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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 3070
Loc: Illinois, US
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In short:
The milky way is actually still impressive when you turn binoculars on it, even from mag 3 skies.
I managed to find Lyra floating just over my house and split the first-order component of epsilon lyrae a little too easily in my 15x70s. Can't spot the ring nebula, but I'm pretty sure I found the area that contains it; I'll turn the scope on it with the O-III filter, first chance I get.
Finally saw Jupiter this year with something other than just my eyes. It is really something else in a nice set of binoculars. At 15x, you can make out some banding on the planet, and see the moons pretty clearly, and the binoculars have a field of view and depth of field such that you can actually _see_ Jupiter floating up above the rough branches of the tree in the next yard over. It's quite a beautiful view.
As far as detail, I've found that the Jupiter model in xephem can be made to represent my binocular view of Jupiter pretty well. It looked like the attached picture. 
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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Silicon Owl
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/25/05
Posts: 773
Loc: Waimea, Hawaii
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Sounds like a nice quick session. M57 should be visible in 70mm binos, just recall that it is quite small and might look stellar at first glance at low mags. Look for the fuzzy star.
Andrew
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Andrew Cooper
Personal Website and CN Gallery
Handmade 18" Dob / NS11GPS / 6" RFT / 90mm APO / TV-76 ...and a twin 10m
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 3070
Loc: Illinois, US
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Quote:
Sounds like a nice quick session. M57 should be visible in 70mm binos, just recall that it is quite small and might look stellar at first glance at low mags. Look for the fuzzy star.
I did; as I said, I have a mag 3 sky anyway, and the moon was pretty bright.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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RussL
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/18/08
Posts: 744
Loc: Cayce, SC
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Quote:
and the binoculars have a field of view and depth of field such that you can actually _see_ Jupiter floating up above the rough branches of the tree in the next yard over. It's quite a beautiful view.
Hi Chris, I know what you mean about binos. When you get terrestrial objects in the view along with astronomical objects you get that floating feeling. Beautiful.
Question: when you say you have mag 3 skies, what scale are you using? I may not understand the scales too well. I read up on the Bortle scale and determined that my skies are about 5-1/2. I thought they said that the lower numbers referred to darker skies and the higher numbers referred to more polluted skies. Do I have it backwards? I haven't studied other scales, so I don't have a clue what to estimate. Just curious.
Anyway, great report and sounds like those 15x70s are a delight. 
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"Akita mani yo." Observe everything as you walk. (--Lakota)
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GlenM
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/20/07
Posts: 699
Loc: 53° 36'N 2° 06'W
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Using my bino's for fuzzies I find the field then defocus when I refocus and ALL the stars come to points of light except the fuzzie. Well that's what I do.Most of the time it works for me.
Just wondered if anyone else used this method 
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Glen
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alienux
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/17/08
Posts: 574
Loc: Dayton, Ohio
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Cool, Chris, sounds like a nice session. Makes me wish my binoculars were a little stronger (my current ones are 7X50) for those nights I just have time for a quick peek.
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Brian
Orion SkyView Pro 127mm EQ Mak
Meade 60mm Push-To TeleStar
Phillips SPC900NC
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 3070
Loc: Illinois, US
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Quote:
Question: when you say you have mag 3 skies, what scale are you using? I may not understand the scales too well. I read up on the Bortle scale and determined that my skies are about 5-1/2. I thought they said that the lower numbers referred to darker skies and the higher numbers referred to more polluted skies. Do I have it backwards? I haven't studied other scales, so I don't have a clue what to estimate. Just curious.
Just NELM. That is, if I walk outside most nights, the dim objects I can see are about mag 3.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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RussL
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/18/08
Posts: 744
Loc: Cayce, SC
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Quote:
Just NELM. That is, if I walk outside most nights, the dim objects I can see are about mag 3.
Oh, OK, I understand now why you called it mag 3. Gotcha.
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"Akita mani yo." Observe everything as you walk. (--Lakota)
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RussL
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/18/08
Posts: 744
Loc: Cayce, SC
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Glenn, that sounds like a good idea. I'll try it tonight.
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"Akita mani yo." Observe everything as you walk. (--Lakota)
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Silicon Owl
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/25/05
Posts: 773
Loc: Waimea, Hawaii
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Quote:
Question: when you say you have mag 3 skies, what scale are you using? I may not understand the scales too well. I read up on the Bortle scale and determined that my skies are about 5-1/2. I thought they said that the lower numbers referred to darker skies and the higher numbers referred to more polluted skies. Do I have it backwards?
For limiting magnitude, the scale is backwards. Low numbers are more light polluted and big numbers are better.
For Bortle small numbers are better. With a class One sky being as good as it gets and 9 being inner city whiteout. Most guys around here will specifically say Bortle if using it, otherwise assume limiting magnitude.
Just have to get used to the jargon around here...
Andrew
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Andrew Cooper
Personal Website and CN Gallery
Handmade 18" Dob / NS11GPS / 6" RFT / 90mm APO / TV-76 ...and a twin 10m
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
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gsharper13
member
Reged: 06/14/07
Posts: 49
Loc: Loves Park, IL
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Looked at the ring (m57) last night myself in the 5". I had to look hard to find it. Was mostly washed out. Almost had to use averted vision on it, which is very unusual in this scope.
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12.5" F/5 Hubble Optics truss dob "Scopezilla".
Meade 127mm f/9.3 LXD55 Refractor "Yard Cannon"
SS 80mm F/5 refractor "Frankenscope"
Meade DS90-AT f/11.1 "Basketcase"
90mm f/10 SS refractor, wooden tube
 Rockford, Il.
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 3070
Loc: Illinois, US
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Quote:
Looked at the ring (m57) last night myself in the 5". I had to look hard to find it. Was mostly washed out. Almost had to use averted vision on it, which is very unusual in this scope.
I expect I'll get it shortly in either the 90mm or the 6" with the O-III filter. I hear that it takes well to O-III filtration.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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