What features do astronomy binoculars need?

The same binoculars you use for birding (e.g., 7x42, 8x42, 10x42...binoculars) are also great for astronomy. The moon becomes a nightly "discovery-land" with at least 100 craters and mountain ranges viewable with your binoculars in hand. With decent "seeing" conditions, dozens of double stars and star clusters become visible through your binoculars. A few bright galaxies (like M31, the Andromeda Galaxy) and nebulas (like M42, the Orion Nebula) are great binocular targets. Binoculars are often the tool of choice for observing comets and their beautiful tails.
     As with telescopes, aperture is the key to determining what is viewable through a binocular, too. Binoculars with larger objective lenses make more night sky objects visible and brighter. Amateur astronomers typically use binoculars with objective lenses of 50mm or more for better views than often seen through small aperture (60mm) department store telescopes! For this reason binoculars are recommended for beginners interested in astronomy.

Note: Even compact binoculars (if you already own them, or your primary interest demands light-weight and portability) can gather roughly 9x the light you see with the un-aided eye.


More about choosing binoculars.




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