Ronnie Henley wrote: > Being new at this could I get some advise on what size > and type binoculars works best when observing satellites. There are no doubt varying schools of thought. One major question is if you intend to use them handheld (lower power binoculars) or with a tripod and mount (higher power). There are trade-offs. Lower power models have a larger field of view and are lighter in weight, and tend to have less image shaking. Higher power models have a smaller field of view and are heavier and tend to have more image shaking, but of course you can see fainter objects. In any case, I would strongly recommend getting a model that is fully multicoated. Getting the best coatings gets you the best light transmission, reduced glare, etc. I like handheld, lower power observing. A good size for that is 10x50. If you want even larger field of view and lighter weight, 8x40 or 8x42 are good. If you feel like you can do it, you could go for more power, such as a 12x50, or even add more light-gathering (and more weight) and get a 12x60. One more question is if you would use the binoculars for other activities, such as birding, camping, hiking, sports, etc. For almost any of those, you ought to look for a waterproof model, which is not needed for astronomy. Will you be wearing eyeglasses? If so, get "long eye relief", at least 16mm. Two vendors who specialize in binoculars are Oberwerk and Garrett Optical. Both have pretty good reputations for quality control and customer service. They also have good prices. Orion is a good vendor. I like to "window shop" on the Eagle Optics website, which has some good ways to sort by price, model, brand, etc. On the cloudynights.com website there is a very active and helpful binocular forum with over 250 mini-reviews of lots of models of binoculars and much discussion. Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA ____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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