20 million light years with just 36mm of glass!

I love image stabilized binoculars and have had Canon 15X45s for six years. But I just sold them to someone in Russia and took the money and bought new, 12X36 IS. Why? Weight and bulk, plain and simple. Maybe my arms are getting weaker. I found myself reaching for conventional 8X45 binos instead of the Canons more and more often lately - for both night sky and terrestrial observing. So, I went for a significant reduction in weight and bulk at a break-even price.

But this means also that I am significantly reducing the light grasp. I've countered this somewhat for astronomical viewing by purchasing a used pair of 15X70 Astro Physics glasses that will go on the binocular mount - but more on that after they arrive and I test them.

This morning on a whim I left the Virgo galaxies hanging in the 8-inch LX90, picked up the glasses, and went out on the observing deck, using a Sun Tracker chair - and had a ball. Here's a report I sent out to folks in the Prime Time group:

Good morning:

I'm, aiming this primarily at Donna and Michael, since they have IS binoculars, but most of these targets - particularly the "engagement ring" are available any time in any binocular. See if you can find it.

I started using the 8-inch in the observatory this morning, but got intrigued instead with binocular targets and what I could see with the 12X36 IS binos. (These targets would, of course, be even easier in the 18X50s Michael has - but some could be found in any binoculars.) All of them are fun and searching for and finding any of these will improve your observing skills.

What I saw in a quick survey were the globular clusters, M3, M13, and M92; the galaxies M51 and M101; the double star Albireo; and the asterisms of the coathanger and engagement ring.

Now some of these are only early morning targets for this time of the year, but a few are available in the evening now. They are not all equal in difficulty, and most - if not all - appear in the book I suggested earlier of "Binocular Highlights."

------------------

Binocular Highlights: 99 Celestial Sights for Binocular Users (Sky & Telescope Stargazing) (Spiral-bound)
by Gary Seronik (Author) Price: $16.47
------------------

Here's a ranking from easiest to most difficult:

The Engagement Ring. This is available any time. Just point your binoculars at Polaris, Look for a faint circlet of six or seven stars, with Polaris as the "diamond." This is a bit of a stretch in that the circlet is far from perfect and whether you count six or seven stars in it depends on how crude you want to make the ring ;-)

Albireo - easy, because it is easy to find as the head of Cygnus. It may be a little more difficult to split, but not much, though the splitting of it really requires 10X and some way to hold the binoculars very steady - or IS. I find it's also a good target on which to focus the right eyepiece - split Albireo using the left, then split it while adjusting the right - now don't touch the right setting. Tiny, but quite charming in the binoculars.

The Coathanger - this , like Albireo is an early morning target now - a prime time target in Summer - roughly halfway between Albireo and Altair on one side of the SUmmer Triangle. There's another version of it near the Little DIpper, but I couldn't recall the exact location and just scanning in the vicinity didn't work. Maybe you can find it. I think it's near the last star in the handle.

M3 is a nice globular that is on aline halfway between Arcturus and Cor Caroli, the 'Heart of Charles. (This is a telescopic double and forms a triangle with the past start in the handle of the Big Dipper and Arcturus. ) Globular clusters are more challenging than asterisms. Essentially. in binoculars they look like quite fuzzy stars. This is the first of the three mentioned to become availble at a reasonable time - closer to about 11 pm right now, but with each passing week it will rise earlier.

M13 is the great globular cluster in Hercules on one side of the "keystone." It 's larger than M3 and tends to jump out at you.

M92 is nearby, but more difficult to find. You would need to consult a star chart. It's only about half the size of M13.

M51 and M101 - These are galaxies and very challenging, though the charts and directions in Binocular Highlights help immensely. You won't see these unless you have dark skies, you have been dark adapting your eyes for 30 minutes, you look in exactly the right place and use averted vision. They are there. They can be seen, even with 36mm glasses. But they are not easy. However, just to be able to see light that has been traveling for 20 million years while using only binoculars is awesome.

Again - my main point here is that there is a lot you can do with binoculars and it is fun - and sometimes frustrating - but in either case, it helps develop your powers of observation.