Hi All, I'm just writing about the night I had last night with my new Strathspey 20x90mm binoculars. It was typical that when you get a new 'toy' it rains for days! But last night it had cleared to very a steady sky, transparency was 8/10, and even the brightest stars of winter did'nt flicker much indicating a good night ahead. Here are some general notes I remember:
I set my 20x90's on my small tripod, balancing them carefully, as they are 4kg! sat down on a seat, and saw the beautiful 2 day old crescent moon in the northwest, and what a sight it was ! I aimed my 3.2 degree field of view towards the moon, and what a stunning view, I only wish i could have photographed what I had seen before me, the optical performance was amazing, the moon was so crisp, it was like the best Earthshine shot you have ever seen! Craters looked as though you could reach out and touch them. To my surprise, I watched for the next 5 minutes as the moon occulted a magnitude 8.1 star in the middle of it's dark limb, I had no problem watching the star disappear in a heartbeat.
Moving to the Pleiades, the entire cluster was visible, with many beacons of bright light! Superb!
I then aimed at where the Orion nebula - M42 should be, and to my surprise, I found it immediately, the Orion nebula was simply stunning, it actually filled about 1/3rd of my field of view, incredibly bright, arcing from east to west like a bright green coloured seagull in flight, the dark dust lanes along with ther 'trapezium' stars presented a 3D view. Below M42 was a magnitude 2.7 bright star, Iota Orionis, I actually found it too bright! To the north I slowly scanned and easily tread upon NGC1981, a beautiful cluster with it's brightest pinpoint stars at magnitude 6, but in the midst of deep twighlight, I could not detect any neblosity.
I then scanned northwards again to Orions belt, looking at the multiple star Sigma Orionis on the way, I could easily make out 6 from 7 of it's telescopic stars. Orion's belt was extremely bright, this pointing the way to M78 - I simply could'nt believe that this dark and bright nebula was this bright, it looked like a large comet with no tail !
I then scanned at random in Monoceros, and came across open star cluster M50 - a joy to behold with sparkling gems of magntude 8 and lower shining their collective light from many light years away. I also had a look at M35, again stunning against a now dark velvet background sky, along with it's companion IC2157, five times further away. The colour to be seen from stars of the milkyway was astounding, from deep red to bright blue - just absolutely unforgettable.
What was really striking about these binoculars is how well each tiny pinpoint of starlight is just that - a pinpoint of light. The optics are very well collimated, sharp, though there is some blurring right at the edge of the field of view, though this is not anything more than a minor issue. If you are into looking at wide milkyway starfields, then this binocular will do the trick, I am absolutely delighted with them and highly recommend them to anybody interested, though next on the list is a very good tripod of standing height. The best 290Euro I've ever spent!!!
Can't wait fro the next clear night!
Keith..
  