Advice on binoculars - I've been told these three - but I'm open to suggestion.
I wanted to move up from a cheap old pair of 10x50 I got years ago for free (that turned me on to stargazing) for just general spotting - The eye pieces are gone so I'm looking to get something that wasn't made 30 years ago - hoping modern tech will be good. Celestron Skymaster 25X70 Porro Prism Binocular or Celestron Skymaster 20 X 80 Binoculars - or - Olympus 12x50 EXPS or of course something else. They all come in around the same price would love to know thoughts - cheers guys.
Posted Mar 14, 2012, 1:08 AM UTC
05
Will you be using a tripod? and what is your budget?
No tripod - these are for carrying about. Budget of about $150. Thanks
25 x 70 and 20 x 80's are out of the question. They are defiantly movable, but they are just too heavy to be handhold for more than 10 minutes and they quickly become hard to hold steady (my own experience). A 10x50 (or 12x50) should do you fine, and the olympus 12x50 EXPS are probably good enough.
You won't be able to see the rings of Saturn or any detail on Jupiter with binoculars. You will be able to spot the 4 moons of Jupiter, the moon (obviously), and objects such as m45 looks really well!
If you like the hobby then I will recommend you to buy a telescope at some point:)
Also, you should consider buying some books about astronomy and telescope/binoculars and download this program if you haven't already (it will help you greatly locating objects, and it's free):
http://www.stellarium.org/
EDIT: added more text!
I have 2 scopes including a Meade LX 90. These are for the kids as they only ever have an attention span of about 5 minutes - so when we're out and about i find the binoculars are a great way to grab their attention and hold it quickly.
Sounds great;)