TheSkySearchers

Hi!

Im very new to night sky observing and i think to start with im leaning towards some binos as opposed to a cheap telescope, my budget is £200 (GBP) and im wandering what people could recommend for that price or if theres a scope that is maybe £50 more that would do a better job?

Im thinking bino's as i also live by the sea and often want to look at the cruise ships that pass us most days

Ideally id like to see the moon craters and maybe saturns ring if possible....

many thanks for your help.

Hi Daniel,

Absolutely start with a pair of binos. Even a moderately priced pair of 10X50s will reveal an immense amount of objects in your night sky, plus they will help you learn your way around the night sky faster than a telescope would.

Cheers,
JT

You might want to consider getting a monopod to help stabilize the bingos and reduce arm fatigue, depending on what binos you get.

JayTee wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2019 1:19 pm Hi Daniel,

Absolutely start with a pair of binos. Even a moderately priced pair of 10X50s will reveal an immense amount of objects in your night sky, plus they will help you learn your way around the night sky faster than a telescope would.

Cheers,
JT

Great thank you, any suggestions in my price range?

pakarinen wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2019 1:24 pm You might want to consider getting a monopod to help stabilize the bingos and reduce arm fatigue, depending on what binos you get.

def my intention for sure, i like the idea of the mono pod, just stuck on what bino's to start looking at, is it better to get lower magnification ?

D4n1el wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2019 2:00 pm

pakarinen wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2019 1:24 pm You might want to consider getting a monopod to help stabilize the bingos and reduce arm fatigue, depending on what binos you get.

def my intention for sure, i like the idea of the mono pod, just stuck on what bino's to start looking at, is it better to get lower magnification ?

I have minimal bino experience, but I prefer 15x to 10x. I'm sure people who are more bino-oriented can give you detailed info.

Since you live by the sea, I'd recommend you buy waterproof binoculars. You don't need to spend £200 on binoculars when starting out (35 years latter, I still use my original 10x50 Bushnell binoculars that cost $20 USD) so, something like Helios waterproof 10x42 bins would work very well for day and night use:

https://www.telescopehouse.com/binocula ... ulars.html

Then spend the remaining funds on a nice 5" (127mm) Bresser Messier Dobsonian:

https://www.telescopehouse.com/telescop ... scope.html

That should cover all your observing needs for around £255.

I think a good pair of 10x50's would be a great start. Celestron offers models for well under $100 U.S. as does Bushnell (I have a pair of these) or you could spend a bit more for higher quality Oberwerks. Anyway, it will open up the heavens for you. Good luck with the purchase.

Hence a look through the binocular sky website, which is written by Steve Tonkin, one of the authorities on binocular observing.
http://binocularsky.com
Lots of reviews (Steve writes reviews for magazines etc)
His books are good references for targets too.

Steve recommends monopods too

Excellent. I'll have a look at the links posted now. Thank you

I too prefer a 15x70 to a 10x50 although the 10x50 can be handheld and the 15x70 cannot. The 15x70 on a monopod is my favorite bino setup. It just shows me a lot more than a 10x50.
Celestron 15x70 if you want inexpensive. Some report that they are frequently sold miscollimated (mine were ok), and there are youtube videos on how to collimate them. Oberwerk 15x70 if you want better quality/more expensive and they come collimated as people say.

Neither of the above two will show you the rings of saturn.

You asked for telescopes, a 80mm F/5 achromat is under $100 these days, eg: Meade Adeventure 80. The tripod it comes with is junk, but if you put it on a decent photo tripod you can use it for both astronomy and terrestrial. For a bit more you could get one with an Alt/Az mount like the Meade Infinity 80 or the Skywatcher startravel 80 AZ3. Such a setup is good for grab and go, even if later you buy bigger scopes. This will show you the rings of Saturn. If you come across other brands be careful, as there are a lot of 80mm F/5 scopes with plastic focusers instead of metal which are not as good.

Another option is to get the Meade Adventure 80 and a lighter EQ tripod like the Explore Scientific EQ Nano. EQ mounts are a little more difficult to use for beginners but well worth it as it gives you easy tracking manually or with a motor. With a few more accessories it can also enable you to beginners AstroPhotography with a DSLR . This setup is non standard and does need some amount of DIY work with motors and brackets.

I want to buck the trend just a bit. I used to always recommend 10x50, as safe bet.I have been using Orion Ultraviews, a good value. Recently I got a pair of Oberwerk 8x56LW to compare. I now like them a lot better than 10x50. The 8 power is not much less than 10, and is easier to hand hold with less shakes. The extra 6mm of aperture brings in more light, and seems to offset the reduction in power by adding more light grasp. for me, a fair trade off, about the same weight and price. I also own a new pair of Oberwerk 15x70 Deluxe. Just fabulous! Now my favorite quick grab Binos. I went how wild and both the Oberwerk 100mm ED binocular telescope. Absolutely by favorite of all. Views as good as I have seen in a 6" telescope. Pricey, but now my primary visual tool for long set up times. Anyway, I now recommend the Oberwerk 8x56 instead of 10x50.

Another vote for starting with binos. I recommend Nikon Action EX. Sharp optics, nice contrast, waterproof and good eye relief. 10x50