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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!Thursday, March 31, 2011More astronomy binoculars and telescopesI’ve had a remarkable run of clear skies, lately, for astronomy. As a result, my astronomy binoculars and telescopes have seen use almost every night for the past week and a half. Outstanding! All that is about to change, according to the forecast, but I am not complaining. Anytime I can rack up so many hours looking through binocular or telescope eyepiece, I am one happy astronomer. This March has been my best month, ever, for astronomy since moving up here, last fall. Most of my hours, this last month, were spent with a single instrument, my Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe, simply because it is so convenient and darn easy to use. However, there are some things that binoculars can’t do as well as telescopes, so I also managed to setup & use a telescope a fair number of hours, too. Love that little 80 mm APO refractor. It's not as convenient as the binoculars, of course, but it is very useful. Let’s face it, there are times when having a bit more magnification than a 10x70 binocular can provide is helpful, even when searching out faint galaxies. Just upping the magnification to a very modest 30x or so with the telescope was enough to make the galaxies I observed jump out a bit more from the stellar background and did a nicer job of framing some open clusters. Hmmm! Maybe it is time to add a 25x100 giant astronomy binocular to my tool chest. Of course, that would also mean getting a lot more serious about astronomy binocular tripods. Something that big takes more than typical photo tripods can handle. Astronomy can be so darn addictive. Where does it all end? Wednesday, March 30, 2011Big telescope or small telescope?I’m going to have a superb summer for astronomy! It’s been time to buy a telescope for longer than I care to admit and I have finally taken the plunge. My order for a custom Dobsonian telescope has been placed with a well known Wisconsin telescope maker. Don’t get me wrong. I love my small APO refractor telescopes and my astronomy binoculars, but, now that I have a splendidly dark sky right out my back door, time to go with a big telescope, again, and do some hunting for all those deep-sky fuzzies. When it comes time to search for those faint objects, there is no substitute for aperture. Size does count with telescopes. The best 3 inch telescope in the world is still a three inch telescope and will only see a small fraction of what is visible in an eight inch or twelve inch telescope. No escaping the laws of optics on this one. Of course, big telescopes have some issues that you don’t find in small telescopes. It ain’t all gravy. It will be nice, though, to have a choice, since I will have both small telescopes and a large telescope at my disposal. Just a matter of choosing which one I want to use on any given night. Big telescope or small telescope? It’s the ideal situation for any astronomer. Tuesday, March 29, 2011Galaxies in the binocularsAstronomy, either with telescopes or astronomy binoculars, requires a bag full of virtues. Patience is the first one that comes to mind and it goes hand in hand with persistence. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” should be printed and packaged with every binocular and telescope sold. Courage is also a useful virtue, though a less obvious one, when it comes time to setup & use a telescope or uncase the binoculars. Yes, it takes courage to brave polar temperatures or hordes of hungry mosquitoes just for the opportunity of looking through the telescope eyepiece. Cold weather and mosquitoes are something we have in abundance, up here in the north country. We also have beautiful dark skies, though, and that lures us away from the old wood burning stove on those frosty nights. Last night was a good example. The temperature was already in the single digits, but the sky was oh so magnificent. I failed to summon up enough courage for a long session with the telescope, but I did manage to find enough courage for a shorter session with my Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe binoculars. The targets of choice were galaxies in the binoculars. Okay, despite the beautifully dark sky, last night, M65 and M66 in Leo didn’t exactly jump right out in the binoculars, but they were there, just where I knew they would be. I then the binoculars to a much tougher galaxy, M101, in Ursa Major. This is always a challenge and last night proved no exception. I failed the first few tries because my eyes were not fully dark adapted, so I waited another fifteen minutes, all the while kicking myself for not dressing warmer. In the meantime, I sought out the easier to see M51, since I was already in the neighborhood. This great galaxy was obvious and it nearly drove me back inside the house to fetch the telescope for a better look. My eyes were dark adapted, by then, so I decided to stay put and give M101 another try. Sure enough, there it was, a very faint glow, making a triangle with Alkaid and Alcor/Mizar at the end of the dipper handle. By then I was running out of courage (okay, body heat), so back indoors I went to warm up by the stove. Monday, March 28, 2011Telescope observing tipHere’s one of those telescope observing tips for beginners. If you want your telescope (or astronomy binoculars) to perform at their best, where is the best part of the sky to aim them? The answer is overhead rather than down low to the horizon. Why? You are looking through the least amount of atmosphere as possible when you observe directly overhead and that allows you to see fainter objects in the telescope eyepiece. It also means you are less likely to have images ruined by atmospheric turbulence. Observing closer to the horizon means more atmosphere, less transparency and more turbulence. Thus, if the object you want to see is currently low to the horizon, it may help to wait until it is a bit higher in the sky. On the other hand, telescopes pointed perfectly 90 degrees overhead are, well, literally, a pain in the neck to use. It can be awfully hard to get your face down under a finder scope that is pointed straight up and operating a telescope mount, manually, can also be a hassle when the scope is pointing perfectly straight overhead. In fact, some telescope mounts don’t even have enough freedom of movement to point exactly 90 degrees up from the ground. So, the best compromise of performance and ease of use is to point the telescope nearly, but not quite, perfectly overhead when we can. We want objects to be high in the sky when we observe with a telescope, but not too high. Friday, March 25, 2011Take a look at the moon With the moon now waning – the lit portion growing smaller – it is time for a closer look with telescopes or even binoculars. Contrary to what most people might think, the full moon is not a good time to be looking at the moon through a telescope eyepiece. Why? Not only is the moon uncomfortably bright when full, even in a small telescope, it is also produces too much glare and that glare washes out much of the detail we can see in telescopes. That’s why experienced lunar observers concentrate on the terminator, that border that separates the lit portion of the moon from the unlit. Enough light spills over in this border area to illuminate detail without being overwhelming. Best of all, as the terminator creeps across the face of the moon, night after night, you get a fresh look at a new portion of the moon’s landscape every night. Also, the moon is every telescope’s best friend. Any telescope, large or small, cheap or expensive can effectively be used on the moon. Not the case, at all, for other telescope objects, to be sure, but the moon is bright enough and large enough to keep any telescope busy for hours on any given night when it is up in the sky. Have a telescope? If you have a clear sky, tonight, take a look at the moon. It is worth the time and effort it takes to setup & use a telescope. Thursday, March 24, 2011Spring astronomy
With temperatures headed back below zero in my neighborhood, this week, I have had to put some of my enthusiasm for spring on hold for a bit. No point in getting too eager for spring birdwatching or breaking out favorites from my spring wardrobe, for instance. There is one spring activity, though, that is more constant, in that it does not come and go with swings in temperature and that is astronomy. Those spring constellations are up in the sky, waiting for my astronomy binoculars or telescopes, regardless of the temperature on a given night. Thus, I can look through the binocular or telescope eyepiece and still get a feeling of spring, even if the thermometer reads more like January than late March.
