Question about using binoculars for astronomy.?
May 21, 2010 by
Filed under Zoom Binoculars
I was thinking about buying a binoculars with a 20-60×60 zoom, what could i expect to se if i watch the stars and skies? Could i se any planets in detail? Or would it just be a bunch of shiny dots?!
i know who to ask , an astronomer who specializes in helping people buy their scopes and binocs or teaching about them
http://niteskyhelp.blogspot.com/
You wouldn’t be able to see anything in detail because of the Earth’s atmosphere, however you would be able to see dimmer objects which the eye alone cannot see, essentially everything would be bigger and somewhat brighter.
The zoom binoculars have too many lenses in series,they are not very good for night sky.More lenses create more chromatic aberration.
With more magnification, the objects will be dancing too much with hand held binoculars U will need a tripod stand to fix it.But tripod u will not be able to look at objects at zenith or high elevation!
Binoculars are good for watching constellations,comets.
For planets better U buy a telescope.
Refer the book Astronomy with binoculars by Patrick Moore.
I suggest U buy only 7×50 or 10×50 binoculars which can be hand held.
If you can invest more there are Image stabilized binoculars in the market by Japanese firms.
Zoom binoculars are not very good for astronomy because of the multiple lens, which cause loss. You are not going to see the planets in any detail. You should be able to see some of the brighter nebula and a few of the brighter galaxies… like the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). If you want to get into astronomy using binoculars: the first thing to remember, it takes the very large and expensive ones to show any planetary detail. However, even a cheaper pair of 15X70mm will give great views of nebula, brighter galaxies, and star clusters. Actually, some of my best views of M33 (Pinwheel galaxy), M31 (Andromeda Galaxy), and M45 (The Pleiades Cluster) have been through 15X70mm binoculars. As a matter of fact, the Pleiades does not look very good in a telescope because it is a fairly large object, and a scope gives a restricted field of view.