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OpticsBlog – Thoughts and reviews of binoculars, telescopes, scopes, sights, and much more - birdwatching, astronomy, target shooting - pretty much anything related to optics, nature, and life!Wednesday, February 25, 2009Spring rituals
In a former life, in places closer to my heart, out there in the great open spaces, spring was a time for so many varied outdoor activities. One activity I miss, dearly, in the spring is fishing. By now, back in some of the old familiar places, every fishing nut is climbing the walls, getting the gear laid out and making plans for open water, ahead. I feel very left out of this spring ritual, so I'll just concentrate, as usual, on the spring activities that I can do around here, principally birding. The ritual of dusting my spotting scope and binoculars is just not quite the same, though, as going through a tackle box of lures or a stack of fly boxes, not to mention cleaning and lubing fishing reels, patching waders, tying ever more flies and, yes, even doing some practice casting in the backyard. Guess only folks with fishing in their blood would understand. Anyone out there going fishing? Don't forget Joanie!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009Comet Lulin appears
Comet Lulin is probably at its best, this week, as we approach new moon. At magnitude 5 plus, Comet Lulin should be visible in a binocular or low powered telescope, but finding and seeing Comet Lulin under my light polluted skies will be the real challenge. The good news is that Lulin will be close to the planet Saturn early this week, then closer to the bright star Regulus, later in the week, so Comet Lulin should be easy to locate if it is visible. That's good news for me, since I can see both Saturn and Regulus as I pedal on my bicycle to work in the pre-dawn, Chicago area darkness. Now all that remains is to pack a binocular on my commute and hope I get a clear sky. If you plan to use a telescope, as always, keep the magnification on the low side. Best of luck. Will report back.
Monday, February 23, 2009Choosing a telescope
Choosing a telescope to buy may seem fairly straightforward, but it's not. There is never a "best telescope" because there are too many different types of users, too many different types objects to see, too many types of obsering styles, too many types of oberving locations, too much personal preference, not too mention an incredible variety of telescope types and features over a vast range of prices. The best telescope for you is not always the best telescope for the next astronomer. Buying a telescope, then, is really a matter of decisions; in fact, a series of decisions. That's why I wrote several articles on our website. A great way to learn more on the basics of choosing a telescope is to first read my article, Telescope First Questions This gets you started with the two most important decisions to make, right away. Then narrow your choice down even more with my article How to choose the right telescope, This discusses the pros and cons of each telescope design.
Since telescope eyepieces are the most important accessory for any telescope, you may also wish to do more reading with my article, Ten Top Telescope Eyepiece Questions, Wednesday, February 18, 2009Binocular or telescope for Comet Lulin
Comets are x factor in amateur astronomy, meaning they are notoriously prone to doing the unexpected in terms of predicted brightness and even in terms of their appearance in the night sky. No wonder our ancestors viewed them with some trepidation. Comets must have surely upset their well-ordered ideas of the cosmos. So the big question, currently, is Comet Lulin. Look for Lulin in the late evening or early morning sky, later this month when the moon is new. Some predictions are for it to be visible to the naked eye, at least from a dark sky but we won't know for sure until, then. Very unlikely, though, that it will be visible to the naked eye under the badly light polluted skies of a big city like Chicago. (That's me being a rare pessimist.) To have a fighting chance, you will most likely need to travel to where the sky is darker at night.
Telescope or binocular for Comet Lulin? In the past, best views of bright comets for me have always been with the wide field of view afforded by an astronomy binocular, especially if the comet sports a long tail. If you do use a telescope, be sure to keep the magnification low, not just for the wider field of view, but also for sake of image brightness. If luck is with us, we should be able to see this comet with either a binocular or a telescope. Tuesday, February 17, 2009Telescope eyepieces with glasses
I have astigmatism, so I always wear glasses when looking through a telescope eyepiece to get maximum resolution. That's fine, but anyone who does the same as me quickly learns a hard truth about many telescope eyepieces - a telescope with good eye relief for eyeglass wearers can be hard to find and the manufacturers of telescope eyepieces don't make it easy for you when they sometimes fail to list this important telescope eyepiece spec. If you, too, wear eyeglasses when looking through a telescope, you have two options. First, you can add a barlow lens to a telescope eyepiece with low, magnification and good eye relief. This turns it into a telescope eyepiece with high magnification and good eye relief. The other option is to find a model that advertises the same eye relief for all focal lengths in that series. A great example of this is the Televue Radian or the lower-priced Celestron X-Cel. In reality, these have built in barlows, but that means you don't have to grab a barlow when you use one.
Monday, February 16, 2009Carbon fiber tripod
I am very familiar with carbon fiber (a.k.a. graphite) as a material used in all sorts of sporting equipment. I used my first graphite fly rod in the late 80s and, more recently, have enjoyed the vibration dampening effects of carbon fiber in road bicycles. We are now seeing carbon fiber more and more in tripods and that same vibration dampening effect of carbon fiber used in bicycles is also a very useful feature in a tripod, which, after all, is all about eliminating vibrations. It is true that carbon fiber tripods also weight less than metal tripods, but the difference is not as much as the higher price tag of carbon tripods would suggest. I would buy a carbon fiber tripod mostly for the vibration dampening, but I don't mind at all that carbon fiber is also not as cold to the touch as metal in very cold weather and, yes, I do use tripods in very cold weather for both spotting scopes and cameras. Bring on the carbon.
