Stellarium and bino's a good team

[al55]

Took out my laptop with Stellarium on it tonight and my 15 x 70's, what a diffence having Stellarium there. Despite the moon i was picking out clusters quite easily having Stellarium there to guide me.

Very cold though, me and my laptop could only last the hour, but very worthwhile.

[itchy]

That's what i do, it's amazing what you can pick out.

Only problem is that the battery on my laptop is no good so i also end up taking a 12v battery and invertor.

Kind of defeats the object of 'pick up and go' binocular viewing.

May do an ebay search for a new PC battery...

[oldfruit]

Sounds like a great way to start and familiarise yourself with the sky, plus it always helps to have something to guide you so you are not just looking at random stars.

[mark993]

I have been out with Stellarium and just looked at the sky it is a major help in learing the sky. Need to try it with the binos next.

[keeplookingup]

i never tried carrying out my laptop. but always used field guides when i was learning to navigate around the sky. but really seriously? stellarium is a great great tool so i think its time i did the same.

its nice to have that with ya when out under the sky but battery life is always an issue.

lunar powered laptop batteries???!! haha