Got new bins today and clear skies tonight

[Ags]

The only astro shop in Amsterdam (Ganymedes) is 20 mins walk from my home, so my partner and I gave into temptation and visited it today. I had a resolution to buy nothing, except maybe a proper dew shield to replace my lumpen camping mat.

I've never been in an astro shop before and was overwhelmed by all the scopes packed in like penguins on an ice shelf. The Skymax 180 is MUCH bigger than I thought it was, lol.

They didn't have any suitable dew shields (verdauwing scherms??? in my best Dutch).

But then we started looking at binoculars, starting with a 10 euro pair. Half an hour later we walked out with two pairs - a miniature birding pair and a 8x42 pair for me costing 50 euros. I was sold on their sleek elongated looks more than anything optical. The guy in the shop assured me that they are good ;-). And the box they come in says Top Quality, which actually isn't very reassuring.

I went for 8x42s because I wanted something light and small (but not too small) and easy to use.

Surprisingly I have clear skies so I got to use them. I couldn't find the double cluster - I found two clusters next to each other, but not in the location I was expecting... I'm a bit disoriented in my new garden, with a different horizon and so much light pollution. The pleiades were amazing, as was Orion. Perseus was full of stars. I could see loads of clusters in Auriga, but I'm not sure which cluster is which.

They have a field of view of around 6 degrees - the pointers of the plough just fit in the field. With 8x magnification they are very easy to hold steady. I think the length of the binoculars also makes it easy to point them at objects - I found I was getting the objects in my field of view easily, not my normal experience with binoculars.

Another thing I've struggled with in the past is getting the two images lined up, normally I have double vision. With these bins I have not had an issue, they are really easy to use.

My only criticism is the apparent field of view is quite narrow - I think about the same as a plossl. My partner's birding bins have a much more impressive AFOV somewhere in the 60+ degrees.

The bins are branded 'Swallow' - I think that is Ganymedes own brand, but it probably corresponds to some anonymous chinese manufacturer.

EDIT: Just found M44 (Praesepe) - it is so big I never could see it with my Mak, but in bins the cluster is obvious.

[davo]

Give the very large "melotte 111" star cluster a go :-)

[LukeSkywatcher]

I spotted Melotte 111 a couple of weeks ago with my scope and wasnt very impressed. I guess it really is one for the bins though. Nice big wide FOV. Its quite a large cluster. Nice colours in it also.

[Ags]

When I first got my Mak I tried to find Melotte 111 and M44 and failed miserably. Of course they are too big to be identifiable in my telescope's narrow field of view.

Thanks for reminding me about Melotte 111 - I will have a look on the next clear night.

[LoopyLunar]

Oh I will need to go to a shop soon the question is do I leave Plastic behind?