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Earlier this year I became really eager to start looking up at the cosmos because I’ve always been fascinated with astronomy. It mainly had to do with wanting to see more stars as well as perhaps catching a closer look at a UFO if the opportunity arose. I did a little shopping and bought a cheap $40 telescope. When it arrived I was pumped about using it to look at the stars the the moon. However, I quickly realized that this was not going to do me justice. The optics were cheap and the tripod was too flimsy to keep steady so I returned it. Then I discovered I had an old pair of binoculars just laying around and I started looking through these – I was amazed. This was around Feb or so. To my surprise I could see way more stars with these little binoculars than I could with the telescope I had just returned. The best thing was that I could point and look with both my eyes in any direction with ease so I went and started to do some research. I spent a lot of time in http://www.binoculars.com
For weeks I looked at specs and read reviews on giant binoculars – drooling over them because I wanted a pair. Eventually I found the perfect ones:
These things are BIG – 25xMagnification and 100mm Lenses – I love em. What sucks is that they were so popular at the time I ordered them so they were back ordered for a good while. I had to wait just a little over three months to receive them. During that time I bought a smaller pair:
These binoculars are my favorite toys. I’ve seen wonders in the sky with them, including UFO’s 🙂 (I’ll cover that in another post).
Anyway, this was meant to be a post about planets, but I wanted to give you a little background on how I got into being a sky watcher. Now, if you are curious about looking up at the sky and looking at these heavenly bodies I’d recommend you get yourself at least a 4-5 inch Telescope (that would be the size of the objective lens). If not, get yourself a pair of binoculars that are at least 15x magnification and have 60mm objective lenses, like the ones above.
I started to look at constellations at first, like Orion and Cassiopeia just to name a couple. Then one night around March, I’m looking up towards the east at around 2:30AM and I notice this huge, brilliant white dot. It wasn’t a star because it didn’t blink so I thought “hmm maybe it’s a UFO” (it looks just like ufos I’ve seen in my area). I went and grabbed my binoculars and as soon as I looked I gasped – it was Jupiter. I could see four moons – Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. That’s the order they are in from nearest to farthest. Those are the only ones you can see with low magnification because they are are pretty big. Notice that was around March and at 2:30AM. Jupiter has gone around quite a bit so now it appears just as the sun sets. With your naked eye if you look south when the sun sets you will see a very bright star, the brightest in the sky – that’s Jupiter. If you look west at the same time you will see another very bright star – that’s Saturn. With a telescope or a good pair of binoculars you can see Mars just under Saturn to the left.
I wanted to share this just in case anyone has noticed these and thought they were stars – they’re not. Now you can tell your friends what they are!
PS: during/after sunset you have a good 20+ (30 tops) minutes to check out Saturn before it sets. Jupiter is visible way after midnight still.
Hey Opa as far as I know, I do not think you can set up a camera to binoculars and if you could, you might have to pay a pretty penny for a specific type of binocular. You can however hook up a camera to a telescope. If you go that route prepare to spend some money. It will be worth it if you are into astronomy though. If you want to get a nice stable image with the current pair of binos that you own, I would recommend picking up a tripod and an adapter. I use a tripod for the giants and I use the small ones for scanning the sky.
I’ve been checking out this telescope for months.
It’s massive and it’s made by the same company who makes the giants I have – Zhumell. That telescope is so big that when you set it on the ground the eye piece reaches your chest. Hopefully I can get it this winter and get some nice views of the Orion Nebula.
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