Big binoculars or telescope for terrestrial/astronomy

[TheCam]

Hi

I've just moved into a house on the side of a hill that overlooks the ocean and I'm after a scope suitable for both land and sky. I've been looking at either a binocular telescope (something like the Garrett 100mm) or a Celestron C5 spotting scope. Both seem to be suitable and similar in price but I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations ?

Thanks in advance

TheCam

[dannat]

i am a binocular fan but you can't use them for looking at planets, the C5 is more versatile esp for astro

do you have a good photo tripod? or how are you going to mount the C5?

the plus side of the bino is they give you a right way up img of the ocean, on the C5 you need an erecting prism to do this for you

you might consider a spotting scope like the celestron regal 100ED, (though look to the US , way cheaper than local)

[brian nordstrom]

:D Hi Cam , I have a pair of Zhumell 25x100 binos and mate they are awsome !! :thumbsup: .
But ,, there is always a BUT , so here it is .... :sadeyes:.
They are BIG and HEAVY ! they are not hand held at all so need a heavy duty mount to see all they can show at there best , and bieleve me they show a lot when they are mounted steadily .
I would go for the 5 inch scope as that already comes with a nount and then later on get those awsome 100mm binos .
Here is a photo of mine , mounted .
I made the adaptor that fits the binos to mount and the dew shield my self , so they are one of a kind .
Brian.

[cjamo9]

give us a how to on you dew shield brian please. and is it heated.thanks, clint.

[brian nordstrom]

;) Dont need to be heated , living up here ,, :lol: . Na mate they are a rolled allimunium about 150mm long , painted matt black inside ( even tho the photo dont show this ) , so they weigh nought and work well .
They just push on and off , using velcro on the inside and nothing but the bino bodies on the out side( slide on about 25mm ) , this is a great set up , easy to use and give awsome images . :thumbsup:.
I love using them .
Pm me your e/mail and I will send you some more photos of the build , if you want .
Brian.

[dannat]

Thin but stiff blk rubber from Clark rubber works well, also if you can sew wetsuit material they make great light weight dew shields

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Ground sheets , coolies , same material but the lighter ones sag into the light path at always ,, the wrong time .:shrug: .
Ground sheets are the best , lightest for strength ;) and heaps cheeper than a wet suit.
Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

Hi again thecam , here is aphoto of the R&D thay went into my Binocular's and mount set up . As I said one of a kind .
Here is one .
More to follow if needed.
Brian,

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: try this time .:shrug:Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

Somfink , I designed and built .
More from R&D . its what we do ...:lol:.
Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

Hmmmph?
Brian.:shrug:...

[brian nordstrom]

:D I made this. R&D .
Brian.

[TheCam]

This might be a silly question, but why can't I use binoculars for planets ? The binocular telescope I'm looking at comes with a tripod and interchangeable eyepieces.

[brian nordstrom]

:)If they have inter changeable eyepieces yea , you can look at the planets , but most binos are fixed magnification ,, 7x , 10 x even 25 x like mine . They show cloud bands on jupiter , its moons , saturns rings and venus's phases , but 25x is all I have , this cant be changed , hence I use a scope for more power .
Brian.

[skysurfer]

Handheld binoculars are nice for deep sky viewing, but straight-through binos mounted on a tripod are very uncomfortable when viewing objects higher in the sky. In that case, use binos with 90 degree prisms.
An alternative can be a shorttube refractor suitable for both astronomy and terrestial viewing. It allows powers over 100x suitable for planetary viewing.

Example an 8 cm for $300:

http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/Refractor/SkyWatcher-SW80/139/productview.aspx

[dannat]

Most bino tee scoes can only push agnification to 50-60x, remember they are short focal length across in most cases, they can't support high mag & merging can be difficult at high power, most planets benefit from 100x or more

Brian is that a vixen porta 2 with the bino attached?

[brian nordstrom]

:)To tru Dannet , on the mount its a GSO/Astrotech alt az I got from Andrews , great bit of gear and cheep .
Broan.

[TheCam]

OK, so the binocular telescope is out (all seems too hard). Could I use a Celestron Nexstar 8SE for decent astronomical and terrestrial viewing (with a diagonal erect image eyepiece) ?

Thanks in advance.

Cam

[Poita]

I've used a C8 for terrestrial viewing plenty of times, and I really love it, I've also used it as a Prime lens during the day for photography.

Not sure about the stability of the nextstar mounts and how much time it takes the image to settle down after each move, My C8 was on a more solid mount.

The only thing with any long focal length scope is the narrow field of view so if you get the C8, factor in purchasing a 6.3 focal reducer or similar.

[Poita]

You can look at them, but the planets are the size of a pin-head. Still an enjoyable view, but so very, very small compared to through a C8.

[Poita]

Oh my, someone actually did it!

http://www.astro-foren.de/showthread.php?12272-Das-C8-Bino-(richtig-gelesen)

I've often wondered if there is a resolution advantage to be had by imaging through two scopes at once.
Especially with planetary where you could either image two colours at a time, or combine two image streams to get more frames of frozen seeing.

[TheCam]

Ok, thanks guys. I think I've settled on a Nexstar 8SE as my first scope. I'd really like to buy it locally within Oz, but I can have one shipped from the US within a week for $1000 less (including shipping and GST). I feel sorry for the local retailers being ripped off by the distributors - it's an absolute disgrace.

Cam