Astronomy must be one of the most spectacular hobbies and pastimes available to anyone and gazing the vast expanse of distant galaxies, constellations and planets will leave you in awe.
Some of the mystery and wonders of the universe can be viewed with a good pair of binoculars giving you the opportunity to see star clusters, Saturn’s largest moon Titan, the Galilean moons of Jupiter, comets, constellations and some of the larger craters on our moon in greater detail than you would see with the naked eye. This vast expanse of night sky becomes accessible with the correct pair of binoculars and the help of a good astronomical guide. If you have a smart phone or tablet PC then you can download apps that show the position and names of the stars along with other celestial objects.
Binoculars for astronomy offer a cheaper way into the fascinating hobby, allowing you to develop your interest and learn more about astronomy before investing in a high powered telescope. Binoculars are quicker to set up than telescopes, lighter and far more manoeuvrable. They also have the advantage that the prisms show the image the correct way up whereas most telescopes produce an inverted image, some people find it harder to use telescopes because of this and unlike binoculars they only have one eye piece.
Comets and moving objects:
Binoculars have a wider field of view meaning it’s quicker to find the objects and easier to follow moving objects such as comets across the sky. 2013 could be a very exciting year for this with the discovery of the comet Ison, which is expected to be visible with small telescopes and binoculars by the end of summer and should be passing close to Mars by October. This is predicted to be the brightest comet for generations, possibly even brighter than a full moon. A second comet called 2014 L4 should also be visible in our skies during March and April of this year. Buy your binoculars and get ready to enjoy some magnificent evening skies over the coming months.
Binocular lens size and what it means:
Because most of the viewing is mainly at night time and most celestial objects aren’t that bright, you will benefit from the binoculars having a good size objective lens. I would recommend no smaller than 50mm, unless they are for a child who may struggle with the weight of full size binoculars. The objective lens is the large lens at the front; the larger this is the more light the binoculars will let in, which will enhance the viewing and give sharper image quality. 70 and 80mm objective lens binoculars will capture more light giving the user an opportunity to glimpse some of the dimmest of stars.
For astronomical use the size of exit pupil from the binoculars should be similar to the pupil dilation of our eyes. Our eyes will only allow a certain amount of light to enter and as we get older our eye dilation reduces. The maximum dilation is about 5mm for people over 50 years old; 5mm to 6mm for people in their forties and 6mm to 7mm for people in the thirties and younger. To find the astronomical binoculars exit pupil size to suit your maximum eye dilation, divide the objective lens size by the magnification. For example 50 / 10 = 5
For hand held binoculars a magnification of between 7 x and 10x should be great, by going above 10 x magnification you may need to use a tripod to hold them steady and prevent shaking; if this is the case make sure the binoculars you are purchasing have the provision for attachment to a tripod.
Binoculars and Star brightness:
Astronomical objects are measured by their brightness with 1 magnitude being the brightest, and the limit of human vision being around 6 magnitudes. The naked eye should be able to see stars and other celestial objects to a magnitude of 5.5. With astronomical binoculars this should be increased to a magnitude of 9 to 9.5.
When purchasing your Best binoculars made in usa you need to decide which features are going to be the most suitable for you, but don’t leave it too long… there’s a lot of star gazing to be experienced!
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