Astronomy

Kevin Solway · Post by **Kevin Solway** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:13 am

If you are the contemplative type, a pair of binoculars is a great thing for looking at the night sky.

In many respects they are better than telescopes because they are more comfortable to look through, less shaky, and give you a broader view.

Binoculars are actually two telescopes joined together.

The benefit of having a binocular view is that the brain is able to filter out noise, giving you about a 20% clearer view than with a monocular view.

You can pick up a cheap pair on ebay. If you are in Australia there is a factory clearance of good quality Sakura binoculars at the moment. I bought a pair and they are impressive.

You don't need more than 20x magnification.

David Quinn · Post by **David Quinn** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:06 pm

The little dots in the sky still remain little dots, though, don't they? Apart from looking at the moon, what is the point of it? You can lie down on the grass and look up with the naked eye for the same effect, and still have some money in your pocket.

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Kevin Solway · Post by **Kevin Solway** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:57 pm

Yes, the stars are still dots, but you can look at a part of the sky that looks empty of dots, and see hundreds of dots.

It just makes it feel more real, instead of space being "out there" and apart from us.

Once you've use binoculars it feels like up to that point you've been half blind. The same goes when you've used a microscope - especially a binocular microscope.

There's no limit to piling on the senses.

Dan Rowden · Post by **Dan Rowden** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 11:18 am

Looking at the night sky through 20x binoculars (or even 10x for that matter) actually opens up a whole new world - of sorts. It's better, frankly, than looking at things, other than the planets, through a telescope. There are many objects that can't be seen well - or at all - via the naked eye, such as star clusters, nebulae, globular star clusters, galaxies etc that look quite impressive through a pair of 20x. Looking in the direction of Sagittarius/Centaur (just below the tail of Scorpio) though a pair of 10z or 20x is quite an experience as you're looking in the direction of the centre of the galaxy; the concentration of stars, star clusters and nebulaic features is pretty mind boggling.

Mind you, after the excitement wears off they are, as David suggested, just dots in the sky. But shit there's a lot of them!

Dan Rowden

Rhett · Post by **Rhett** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 11:55 am

.

Kevin's thread had an ulterior purpose.

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Jason · Post by **Jason** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 12:02 pm

Rhett wrote:.

Kevin's thread had an ulterior purpose.

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He's a binocular salesman right?

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 12:13 pm

I've had both binoculars and a telescope. A telescope when properly mounted is not shaky Kevin, it is the binoculars that can be shaky. Unless you support your telescope with your hands like a pirate.

Unidian · Post by **Unidian** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:41 am

I'm into binocular astronomy as well. You can't beat looking into a dense starfield and seeing countless points of light, each one a massive sun of enormous size and distance.

SBN Charles · Post by **SBN Charles** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:54 am

Rhett wrote:.

Kevin's thread had an ulterior purpose.

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What is the ulterior purpose? Please illuminate it.