Observing with Binoculars

I had a wonderful 2 hours Observing on Sunday Night 23rd November after several Cloudy Nights. I setup my Orion Paragon Parallelogram and Tripod with my Celestron Echelon 16x70 Binoculars, which I bought used recently from the UK on www.astrobuysell.com/ I also have a pair of Nikon Aculon 8x42 for Wide field views. I also will have used Pair of Canon Image Stabilized 10x30is Binoculars i picked up on Ebay so will do a report on these when they arrive.

I will just list the Objects i viewed as there are far more experienced Observers here who can describe the Type of objects in more detail.

I started off scanning some familiar objects with my Nikon 8x42
The Plough in Ursa Major, Capella in Auriga Mirfak in Perseus, Cassiopeia.
I then did some Star hopping to find the Andromeda Galaxy which in the past i just used my Celestron CPC800 GoTo to take me there. Even in Polluted Skies I could see it clearly in my 16x70 Binoculars. I have been using the " Sky Safari App" on my Android Phone for Star hopping. Ive also picked up an Old Copy of Patrick Moors Binocular Observing which I will be using to create an Observation List I can Tick off.

I then viewed Aldebaran in Taurus and the Hyades Star Cluster , which is beautiful through the Echelon Binoculars. If you can block out the Light around you its like looking at the Night sky in 3D through them. I can only imagine what the view must be like through larger APM and similar Bino Telescopes with their high quality optics. I then moved onto my favorite Asterism " The Pleides " I must have spent a good 15mins just looking at this stunning Cluster with its Diamond Like Stars and attempting to count as many stars as i could seeing at least 100 stars.

Castor and Polox where now coming into my view above the Neighbors garden wall. My Sky Safari App was showing an Asteroid (54) Alexandra to the East of Castor. I could see p gem 4Mag , HD58382 7 Mag and HD 58428 8th mag but I could not see 13th Magnitude 54 Alexandra . Has anyone seen this in , Binoculars or in a Telescope.

I finished off with Vega in Lyra and Deneb in Cygnus and the Starfields in the Milkyway around Deneb .

regards
Stephen

Nice report, Stephen.

I'm a big fan of binocular viewing, I really enjoy the comfort of using two eyes as it is so relaxing.  For so much of the sky binoculars are the weapon of choice.  From a dark sky the Milky Way is stunning through these instruments, panning from Cygnus down to Sagittarius and Scorpius there is so much to take in that one night is not enough.
A parallelogram mount is a fantastic piece of kit and takes a lot of the strain from the neck.
 
Paul

Hello, Stephen.

It was great to see you at the Zoom meeting of the IAS tonight.
Please do keep these excellent reports coming to the rest of us on IFAS.
This recent one was extremely good. Thank you.
The Hyades and the Pleiades are always stunning in many different optical instruments.
There is another splendid open star cluster right below Mirfak (Alpha Persei) in Perseus.
It's called Melotte 20.
So you might check that one out, Stephen.

By the way, Beta Geminorum is spelt Pollux.
And I do know it sounds very similar to a swear word. Ha ha!
But I don't think anyone is going to get rid of the name! Ha ha!

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

Hi Stephen, 

Very many thanks for your observational report...it was a goodie that was packed with so many nice objects.

I'm afraid I can't help you with 54 Alexandra - that's a new one for me.

Haydes is a gorgeous colourful object to view, and you make strong case for getting a high quality set of binoculars. 

Clear skies to you, 

Darren. 

Hi Stephen, it's good to hear that you had a great night with your bino set up, there's many more to come.

A good place in the evening skies at the moment are from Albireo (beta cygni) all the way down to Altair. You can see some stand out things like the coathanger, M27 and M71 starters.

Enjoy.

Keith.

Thanks Keith.  Ill have these on my list for my next Observation session.