Binocular Stargazing 101: Essential Tips - with Celestron SkyMaster Pro ED

Ever wondered how to unlock the secrets of the night sky without a telescope? In this video, Dave guides you through the essentials of choosing the perfect binoculars for stargazing. Explore the unique benefits of popular models like the Celestron SkyMaster Pro ED 7x50s, 15x70s, and 20x80s, and learn why each one can elevate your celestial observations. 

0:00 - Choosing Binoculars for Stargazing
4:38 - Night Sky Observing Tips and Tricks
11:39 - Portable Stargazing With Binoculars

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Celestron Skymaster Pro ED - 15x70mm Binoculars https://bit.ly/48iXw6O
Celestron Skymaster Pro ED - 20x80mm Binoculars https://bit.ly/48sXAB1
SkyMaster Pro ED - Full Lineup https://bit.ly/41Vlnas

From the wide field of view of the 7x50s, ideal for initial scans, to the powerful magnification of the 20x80s for detailed views, this video has all the insights you need to make an informed choice. Dave also shares practical tips on achieving optimal focus, adjusting the diopter, and the critical role of tripods for higher magnification models.

Tune in for valuable tips and tricks that compare the use of binoculars and telescopes, and discover why binoculars might just be the beginner's best friend. Learn how to stabilize your binoculars, even when handheld, and understand the benefits of using glasses, especially for those with astigmatism. We'll also touch on the impact of city lights, the vibrant colors of stars like Antares, and the best strategies for observing double stars and star clusters. 

Whether you're in a bustling urban area or under serene, dark skies, Dave's advice on portable stargazing with binoculars will help you make the most of your astronomical adventures. Keep looking up and enjoy the stars!

A Special Thanks to Will Young at https://www.deepskydude.com/ for the right to use his awesome music. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Choosing Binoculars for Stargazing
• 4:38 Night Sky Observing Tips and Tricks
• 11:39 Portable Stargazing With Binoculars

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I think a combination of the 7x50s to you know, initially scan through the sky and you'll have that wider field of view, and if you find something that you notice you're interested in, that's when you can jump up here to the 15x70 or the 20x80 to look more closely. But the scanning of the sky itself these 7x50s are my favorite. I laid on my back the other night. I scanned through the sky and I looked at, you know, patches of stars. I found some satellites that I was able to actually track, along with with the binoculars, which is awesome. So the first thing you need to think about when you're outside under the sky is what is it that you're wanting to look for? Now? The obvious thing in the sky, of course, right now is the moon. Right, I thought it would be important to discuss how the different sizes of binocular are going to give you different views. I'm not going to be very quantitative about it. I'm going to be very qualitative. I'm going to describe things how they look to me and it's my opinions about things, not necessarily any kind of hard facts here, um, but I've been doing this a very long time and I have a good understanding of what looks good, so I'll do my best to try to give you a sense of scale as well as detail. So the first ones are the seven by fifties. Now, the first thing to do, of course, is to get it in focus, but that's easier said than done, right? So, holding my hand over the one for my left eye, I can get that in focus, and then I'm going to hold my hand over my left binocular and I can change the diopter. Oh, that's smooth. So they have this thing right here. Okay, you'll notice that that is the dial for the diopter, and it makes it so that this is super tactile when you're out here, that you can look at this dial and try to figure it out under, you know, dark skies with a normal binocular, or you can just feel it with this one. So I really like that. Also, don't forget that these cups do come out. And because those cups come out and this is the same on all three of these Skymaster Pro ED binoculars First thing, once again, is to focus your left eye using the big dial, and then there's the diopter, and that diopter helps you to get the other eye in focus, because your prescriptions are not identical and, by the way, if you wear glasses like I do.

Speaker 1: 2:43

You do not need to wear them with your binocular, unless you have an astigmatism. Okay, and if you have an astigmatism, I recommend using the glasses, and these work fine. I prefer them because I do have an astigmatism. For me, I can look through my glasses in here. I can basically dial the cups down and they do stop at different levels, and so I can get the exact level that works best for me. And once I've got that in the binocular, unless somebody else uses it, it'll just stay there. It's rock solid. I really like it. They're really nice in the hands.

Speaker 1: 3:14

For the ones that are the 7x50s, another thing I want to remind you about is why you're, you know, tending to hold it here, because that's where the grips are. Naturally, I prefer to hold the binoculars out a little bit farther and rest them on the bridge of my nose, because it stabilizes them quite a bit more and you can bring your arms in and towards your chest and even hold your breath if you want to stabilize yourself a little more. But that's about the extent of it. At that point, you know, with the 7x50s I'm having to do that, or the 15x70s or the 20x80s. The magnification on these is so great you absolutely want to have them on a tripod. In looking through these, the 15x70s are very interesting because from the 7x50s to the 15x70s, that extra boost in magnification allows me to see the details on the moon significantly better. Now the drawback of having to have a tripod actually turns out to be a really nice feature, because when you're looking at the moon here, any little shakes with this you are going to see, and so I had been holding on to the tripod while I was trying to use it. Bad idea, okay, hands off. After you get it in focus, don't touch it. Try to stay just enough off of it.

