Stars are even farther away. Most of the constellations you can see are several hundred light-years away. But why is it so hard to see? Because it is so faint. This is a job for binoculars or a telescope. Your eyes are spaced a few inches apart, so they provide slightly different viewpoints.
Thanks to the way the human brain combines the streams of images coming in through two eyes, most people perceive the world with depth in three dimensions, not like a flat picture. Binoculars are designed to amplify this effect. Distant birds and animals pop in spectacular 3D, making you feel as though you could reach out and touch them. As a result, astronomers mostly make do with one image.
Telescopes have some downsides for beginners, though. Because they see nothing! Plus, the view at high magnification is totally unfamiliar: There are no landmarks, no sense of scale or proportion.
Only a tiny piece of the sky is visible, often flipped upside down and backwards. Binoculars — which are basically just two telescopes bolted together — fix all these problems. Pay close attention to the size of your field of view; keep in mind how much sky it covers as shown on the map you're using.
Locate two bright stars that just fit into the edges of your binoculars' field, and see how many degrees apart they are on your map. You can make a wire ring with this diameter and place it on the map. It will instantly show the binoculars' field of view you can expect. By sliding the ring around on the map, you'll see how much territory you have to cross to get from one place to another. If your sky is dark and free of light pollution, a pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars should show all stars 9th magnitude and brighter and most deep-sky objects that are described as 8th magnitude or brighter.
Objects near this limit will be quite difficult — but that's the challenge! Under typical suburban light pollution, take 1 magnitude off these limits.
That still leaves a lot to see. The biggest problem with binoculars, you'll quickly discover, is holding them steady. The constant dancing of the view prevents you from seeing the faintest objects and the finest detail. As a teenager I followed the moons of Jupiter by holding my binoculars against the side of a tree or wedging them between slats of a fence. Lying on your back and resting their weight on the bones below your eyes will reduce the dancing to a wiggle in time with your heartbeat.
A pillow under your head can help. Today there's a high-tech solution to steady hand-held binocular views — even at higher powers. The result? A magically steady view. Image-stabilized binoculars are expensive, but many observers find they're worth it. They do, however, eat batteries. Large binoculars with mm or even bigger! There are, of course, more conventional ways of steadying the view. Many binoculars can be attached to a photographic tripod with an adapter.
This holds them perfectly still for near-horizontal viewing, but you can't get underneath a tripod to look up. A half dozen were reviewed in the June issue, with a further selection in June These mounts tend to be a bit large and expensive, but the best of them work extremely well.
Short of buying a binocular mount, the usual way of coping with the shakes is to observe from a reclining lawn chair that has arms. By resting both elbows on the chair arms and the eyepieces against your face, the dancing is greatly reduced. You probably won't be able to set up a tripod over the lawn chair. But if the binoculars are merely attached to a photographic tripod lying across your lap with its legs sticking sideways into the air, the images become much more still. Merely attaching the binoculars to such a large, rigid object is enough to damp down the troublesome rapid jittering.
Watch : Mining the Moon for rocket fuel. Queen guitarist Brian May and David Eicher launch new astronomy book. Last chance to join our Costa Rica Star Party! Learn about the Moon in a great new book New book chronicles the space program. Dave's Universe Year of Pluto. Groups Why Join? Astronomy Day. The Complete Star Atlas. Your guide to understanding binoculars, choosing the best ones for skygazing, and getting the most out of them under the night sky.
By Staff Published: Friday, December 13, Binoculars are versatile instruments with many benefits. They have a wide field of view and what you see through them is right-side up, making objects easy to find. That portability also makes binoculars ideal for nights when you might not have the time to set up a telescope.
And for most people, observing with two eyes rather than one is more natural and comfortable. Most binoculars also are relatively inexpensive. Understanding the numbers in binoculars For stargazing, the size of the front lenses is the most important thing.
Generally, the larger they are, the brighter the image will be. The Andromeda galaxy, or M31, will look like a tiny bit of white fluff — but this galaxy is almost twice the size of the Milky Way and can be found 2. A trillion stars make up this tiny piece of fluff, which helps make it visible even to the naked eye.
With binoculars, however, you will see more detail and the long oblong shape of the Andromeda Galaxy will become visible, as well as distinction between the bright core of the galaxy and the fainter edges. You can also see that Andromeda is a bit asymmetrical: the northern part of the galaxy will appear more robust and puffier, while the southern segment will appear less distinct. Going beyond Andromeda, you should also be able to make out the two companion galaxies that flank it, M and M M32 is the brighter of the two companion galaxies, and can be found by identifying the three 7th magnitude stars that are near the Southern end of Andromeda.
The furthest north of these stars will point towards M32, which will be slightly less bright. M is across from Andromeda past the bright side of the nucleus. M will not be very distinct and may look more like a haze as you first identify it.
While Andromeda is better known, there is also another visible galaxy in this region: the Triangulum Galaxy , also called M The constellation Triangulum is the beacon used to find this galaxy. You can also look directly below the Andromeda Galaxy and 15 degrees southeast of M The Triangulum Galaxy is slightly farther away than Andromeda.
It is 2. Through binoculars, this galaxy will be egg shaped and appear fuzzy. Like Andromeda, there is a brighter bulge in the center of the galaxy, but unlike Andromeda, the Triangulum Galaxy contains a relatively small number of stars, at just about 40 million. Summer is an especially ideal time to take the binoculars out for a run, as astronomical observation can be paired with camping or hiking in areas where there is little light pollution and you can have the darkest and clearest views of the sky.
Using apps like the previously mentioned Sky Safari 5, you can find objects that are great targets for sighting during the summer months. It is actually part of the larger constellation called Ursa Major. The Plough is a familiar sight but can be enhanced by viewing through binoculars. The stars Mizar and Alcor are particular highlights. While you are in the area, check out the Ursa Minor as well. The naked eye, you will usually not be able to see all seven stars that make up Ursa Minor, but with binoculars you should be able to spot them all.
After getting the hang of the familiar Plough, expand your horizons by searching for the asterisms the Summer Triangle and Coathanger.
In the earlier part of the summer these will be identifiable by sweeping the eastern part of the night sky.
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