Binocular Specs

[Nobull92]

Hi Guys,

I have just joined the forum.
I am looking to get started in astronomy and heard that you can use binoculars to start with.
What would be some binoculars that you would recommend or at least minimum specs for binoculars.

Cheers

[Saturnine]

Hi Anthony

Welcome to IIS and the world of astronomy. Binos' are a great way to introduce yourself to the night sky and as a minimum I would recommend something like 10 X 50mm but you can go up to 100mm. Anything over 70mm need to be mounted on a tripod or some other type of mount and even the humble 50mm perform better when mounted, the steadiness helps to see fainter objects more easily.
Personally I would go for 15 X 70s' or 20 X 80s' and a tripod as you will be able to see a wide range of nebula, star clusters and the moons of Jupiter , most retailers of telescopes carry a range of binoculars and there is online shops as well with a price range from $50 to $1000 depending on your budget.

Clear Skies

Jeff

[Nobull92]

Thank you Jeff.

I'l start looking into those now

[mikerr]

Anthony, welcome to IIS.:welcome: This article is well worth a read and if you have questions about points in the article please come back and ask.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-374-0-0-1-0.html

The higher the magnification the more difficult to hand hold without shaking.
7x50 is easier to handhold than 10x50.

Michael

[dannat]

telescopes & astronomy in SA have a god 11 or 13x70 bino -can be handheld for short periods -gathers much more light than 50mm