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Friday, July 21, 2006
Spotting Scope or Binocular for astronomy?
I was out under the stars the other night and having a blast with my Kowa 663 fitted with the Kowa 20x wide angle eyepiece. I asked myself what I was losing by not using a 20x binocular, instead. Conventional wisdom says a 20x binocular will have a much wider field of view than a 20x spotting scope, so I checked the specs.

My Kowa with the 20x eyepiece has a 3.3 degree field for 173 feet at 1000 yards. A Celestron 20x Skymaster binocular has a 3.2 degree field for 168 feet at 1000 yards. An Oberwerk 20x80LWD had a slightly larger 3.5 degree field.

Considering my Kowa is sharper than any giant bino I have tried,not to mention lighter and more compact, I think I will pass on getting a jumbo binocular anytime soon.
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