Binocular Astronomy [Paperback]

Binoculars are great for astronomy because they are more portable than telescopes. They are also wonderful because one can use both eyes, which is much more comfortable and natural than one eye through a telescope. However, one can see more through a telescope.

I've ground mirrors and assembled a couple of reflectors. I have enjoyed amateur astronomy for decades. I use binoculars both alone and to assist in telescope astronomy. I use a 10x50, individually focused, porro prism binocular. This is simply the best choice for astronomy. In fact, such a binocular is necessary to find objects in order to hone in on them with the finder scope of the telescope. You don't need the best binocular made, just the best one you can afford. Of course, if you are one of those earthlings who belong to the "go to" school, then you don't need binoculars and probably aren't reading this anyway.

The book has some good information on collimating, disassembling, and care. It explains about different types of binoculars and how to use them. The book also contains useful star maps of 50 deep space objects for medium sized (mine) binoculars and 100 deep space objects for larger binoculars. This is good because amateur astronomers who are into binocular astronomy eventually get "giant" binoculars. But you should still start of with and keep the medium sized ones. These maps are probably best used along with a larger star atlas such as the Tirion 2000 to help figure out just where one is in the sky.

My only question with this book, and I took no points away for it, because it is more a matter of opinion, is why does the author have birding binoculars on the front cover? On page 40 he claims to see as much of the night sky through his 10x42 roofs as his 10x50 porros. This speaks perhaps more to the author's smaller dilating pupils than the binoculars, which may be the reason he can't see more through the porros. This may be misleading to a budding astronomer with young eyes, which can become more dilated in darkness and be able to take advantage of 10x50s or even 7x50s for that matter. The latter would let in more light, which would be wasted on someone with less than a 5mm exit pupil.

Overall, a good read and resource. Personally, I use "Binocular Highlights" by Gary Saronik and "Celestial Sampler" by Sue French, which I find a little more user friendly. As well, when I am doing some serious observing, I bring along "The Night Sky Observers Guide" and always the Tirion 2000 Sky Atlas. If I bring nothing else, I always bring that last one.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  5.0 out of 5 stars