Speaker 1: 4:38

The other thing I had noticed that I was kind of surprised by is how the moon in a binocular because it's a binocular is not upside down inverted like you would see in a telescope, and so from someone who is coming from more of a telescope background, I'm used to having to explain about how the moon is flipped upside down so I can see how. For someone who is just getting started in astronomy, that can be very difficult. By having the binocular as your main observing tool for the moon, you're actually getting a good amount of detail. The brightness levels are the main thing that I see when I go over here to the 20 by 80s. Okay, so the level of the light that's coming into this one is enough that you're getting this contrastiness that you don't get with the other one. So one of the other things that I really like about the tripods is that they have, like many tripods do, the ability to hang some things off of them, and that gives them the added stability that you would desire when you have something like a big pair of binoculars at the very top of them. For now I am just kind of hanging the 7x50s off of this in the bag and I'm also hanging off of this one, the Ultima 80, which is a daytime spotting scope that you would use for birding or something. So I've got the 20x80 here and I've got the 15 by 70 over here, and now we're looking at the part of the sky that is opposite of the moon, and so we can see there's a difference. But unfortunately, at the farm, this is in the direction of the most city lights. So I do have a dome at, if you can see it there, probably a dome of city lights. From my local town, this direction tends to be the most clear, and that's where the moon is right now.

Speaker 1: 6:40

Looking up here, I can find some pretty bright stars and you know, you might want to use this to look at the different colors of the different stars. There are star clusters, such as globular clusters, that you might want to look at. There are open clusters of stars that you might want to look at. The stellar objects are usually pretty easily seen in binoculars because they're pinpoints of light. Some nebulae are visible, but it becomes more difficult because the actual photons are spread out as opposed to being like a star is where they're all concentrated. So be careful when you're looking at the magnitude scale of nebulae. And the same thing can go for galaxies. Some of them are visible in the binocular. They're sufficiently bright. Their surface brightness across the entire galaxy is very large, but there are many of them that you won't see With either of these.

Speaker 1: 7:33

I don't actually like to look for these objects with these types of binoculars right away. Here's where having the different ones is kind of like when you have different eyepieces. I actually don't like just starting with either of these two pairs of binoculars I think a combination of the 7x50s to you know, initially scan through the sky and you'll have that wider field of view. And if you find something that you notice you're interested in, that's when you can jump up here to the 15x70 or the 20x80 to look more closely. But the scanning of the sky itself, these 7x50s are my favorite. I laid on my back the other night I scanned through the sky and I looked at, you know, patches of stars. I found some satellites that I was able to actually track along with with the binoculars, which is awesome. You're not gonna see detail on those objects, but the International Space Station you might have a chance. The smaller satellites not so much.

Speaker 1: 8:41

I am looking at Antares right now with the 7x50s and the color of this star, this orangish color, is so, so different from all of the other stars that are around it. The temperature of the star is why it's the different colors. So that's actually indicating that Antares is cooler than the surrounding, more blue colored stars or white colored stars. The other one that is out right now is actually right up above me there in that direction, and that is the Big Dip, asterism, and it goes the arc to arcturus. And if I'm looking at that one and I'm getting that very different hue, a different color that you would have seen, compared to the other stars in the sky, very distinct.

Speaker 1: 9:37

I can also pinpoint some doubles. So some doubles to look at would be like Mizar and Alcor in the handle of the Big Dipper. It's kind of cool you can split the Mizar and Alcor in the handle of the Big Dipper. It's kind of cool, you can split the Mizar and Alcor with your eyes, but here in the binoculars it's just so much better. It's such a great little double and you'll notice that when, upon zooming in, that it's actually not just one set of stars, just one set of stars, it's two sets of stars or four total, two binary systems sitting right next to one another. In fact, I believe one of those is a spectroscopic binary, where one of those stars is not visibly able to be seen as different, but through spectroscopy we can detect that there is a second star that's orbiting very, very closely to the other one. So that's spectroscopy. We can detect that there is a second star that's orbiting very, very closely to the other one. So that's spectroscopic binary, not visible even through telescopes. I like both of them All. Right, that's definitely the case. In fact I like all three of them, it's just that they have different uses.

Speaker 1: 10:43

So what else could we be using these for? Well, tonight we've got the moon shining very bright, and so I'm finding it difficult to look at anything else, even through the telescope. It is kind of a problem to have the moon in the sky like this. So what I'm planning to do is going to bed and then later on tonight getting up once the moon has set, and that way I can observe when it's darker outside, because not of the actual amount of sunlight, but it's the moonlight that we're contesting with, so I'm gonna wait a few hours. It moves approximately one width of your fist every hour. It's about 13 degrees. Your fist is approximately 10. So here we go. We've got one hour, two hours, three hours, and it's going to be over there in the woods. Another half an hour or so it'll be below the horizon and our skies are going to get significantly darker.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Now, if you're dealing with light, polluted skies, do your best to get portable, and what better way to do that than using binoculars? Right, so I can throw this back into my car. In fact, both of these tripods also come with cases. Each of these, they come with their own case, so we've got the one here for the small 7x50s. The binoculars fit right in and this makes for a really nice portable way. You've got this and your, and this makes for a really nice portable way. You've got this and your tripod. If you've got one of the bigger ones, and the bags are super durable Keeps everything in place. Don't forget, if you're getting the 7x50s or the 15x70s, that you're going to need to get the tripod adapter, whereas the 20x80 comes with the tripod adapter built into it, so you don't need it for that one. But that's such a great way to get portable and get out to those clear dark skies. Thanks a lot and keep looking up.