Binoculars for Astronomy

Video Transcript

"Another object to consider when starting astronomy is a good set of binoculars. Often the best first telescope is a good set of binoculars. And for the reasons, two eyes is better than one obviously. You get a wide field of view. You get a correct field of view when you look up. And this will help you to start learning constellations and where the interesting objects are inside of that constellation. So you need to have a point of reference when you are looking for objects in the sky. And this is called star hopping. So as you can identify a certain constellation, it tells you theres a very nice deep sky or globular cluster visible with binoculars in that area of the sky. That is how you would start to learn how to identify that objects. And if you can start doing that with binoculars, you'd be ahead of the game when got your first telescope. For a hand held set of binoculars, you want to get a low power binocular. As you see on the front of the binoculars here, all the powers are listed. Right, there it is. Seven by fifty. Now the first number, the seven, is your eye strength. How much magnification its going to give you. And for astronomy again, light gathering is important. So a nice fifty millimeter lens is good for astronomy. And seven doesn't get too shaky in your hands. So for a hand held binocular, seven by fifty is ideal for astronomy. A little bit higher up, eight and a half by fifty-six. A little bit heavy to hold. Remember you're going to be holding them like that as well. Another option, a little bit higher and a little bit more premium is a pair of image stabilizer binoculars. That allows you to hold high power without the the little bit jitters that you get right here. So remember low power because as it gets to shaking, that gets a little bit fatiguing. And it can make it uncomfortable to view. For a little bit higher power binoculars, we'd want a tripod, such as we have over here. Now there are certainly much bigger, more powerful binoculars available. A big guy like this, two one hundred millimeter lenses and twenty-five magnification eye pieces back of the end here is just beautiful for astronomy. And will hold up really well. And as you can see, such a beast absolutely has to have a good form support in a tripod. Here's a little guy a little bit more compact and ideal for traveling with. This is a twenty-two magnification binocular. Impossible to hold steady. So as you're considering a higher end binocular, or a higher power binocular I should say, you're going to make sure you're going to have to have a mount and a tripod to hold it steady. So those are important features to consider when you're choosing binoculars for astronomy. Binoculars are a key ingredient for learning and understanding the night sky, so you know where to point your scope. So you have a point of reference. Even with a go to telescope you have to tell it where to go to. So it's ideal, and it's a step a lot of people don't want to take for starting astronomy. If you've got a pair of seven power or ten power binoculars in the garage or kitchen around, get out and start with those first. Its a great way to learn. And I like the seven by fifties myself. You don't typically have to have such big binocular to get started. It's important to know that even with a pair of seven magnification binoculars, that's enough to see the Andromeda galaxy. Which is 2.2 million light years away. It's enough to see the Orion nebula. And you can see literally hundreds of deep sky objects with this. So a pair of binoculars, a great way to start learning the night sky."