Looking to get into stargazing, have looked at brands like pentax and celestron and magnifications of 10x50 seem like a good start.
Want to hear if anyone would have gone through the same process and can suggest any particular binocular to go with?
want one thats not too heavy or too large, but also want one that can provide a quality image.
Any help would be appreciated :)
Thanks in advance!
Binoculars for Stargazing
LDlinnz on 02/06/2021 - 22:02
Comments
Nope just want to be able to see something that’s not too blurry
Not sure if 10x magnification is going to do much to make the stars clearer. 10x would be useful to check out your neighbours though!
A telescope might work better for astronomy.Even with a 10x50, you're going to struggle holding that for an extended amount.
And you're not going to be able to see much with it.
If you want to go the binoculars route and actually see something, you'll need a bigger and more powerful one mounted on a tripod.
Anything you would suggest?
Anything handheld is too shaky and not powerful enough. Get a telescope.
Have done a bit of research and am quite set on binoculars, just not sure if there is specific set of binoculars I should be looking at
As everyone has said, you'll be disappointed in binoculars
Celestron skymaster 15x70. Buy it somewhere that allows change of mind returns.
Ah cool, thats one of the models I leaning in towards too - just wanted to know, if out of all the binoculars around that price range, would this one be my best bet (not expecting to see amazing results) - just dont want my money to go into nothing.
There's no point in using binoculars for stargazing, because you wont be able to resolve a 3d image at that distance anyway. The way binoculars work is to essentially make your brain combine two magnified 2d images into one 3d image. If you look through one side with one eye, and then look through with both eyes, you will see a huge jump in clarity when looking at object in the near distance. That doesn't work when you point them into space, because for all intents and purposes you are looking at a 2d image unless you look at the moon. I've got a really expensive pair of binoculars (a few grand) at my beach house, and on a clear day, I've seen across the bay to the wind farms past Bendigo, some 200km (beach house is elevated on the cliffs). It's amazing that you can see the things turning that far away. But even if you point them at the moon, you can't make out much more than the naked eye, and it's near impossible to stabilise them by hand. For anything other than the moon they are next to useless to look into the sky. Maybe you could see Jupiter and it's moons (but only as dots of light). I've also got a few telescopes, some really big ones and some small ones. What amazes me the most, each time I use it, is just how much I can see with my guiding scope on my 10 inch dobsonian. The guiding scope is only small, but you can see clusters, planets, nebula, it's great. So you are much better off with a celestial spotting scope, and a tripod. I believe you can pick up cheap ones by Svbony on amazon which are pretty good quality, for not much money.
https://www.amazon.com.au/SVBONY-Waterproof-Birdwatching-Mul…
I really want to know where your beach house is that you can see 200km?!
It's situated just before the edge of our flat earth!
On a cliff overlooking the bay. I was amazed too, but I verified that the only windfarms in that direction were next to Bendigo. Raised windfarms and raised house and perfect conditions and boom 200km.
Even on top of Eureka tower you can only see 75km. From Mt Everest about 340km.
@Presence: I wasn't looking onto flat land, I was looking at windfarms. And the top balcony on my house is probably 80m above sea level. There are no other windfarms in that direction, distance is accurate. Bendigo is 200m tall, wind farm is also probably 80m tall. If the windfarm is on a hill out there (I have no idea), it could be 400-500m tall, and I'm viewing from 80m in the air. You can see way beyond the horizon.
Edit. It wasn't Bendigo, it was Ballarat. Probably the Moorabool Wind Farm, which is about 100km from my place, not 200km. Moorabool also has an elevation of 500m. So I was wrong, I confused my Victorian country town that start with B. Still 100km is a big distance.
As I have learnt, if you are near to a beach, light polution is much higher when compared to highlands.
light polution map : (https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/)
That's a cool link, thanks for sharing!
Everyone here is talking absolute nonsense.
