Celestron Skymaster 15x70 and Expectations

[danbt]

Hi all.

I'm Dan and I'm a student from Birmingham.

Despite having an incredible amount of light pollution, we do get the odd night where we CAN actually see some stars.

When we do, I cannot help but stare and wonder.

I've always had a keen interest in space, though sadly my other academic interests took over.

So instead, I really would love to pursue astronomy as a hobby.

From what I've read, my current understanding is that; if you don't spend anything above 300 GBP, you won't really get anything that is much better than a decent pair of bino's.

Is this right?

I've seen a lot of people on the forum rating the Skymasters highly, which must mean they're pretty good.

So finally, my first question is; would the skymaster's be good for a first pair of bino's and secondly; what can you actually expect to see through a decent pair of bino's like this?

Can you see the coloured bands on planets, rings around saturn, moons, etc?

I don't really understand what you can actually see, and what is just the expections influenced by Hollywood.

Thanks all.

Dan.

[John P]

Hi Dan.

I've got the Celestron 15x70 bins, and they are great! The only downside for me is that I haven't got a tripod yet (though this should be sorted soon, I've already emailed FLO for some advice ).

Even so, I've enjoyed some fantastic views of the Orion Nebula and the Pleiades, and have located the Andromeda galaxy despite my very light polluted sky.

I'm afraid you won't be able to see bands on Jupiter or Saturn's rings, but you will still see a helluva lot more than you can with the naked eye. I often point them at what appears with the naked eye to be a barren piece of sky, to find a multitude of stars leaping out at me!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I paid under £300 for my 20X90 bins and i LOVE them. I also bought a tripod which cost £100.

OK so with bins you will not see much in the way of detail on planets but you can see a hell of a lot (clusters,galaxies,nebs etc). There are only 9 planets out there compared to millions of other objects.

[spaceboy]

Welcome to the lounge.

While I think binoculars are a good investment if you have a budget of £300 ??? then this scope would offer you way more potential viewing than binoculars Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2

BTW even if you had a £1000 scope you will not see colour on Jupiter's cloud bands.

Hope this helps.

SPACEBOY

[moocher]

I love mine!!!!

Alan:D