dot in the sky and was shocked at how good an image of Jupiter I had seen, including some of its moons which looked like bright stars. I didn't polar align, just aimed and got it about right. Start with lower magnification and then when you have the object centred increase the magnification to see more detail.

I'm by no means an expert, but I should imagine it is easier to "point and shoot" with an alt-azimuth type of mount rather than an equitorial mount.

[Ags]

I bought some cheap binoculars on holiday in La Palma. Absolutely useless. I have to look through them with one eye shut. I'd say spend a bit more on a known Astro brand.

[LukeSkywatcher]

A small scope of say 90mm apeture would be ideal as a starting point to see planets. Binoculars REALLY are not suited for observing planets....not even BIG binoculars. Maybe one day someone will invent bins of say 50X and then we would just start to see planets as small round discs.