Bino report - 7/14/10

[DizzyGazer]

Seems I spend more time lately with the 10x50's than I do the scope, and to be honest I almost
enjoy the bino's more. These very low end bino's have their issues, but they're good enough
for seeing a rather nice selection of celestial goodies..

Started off the night hunting for "The Garnet Star", a star way up in Cepheus. No luck on that one yet,
but I am heading back out soon with the O&B 10x50's to see if they are any better than the new ones.

I did enjoy the hell out of IC 4665, M5, The Wild Duck Cluster and a few other nice star clusters sitting up in
Scutum. After that went back to the Double Cluster...what a sight that is! I started poking around up
above the DC, and found a "blur" that was right where NGC 659 and 663 are located. Looked like a
globular or a small nebulous cloud of some sort. (There is so much there to see that it's tough not
to be awed by every open cluster you find..) Not sure if I can ID it from the bino view, but that's
OK...it's great to look at anyway.

Headed back out for more..

Mike

[RussL]

Man, I know where you're coming from. I love my binos and low power scope stuff. You may be becoming a richfield guy after all. Just imagine some of those sights at 23x with a 3-degree TFOV. That's what I'm getting with my 120ST and ST80, both at f5. Lightweight, inexpensive, easy to use, no finder scope, and CA doesn't matter on richfield stuff. Still, it's hard to beat my binos' 6.5-degree TFOV, even if it's only 10x. I often just take them out alone, like you're saying.

That's some good stuff you're looking at. I especially love that area around Scutum. Have you been in Cygnus yet with your binos? There's a ring around the star at the center of the "cross" that has a lot of amber stars in the ring of stars that go around it. I've heard it called the Amber Heart. I haven't found the Garnet Star either. Nor have I had any luck with R Leporis, another garnet star.

Good going, Bro.

[powerwindows1985]

Been getting out with my binos as well. Had nice clear skies last night, grabbed a lawn chair and my binos and faced south. Spent a nice pleasant evening with Sagittarious. Will need to turn them northward next time.