Thursday, February 12, 2009Small telescope games
I think that as most astronomers evolve, they change, somewhat, in their motivation. For sure, I play the astronomy "game" quite differently, these days, with either an astronomy binocular or a telescope. Like most beginners in my early days with a telescope, I lusted for an ever larger telescope to see ever more numbers of objects and ever more detail in those objects. As the years have gone by, however, I find myself pushing my observing skills to the limit with smaller telescopes, rather than simply opting for a larger telescope when I want to see more. It's a game any astronomer can play, once they have enough experience behind the telescope. You need that experience, though, to pick off those tough ones at the very limit of visibility in a small telescope. if you are keeping score by telescope aperture (size), nothing beats a good APO refractor like a Televue 85.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009Wildflower cameras
I collect wildflowers. Don't panic! I collect wildflowers by taking pics with a digital camera; I would never pick wildflowers, even if there were no laws against it. Serious wildflower photographers typically use SLR cameras, such as the Canon 40D with a top notch macro lens, such as the Canon f/3.5L Macro , but, unless you plan to print or publish, a small digital point and shoot that offers a macro mode, like the Canon SD880IS will do quite well and be much handier. I used an SLR camera for many years, but find the portability of a digital point and shoot to be a big plus. Let's face it, if you're like me, your pics rarely make it off your computer screen, anyway, and today's digital point and shoot cameras offer plenty of resolution on a computer monitor.
Monday, February 09, 2009Spotting scopes in the spring
The warmer weather brought a lot of folks out to the parks in my area, this weekend, and the weather also got me a bit homesick for my Nebraska prairies. By late February, in central Nebraska, waterfowl begin to arrive in serious numbers and, for me, this was always the time I pulled out my spotting scope and get serious about using it. Here in the Chicago suburbs, spring birding is mostly about warblers and binoculars later in May and much less about waterfowl and spotting scopes early in the spring. Just to be stubborn or, perhaps for old-times sake, I still pull out my spotting scope when the ice goes out and head for the park lakes, birds or no birds, but my mind is sometimes more on my prairie marshes. Can't take the prairie out of a gal, at least this one.
Friday, February 06, 2009New Celestron dealer status
Had a great visit from the CEO of Celestron, yesterday and I am pleased to announce that there are plans to move OpticsPlanet from our present strong preferred dealer status to a top tier, select dealer by spring with a new aggressive Celestron product promotion on our part. That should be a cinch, since we already move a huge inventory of Celestron telescopes, Celestron telescope accessories, Celestron spotting scopes, Celestron microsocpes and Celestron binoculars out our doors on a daily basis. Should be another great year for astronomy at OpticsPlanet.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009Binoculars and telescopes in the summer triangle
Seems a little strange to be bicycling in the dark, this time of year, on my early morning winter commute and look up into the eastern sky and see what is known as the "summer triangle" of stars, namely Deneb, Vega and Altair. Of course, we are all used to seeing those stars in the evening sky and summer is the season when they are visible in the evening. It does remind me, though, that any astronomer who has the ambition to rise early in the morning, grab a binocular or telescope, can see those stars and all the goodies they contain. It's one of my favorite areas for my astronomy binoculars, what with M27, Albireo and too many open clusters to list. Add a telescope and there's enough to keep you busy in the summer triangle for a long, long time.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009Venus in a telescope
Have had any number of people ask me about that brilliant star in the evening sky, near the moon, last week. I explain that the star is actually not a star, but the planet Venus, third brightest object in the sky behind the sun and the moon. Venus is what I call an astronomical freebie - doesn’t cost a thing to see it at its best. In a telescope or even an astronomy binocular, there is little to be seen with Venus, since we are seeing the thick cloud layer on Venus, not the surface. Another problem from a telescope or astronomy binocular point of view is that Venus seldom gets high enough in the sky for good viewing - we are looking through to much thick atmosphere for a good view a telescope or binocular. So enjoy Venus, just as you see it. No wonder it has earned the title of "evening" or "morning" star down through history. My favorite view last week was Venus and the moon, shining forth over a wind-blown, snowy landscape as I was skiing in a neighborhood park after dark (don't worry, our local muggers don't ski).
Monday, February 02, 2009Bushnell Legend Ultra HD spotting scope
I was saddened, earlier this year, when Bushnell announced that the Bushnell Legend spotting scope was being discontinued. The Legend spotting scope had been my first pick in a spotting scope value at the $300 price point. Now, happy to say, Bushnell is coming out with a new version of the Legend called the Bushnell Legend Ultra HD, now with ED glass. It's more than an upgrade to the optics, too, with its new dual focusing system and angled body design. As soon as one comes across my desk, I will give a thorough testing to see if this new Bushnell spotting scope earns a best value award from me. Stay tuned.
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