Astronomical gift, not price

Are you in the market for something astronomical for someone, but don't want to put out the bucks for a telescope? How about a nice pair of binoculars? After all, binoculars are just two small telescopes placed side-by-side.

Just as with telescopes, the measure of a pair of binoculars is aperture. The bigger the aperture, the more light that can be gathered and delivered to your retina.

Marked somewhere on the binoculars, usually near the eyepieces, is a number that looks like 7X35, or 10X50. The first numbers tells you the magnification, or power, and the second tells the aperture, or how big the objective lens is. They are usually stated in millimeters.

Keep in mind here that as with telescopes, the bigger the lens or mirror the heavier it is going to be. If you rush out and buy the best 100X400 you can find you are going to need a wheelbarrow to carry it and a tripod to mount in on because you won't be able to hold them up to your eyes.

Which one is the best? It is just like buying an automobile, what do you want to do with it? For average stargazing and quick runs out of the house for a scan of the sky a pair of 7X35s will do. For a little more in the way of observation you will want to bump up to 10X50.

I have a pair of 10X50s. They are relatively easy to carry but they do have a bit of weight. Often I find myself propping them on the top of the car or against a building for observation.

Of course, a tripod is not out of the question. If the binoculars are of the larger persuasion check to make sure there is a tripod mount adapter that is either on the binoculars already or that can be added.

Here is a test you can use when purchasing binoculars, hold them up level with your eyes and look into the big end, if the image you see is round and not square or rectangle it marks a better pair of binoculars.

Now that we have something to look with, what are you going to look at? There are any number of good books, star charts and star atlases on the market. One I particularly like is "Turn Left at Orion" by Guy Consolmagno and Dan Davis. One reason I like the book is the author gives realistic images of what you can expect to see in the eyepiece.

Yes, be warned, what you will see is nothing at all like the pictures in books and magazines. In the books they are bright and colorful. In the eyepiece they will be a gray monochrome.

Another book I enjoy using is Terrance Dickinson's "Nightwatch." It is very informative and has lots of useful star maps.

If you want to look for some of these items I would suggest www.amazon.com. Right now Amazon has "Turn Left at Orion," "Turn Right at Orion" and "Nightwatch" grouped as a bundle for a very reasonable price.

For telescopes and binoculars check: www.telescopes.com; www.meade.com or www.celestron.com. There are also two good astronomical magazines, www.astronomy.com and www.skyandtelescope.com. Happy hunting.

SKY WATCH:

New moon tonight, 5:02 p.m. MST. If you have a good view west, on Friday, Dec. 18, try to find a very slender, just-past-new crescent moon about six degrees above the very tiny, bright dot of the planet Mercury. Jupiter and Neptune are still close together and can be observed in the southwest in the early evening until mid-January, use binoculars. On Dec. 20 and 21 a growing crescent moon will join them. Mars and Saturn are growing brighter and will soon be in the evening sky. Winter officially starts on Monday, Dec. 21, although from the recent weather around here one would have thought it was already well under way. The sun will cross the celestial equator heading south at 10:47 a.m. MST turning the northern hemisphere away from direct rays of the sun. In the southern hemisphere summer will start.

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.