I bought a pair of 10x50mm binoculars for star gazing, what's easy to find in the sky for a beginner?

Question

Weather permitting, I'm going to take my new binoculars outside for a view of the sky. I'm just beginning star gazing with something other than the naked eye. I want to get used to the binoculars, looking thru them and focusing on objects. I went outside today in the day time to focus on a few things. So far so good!!! What are some easy things for me to find/look at tonight??

Answer 1

Large, bright objects are best; so that you can see them in an easy and relaxed way.  It does rather depend on where you are and what time you will be looking.  That's because what is visible depends on your latitude, the time of year and the time of day.  The moon is an obvious one but you will probably need some "neutral density" filters as it will otherwise be too bright.  The Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and suchlike.

I recommend you get a program such as Astroplanner from here:

http://www.ilangainc.com/astroplanner/

It is a WONDERFUL program to plan your viewing with. I suggest you set it to show objects at least as bright as magnitude 6, perhaps 8 if you have a good clear night and your location is dark.  Remember to let your eyes dark-adjust first.

You will need to get used to navigating you way round the stars.  Practice by getting to know the major constellations and practicing moving from those major stars to the objects you want.

Answer 2

Download one of these sky maps each month.  There's a chart on one page, and a list of easy objects on the other.  If you live in the North, this month has m31 - a galaxy, m13 - a globular cluster, Mizar and Alcor, and the coat hanger.

Answer 3

Probably the easiest night-time target is the moon - its easy to find, bright, and you can get some good maps to compare to your observations.

Next would be Jupiter (the brightest planet at this time of the year) and also bright and easy to find (its in the south or southwest most of the night).  If the night is very clear and dark, you should be able to see the 4 tiny moons of Jupiter around the brighter point of that planet.

Then try for the Andromeda Galaxy, in the Andromeda constellation - its in the northeastern sky around 10:00 pm right now.

Answer 4

Moon.

M4 in Scorpius.

M22 in Sagittarius.

Andromeda Galaxy.

Jupiter and its moons.

The prettiest thing you might can see in binos is the Pleiades star cluster, but that's later, in the winter months.

You could try to split Alberio, but that might be a challenge. Go for Nu Draconis, which is easier, and you can say that you split a double star.

Answer 5

All great answers. I have 10/50's also. I would suggest a tripod if you don't have one already, they are a little heavy for my strength and stability.

In addition to the objects already mentioned I find it a thrill to just look at an area of sky and suddenly there are so many MORE stars visible to me. It's also easier to separate binary systems like Alcor and Mizar in the handle of the Big Dipper.

http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_SPRING/BI...

Some people can do it with naked eye but others only see one star. I've heard that the system was used as a vision test for young Native American hunters. They were asked "how many stars" and if two were seen they were allowed to join the hunters. Probably good to be able to tell a deer from your fellow hunter ;) I couldn't without my trusty 10/50's.

Answer 6

You might like to check the first site below for some ideas of what you are able to see, both natural and man-made (don't forget to enter your location!)

The second site below might also be of use, a little more complicated but you can set the level to suit your requirements.

Hope you get clear skies and that Murphy's law doesn't intervene!