Binoculars are a wonderful start to star gazing. Many, many star nuts carry around a set of bino's in addition to their scope.
They give a wonderfully sharp wide field view, and is a clear night sky they are awesome and significantly better than your eyes alone, without the bulk of a telescope. You'll start resolving dust clouds / nebula much more clearly with them.
Pick whatever you can budget for here
https://www.bintel.com.au/product-category/binoculars/astron…
Realistically, with binoculars, the best you can hope for when viewing a nebula is a tiny tiny tiny grey cloud, probably the size of a letter on a page. People are not going to be seeing spectacular nebulas like they think.
Depends on your eyesight I guess. M42 looks amazing in a bino.
I've got perfect vision. It's not about your eyesight, it's about aperture and the total amount of light available. M42 is the easiest to see, but even with a 10inch dob it's a black and white cloud. There is not enough light to stimulate your cones.
@[Deactivated]: it's still going to show him more than the naked eye, with much easier portability and setup.
There's nothing wrong with bino's as a starter intro to the stars.
where are you located ? light polution is the main culprit. I can't see anything other than southern cross or Orion even from Mel suburbs.
also what are your interests ? Planets ? Nebula ? Galaxies ? etc. Planets are the hardest to see even they are so close to us.I was thinking like you years ago and I got an Olympus 10x50 but I was not that happy. But I got a small old brass bino from my wife (which was owned originally by her grandfather) and it was much better for casual viewing. I wasn't able to really see anything other than Moon & Orion nebula with minimal light polution in Nothern Hemi. Nikon 55-300 mm lens at 300 mm on a D5200 was much better. I could see Jupter and moons as dots and even got photos of Nebulas and Andromeda.with that.
If you are really into astronomy, you can save some money and go for a Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope which is small and easy to handle. If you are looking for a cheaper but good optics, 8" Dobsonian is good.
Located in Sydney Olympic Park, am really just looking to see if there are any good options for binoculars as this is only a recent interest of mine.
Thanks for the input about Olympus 10x50 it was one of the candidates i was considering!
Not expecting to see anything super amazing, just don't want to waste money on something useless that's all.input about Olympus 10x50
I mean 10x50 wouldn't do much, not specifically about the brand. I got it more than 10 years ago from overseas and definetly they will have a new model now. Better to check by yourself at a physical store before buying anything.
Canon have a pair of electronically stabilised binoculars which will help with the stability. I have used them and when you turn on the stabilisation it’s awesome.
Prepare to pay for them though.
10x42 (considered the best for viewing angle, weight, stabilisation etc for astronomy)
https://www.teds.com.au/canon-10-x-42l-wp-ois-binoculars
12x36 (good budget pair for astronomy but suffer from astigmatism)
https://www.teds.com.au/canon-12-x-36-is-aw-iii-image-stabil…
I am thinking of this one: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/131482055393 Celestron SkyMaster 25x70 Binoculars - Black 71008 Porro Zoom
With the "PEOFY12" code it comes down to: AU $167.19 and free delivery with ebay plus.
Just want to know if I were to be spending this much, are there any other binoculars that is worth considering before pulling the trigger?Scrap that, got a cheaper deal here for $127.43 - https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B003AM87Q4/ref=ppx_yo_d…
Went for it!!
Please report back on how they go. (Would love to have something small and cheapish like this for casual viewing.)
Just received it, and let me tell you, these aint small. Haha. For the quality of image its pretty good. But tonight is a cloudy night so wont be able to test the skies. Overall first impression so far happy with it. I think its a good buy, but like bazingaa said below, worth to check out other comments from reddit to find out more about the product. Hope it helps!
search reddit for actual users reviews before buying anything. better to save that $ and get a scope, even one in same price range. you don't need to correct upside down image or to have 3D vision when observing sky.
ex:
https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/3t9ytd/if_i_got…
https://www.reddit.com/r/telescopes/comments/a5lnsv/just_had…
so you want to take photos with it?