New Binoculars!! :D

[SongsOfDragons]

Happy happy happy Songs!! *dances around*

*falls over*

Ahem! I recently got back into astronomy. Does help that Venus and Jupiter are quite nicely in the sky at the moment ^^

Well naked-eye viewing is all well and good, but I want a better look. My dad gave me his old telescope when the moved...but it is unequivocally a right POS. XD He agrees and says he had it when he was younger than me, making this thing at least 40 nearly 50 years old!! (Dad's 66.) We set it up on Housemate's tripod to look at stuff; it barely got a decent view of the moon and was worthless on Jupiter. I don't know its specs, all I have is it and its box. Oh well, it's a good LARPing prop XD

So! Been nosing around, and I figured that a nice set of binoculars would do well. I can use them for birdwatching, being nosy looking at pretty things while walking, etc. They're portable too, much more than a telescope. So after some research - making sure I get a good magnification and a wide enough aperture - I have acquired these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-12-5...0090333&sr=8-1

They came today. It was a huuuuuuuuge box! Didn't help that there was a Planisphere in there too. I was excited and bouncing up and down!! I can't wait to test them... if I've worked out the planet positions correctly, Jupiter and Venus are going to be very close together on the 15th of March, and we're driving out to the aerodrome in the New Forest to see it!!

Happy happy!! *hugs her new binoculars*

[SongsOfDragons]

Sorry. I don't know why I'm squeeing out so much over a pair of tiny telescopes glued together. XD Their arrival has just made me really happy.

[csquared]

It's the little things in life.

Enjoy!

[Marmalady]

I'd be squeeing too! I'm delighted to say that my son is very much into astronomy, has been for a few years now (he's 11) and being out in the sticks means we don't have street lighting so we get the full glory of the night sky.
It's been lovely being able to take him out on frosty nights, all wrapped up warm, and point out constellations and individual stars to him. I will never forget that gasp of wonder from him the first time I got him to walk up to the end of our back garden, then turn around and look up - and there was Orion, glittering like jewels above us.

[SongsOfDragons]

Orion is my favourite constellation. So pretty and Rigel and Betelgeuse colourful. I always thought it looked like an hourglass...

Have you ever done the vision test trick of trying to see how many stars are in the Pleiades cluster?