15x70s 2nd September

[Tweedledee]

Had a superb night with my new Celestron Skymaster 15x70 binoculars.

50mm binoculars have the light gathering power of a 70mm telescope and 70mm binoculars gather as much as a 100mm scope. The use of two eyes, which is how we were meant to look at things, makes for more comfortable viewing, so we should gain an awful lot! I have found that 15x70s are a very substantial improvement over 10x50s, although of course the field of view is more restricted making them a little more difficult to get on target (just over 4 degrees as against 7 degrees). With a bit of use the smaller field was no longer a problem. I noticed that DSO's were much more easily visible than in 10x50s. Every thing is 1.5x bigger and we see about 1.4x fainter, combining these factors and two eyes gives a much improved experience. There was a little mushyness of focus towards the edge of the view but this really did not degrade the spectacle provided by these cheap but capable binoculars.

Having a long weekend break at Wychnor Park Country Club in a fairly dark rural area not far from Lichfield. Saturday night I used the 15x70s for a short period on my camera tripod but the sky was not as good as last night. Last night I did not bother with the tripod and took the binos for walk about 11.30pm about half a mile, putting a wood between me and the lights of the club complex. As I got dark adapted the Milky Way was quite bright and detailed showing the dark rift and Coalsack in Cygnus nicely to the naked eye. Having no tripod, I decided that to properly view Cygnus, I needed to lie down in the dew sodden grass. Next time I might take a plastic sheet to lie on. I was surprisingly warm and was willing to put up with the dampness and a few spiders or other unknown creepy crawlies for well over an hour and a half. Felt like David Attenborough lying quietly waiting for some elusive nocturnal creature, listening to all the natural sounds, miles away from main roads or other noise. Really though, I was expecting to be bitten or stung at any moment, but wasn't.

Lying down made it possible to hold the binoculars perfectly steady even at 15x magnification. Cygnus was just sprinkled with so many stars, and the first thing I looked at was Martins (Ely Ellis) spiral cluster, which stood out well just as per his description...
http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/5771-spiral-cluster/

That central region of Cygnus is really just one massive star cluster, well worth a slow pan around, M29 and NGC6910 showing like little jewels. NGC6940 was just nebulous and quite large with only several of the brighter stars resolved. The Dumbell just jumped out of the sky showing a lot of its characteristic shape. Nearby the 20 Vulpecula Cluster NGC6885 and a couple of other NGCs stood out along with a lovely necklace like string of stars spanning the bino field. The Coathanger was nicely framed and always worth a look.

In Delphinus which is a delightful little constellation is an asterism known as The Dolphins Diamonds which put on a pleasing show.

Scutum was getting quite low in the light dome from Birmingham, but the Wild Duck M11 and M26 clusters were looking large and nebulous with a curving string of stars joining the two, all visible in the same field.

In Ophiuchus the asterism of Taurus Poniatovii (Poniatowskis Bull) just fitted the binocular field and the clusters IC4665, 4756 and NGC6633 looked large and bright.

Globulars M13, 92 and 15 looked larger and brighter than I had ever seen them in binos.

M39 and nearby NGC7243 were two nice looking clusters one bright and resolved the other nebulous.

M33 was only just visible and better with averted vision, although large, it is less bright towards the middle than M31, so I found that M31 looks larger with averted vision and M33 simply looks easier to see but the same size. Averted vision is different in binoculars. Looking to the left or right, as you would in a telescope does not work in binoculars since two eyes cancel each other out. ie; one eye sees the object a little better and the other barely sees it at all since it is over the blind spot, whichever way you look. The net result is that the object usually looks no different or slightly fainter. Looking above the object or sometimes below is the trick, it really does work so you see the object better. Try it.

Later on in the session with more dark adaptation, I saw the North American Nebula with averted vision and a lot of looking with Deneb out of view. Actually I only saw Mexico and California, but that was very nice.

Moving over to Perseus and Cassiopiea I had a lovely time seeing many partly resolved and unresolved clusters. The Owl Cluster was easily recognised and cluster NGC7789 was like a nebula with well defined edges. M34 and NGC956 were two very contrasting clusters in size and resolution. The double cluster is surrounded by others like NGC957 and the massive but fainter Stock 2.

Pazminos cluster Stock 23, is bright and easy to recognise not far from asterisms Kembles Cascade and Kemble Kite, which looks just like a kite with a tail. NGC1502 at one end of the cascade was small but easy to spot.

Anyway, the 15x70s have now got me interested in exploring the sky with even larger binoculars.

 

[Daz Type-R]

Cracking report Pete, I seriously need some bins, the mother in law has some Celestron 15/70's she never use's on a cracking good tripod, I may see if I can borrow them (perminatly)!

[Tweedledee]

Sweet talk your mother in law, you won't regret it Daz.

Especially on the nights when you just can't be bothered to plug all those cables into the Dob

[catman161]

I have the same ones pete, and have recommended them to others previously. I love them for when I am staying at the DZ and I pull my bed out of the tent onto the grass and lay back and drink it all in.

Great report as usual pete. Love reading your reports.

[Tweedledee]

Cracking report Pete,

Great report as usual pete. Love reading your reports.

Thanks very much guys. Somebody has to do it

I like reading other people's visual reports, so let's hear what you've been looking at.

I'm presuming DZ is drop zone. So, you can combine sky diving by day with sky watching at night. Sounds exciting stuff

[catman161]

Thanks very much guys. Somebody has to do it

I like reading other people's visual reports, so let's hear what you've been looking at.

I'm presuming DZ is drop zone. So, you can combine sky diving by day with sky watching at night. Sounds exciting stuff

I haven't been out looking since July unfortunately. I did note down hat I looked at that night, but have lost the piece of paper in the chaos of packing the house up ready for the move. It was mostly doubles which is not something I normally do but found it very enjoyable.

You'd be right about DZ. As its on the middle of nowhere for obvious reasons the skies are simply fantastic. I often take my scope if I am gonna stay the full weekend. My skydiving buddies are so impressed when I show them things, it nice to share it with non-astro people as often they just don't realise what is up the for us all to see.

[Guest peepshow]

That report should be shown to all school children.   

 Who could resist not wishing to see what Pete has so elegantly described ?.......

.............it left me starry eyed.

[Tweedledee]

Thanks Richard.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed that session.

[Guest Tweedledum]

Pete,

 

You should give up the driving tuition and write for S@N.

 

Great Read,

 

Thanks For Sharing.

[Tweedledee]

Thanks Damian.

 

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

I'm not good at writing, and would much rather mess about with numbers.

[Guest peepshow]

Pete, how about a 22 inch f5 Newtonian binocular telescope?

http://www.brucesayre.net/

You wouldn't be able to lay in the wet grass with that little lot.

[Tweedledee]

Very nice.

 

This one is a 635mm bino, being built by Dan (EMS's Black Eyed Hexy). Not heard from him in a while.

 

I would have pointed you to his EMS thread, but all the pictures disappeared when the EMS site was upgraded recently, so have a look at his thread on SGL...

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/158312-hexy-635mm-byclops-bino-altitude-pivot-mechanism/page__hl__%20hexy