Best Set Of Binoculars For An Astronomy Novice?
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at
11:20 pm
I have several pairs, in particular a Celestron 10 x 50 and 15 x 70. The later are very good, and will show details like the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, but they need to be used with a tripod. The 10 x 50 are good for all round sky gazing. Celestron are quite cheap – I paid 49 quid for the 10 x 50 and 69 for the 15 x 70. They are well made and nitrogen purged to reduce condensation on cold nights!
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Tagged with: Astronomy • Best • Binoculars • Novice
Filed under: Astronomy Binoculars FAQ
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Hi Davey -
If you are a beginner, then I would go with 10×50s. Several reliable sources supply them, including celestron and orion. Don’t go cheap and buy from Wal-Mart, but there is no justification for spending a fortune – you won’t notice the difference. If you want to go with big ones that require a mount, then you might as well buy a scope. Binoculars have their own unique set of targets that they are eminently suited for: open clusters, bright nebulae, and the Andromeda Galaxy, for example. Good Luck and Clear Skies!
10×50 is the best size unless you want to use a tripod. Anything larger is going to be difficult to hold for any period of time, and any higher magnification is going to be very shaky when handheld.
Celestron is a good brand at reasonable prices. Definitely get some intended for astronomy and not terrestrial viewing, the coatings and optics will be better for your targets.
Here’s links to the setup that I use. It is incredible and easy to use. I love scanning the sky with binocs! The price of binocs has dropped; I paid $500 for the same binocs 14 years ago. The price of the mount has dropped too. You won’t want to use the binocs without a super mount. I’ve purchased two and this link is for the better one.http://www.opticsplanet.net/ci-skymaster…http://www.bigbinoculars.com/unibasic.ht…
the usual choice is 7×50 or 10×50. go to a camera or sporting goods store and tell them what you want. they’ll be able to help you. pretty well all binoculars have decent optics, but more expensive binoculars will be more durable.
binoculars are really cool.
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