Stargazing

[alanp]

On the advice of a couple of friends (JovianPyx (SoCal) and SkrogProductions (Scotland)), I wandered outside with my cheap little binoculars the other night.

Bugger me sideways, you CAN see the stars through this! Granted, it's not much more than a confirmation that yes, they're there, and in suburbia I can't see anything extra, but I felt quite chuffed at that.

New moon, though, so I didn't get the chance to see if my little binoculars could sharpen that up for me.

[galaxiex]

Binoc's are actually quite good for star or moon gazing. 

I have some cheap 10X that I often use for moon gazing when it's full and we have a clear night.

I'd like to think that someday I'll actually be able to see the US flag the astronauts left there.... 

[mjg]

Yep, binoculars are quite good for getting a wide angle view of lots of stars.  They're even better when you can rest them on something, or attach to a tripod so your view isn't wobbling all over the place. 

The Pleiades look good through binoculars.  M6 and M7 can look nice too.   

You will definitely see some detail on the Moon as well. 

[juansolo]

There's no sun in the shadow of the wizard, see how he glides, why he's lighter than air!

Only Stargazer I know

[hairshirt]

Then don't go down the rabbit hole with this telescope like I did:

http://store.astronomerswithoutborders.org/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=4&zenid=7cse8ccorl82njrqss2ftfuqn0

You'll find there's even more out there.  When you see the Orion Nebula clear as day with color. Or in your case, the Large Magellanic Cloud and Carina Nebula, you'll be blown away.

[Muadzin]

There's no sun in the shadow of the wizard, see how he glides, why he's lighter than air!

Only Stargazer I know

Best Rainbow and Dio song EVER!!!

[jball85]

If you are in an area with little light pollution, and you have the ability to rest the binoculars so they remain steady while used for viewing the night sky, you can see space junk everywhere flying around, all over the sky.

However, nothing can compare to viewing Saturn for the first time through a proper telescope with a motorized mount, that tracks the objects with precision. It's an epiphany.

[alanp]

In my case, I'm in the middle of suburbia. Binoculars turn the dots in the sky into distinct dots. Nothing added to the image, really

[nzCdog]

A couple years ago we spent a week in Tekapo for a family holiday. Tekapo has an astronomical observatory, and renouned clear skies for astronomy. We struck an unusually clear time also, and spent a lot of time staring into space... I could see with vibrant clarity, thousands of stars, galaxies, nebulae all with the naked eye... it was truly mesmerising.  I've always lived in cities with light pollution, seeing only the odd star at night.  For the first time in my life I kinda realised... there was no sky! So acostomed to the idea that the sky is blue with clouds, and black at night, now I was aware how naked we were in a sense... there is literally nothing after our thin layer of atmosphere... just empty space between us and the stars and planets far away. It was actually a little freaky.

[jball85]

I live 700 ft above sea level in the woods, great night sky viewing. However, the best viewing I've witnessed was skiing in New Mexico (Rocky Mountains). Every inch of the sky has hundreds of stars. It similar to jumping to warp speed in the Millennium Falcon.