Binocular Favorites

Binoculars are a far more accessible tool to many beginning amateurs
than a decent telescope. Bearing this in mind, what should they look for?

What are your favorite binocular objects?

--
Mark C. Farrington
http://stellar.heroeshideaway.com

The Orion Nebula, The Andromeda Galaxy, M33, Kemble's Cascade, The Veil
Nebula, The Lagoon Nebula, M13, M22, The Double Cluster... One could
write a book, and people have. And then there's just sweeping up and
down the Milky Way... Binoculars are wonderful!
Marty

"Mark C. Farrington" wrote:

Binoculars are a far more accessible tool to many beginning amateurs
than a decent telescope. Bearing this in mind, what should they look for?

What are your favorite binocular objects?

I'm a strictly binoc person at the moment, and at the lower end
of the skill range. My favorites are the ones I don't look for.
The larger field of view of binoculars lets you scan the sky
and stumble across nice asterisms and clusters unexpectedly.
Perseus is high in the sky now, and worth browsing slowly
all its corners. So is Cassiopeia, Orion, and the length
of the Milky Way.

Some specific sights that are in the sky now (winter)
that I enjoy looking for frequently: the Pleiades,
Hyades, the Double Cluster, the Orion Nebula.

I like Patrick Moore's "Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars"
as a guide.

--
Glenn Holliday

Marty wrote:
The Orion Nebula, The Andromeda Galaxy, M33, Kemble's Cascade, The Veil
Nebula, The Lagoon Nebula, M13, M22, The Double Cluster... One could
write a book, and people have. And then there's just sweeping up and
down the Milky Way... Binoculars are wonderful!
Marty


Not looking to write a book, but maybe I'll compile a top 100 list. Get
your votes in now people

--
Mark C. Farrington
http://stellar.heroeshideaway.com

On 2005-02-11, Mark C. Farrington wrote:

Not looking to write a book, but maybe I'll compile a top 100 list. Get
your votes in now people

I saw quite a few dark nebulae in binoculars (11x80) last year. Favorites:

* Barnard 168 in Cygnus. Very distinct narrow dark streak running east from
M39, visible in the same binocular field.

* Barnard 142-143 in Aquila just west of gamma. These become really distinct
when the sky is darker than about mag 5.

Also, M24, the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud is a great area surrounded by many
good binocular objects: M18 and M17 are obvious to the north, M25 to the east,
and M23 to the west.

-Bill
--
Sattre Press History of Astronomy
http://sattre-press.com/ During the 19th Century
by Agnes M. Clerke
http://sattre-press.com/han.html

The Pleiades and Orion in the winter times, and all the
wonderful things around Scropius and Sagittarius during
the Summer time.

Esmail, sure has been a while since you posted. Where you been man?

Cheers,
Ritesh