Okay, it does take some real optimism to think “spring” when your eyelashes freeze to the telescope eyepiece, but it can be done. All I have to do is remember seeing the Beehive Cluster in the binoculars, for instance, on past warm and balmy spring nights. All I have to do is remember what it is like to setup & use a telescope on nights when I didn’t need to wear gloves. Wow! I am warming up, already. Okay, not really.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011How do you use a telescope?Like so many beginners, the first time I had to setup & use a telescope was something of a mystery. What were all these telescope accessories in the box? What was I supposed to do with them? Yes, telescopes came with instruction manuals, even back in the 70s, though they were a bit skimpy and generic, same as many telescope instruction manuals are to this day. The only difference is that when you buy a telescope, today, the instruction manual comes with a CD rather than a printed hardcopy. So how do you use a telescope? I learned through a lot of trial and error experience, mostly the error type. I was on my own with no one to ask, so I pushed on and hoped for the best. When I think back to that little refractor telescope and all the mistakes I made, though, it is a wonder that I stayed with astronomy at all. Fortunately, I had the astronomy bug so bad that I could hardly wait for dark so I could get another chance to look through that telescope eyepiece. Enthusiasm was surely the antidote that got me past my lack of experience and poor equipment. No need for a beginner to stumble like that these days, thank heavens. An expert is only a click of a mouse pad, away. An online telescopes forum is a great aid for those beginners who are trying to go it , alone, as I did. Then, too, astronomy clubs and astronomy organizations, such as the Astronomical League, make it easier than ever to answer the question, How do you use a telescope? Tuesday, March 22, 2011Cloudy night bluesYou gotta love it. That’s how I manage to deal with constantly having to put my astronomy hold for lack of clear night skies. Simply put, I love astronomy with my astronomy binoculars or telescopes and those few glorious nights each month at the telescope eyepiece are enough to get me through those long stretches of cloudy night blues that we get here in northern Wisconsin. It’s much the same with other diehard astronomers I know. We are actually a patient lot, despite our tendency to moan and groan about those old cloudy night blues at times. I suspect those nasty old clouds are one of the reasons more people don’t give astronomy a try. Yes, I understand why someone would hesitate to buy a telescope if the opportunities to use a telescope are limited, as they are in many parts of the country. Then too, observing with a telescope is a skill that takes time to develop, so it is hard for a beginner to muster up enough enthusiasm to weather long strings of cloudy nights, especially if a beginner is going it alone. That’s why I strongly recommend joining an astronomy club or astronomy organization such as the Astronomical League. Meeting and socializing with other astronomers, either in person, or on line, is a great way to break those cloudy night blues, not to mention a great way to pick up a few more telescope observing tips for beginners. Monday, March 21, 2011Daylight Saving Time and the telescopeSpring and daylight saving time. I love the ever longer and increasingly warmer days as we coast toward summer. Who doesn’t? Our winters here in northern Wisconsin are long and often hard, so I welcome the change of season just like anyone else. So, at the risk of sounding like an ingrate and a curmudgeon, I have to say that there is one thing I don’t like about these longer days and this shifting of the clock back and forth with the seasons. As an astronomer, longer days mean shorter nights and less time to use binoculars and telescopes. The advent of spring is a natural change, at least, so I can accept that. On the other hand, I have no use for daylight saving time because it means I have to wait an hour longer, in the evening, to setup & use a telescope or the astronomy binoculars. By June, thanks to our northern latitude, it is well after ten in the evening before the sky is truly dark and ready for me to look through the telescope eyepiece. That is quite a contrast to the depth of winter, here, where I can have the telescope ready to go for some astronomy anytime after five in the evening. Yes, I know all the political arguments in favor of Daylight Saving Time, but, as an astronomer, I would prefer that we humans just leave the clock alone. Friday, March 18, 2011Compact binoculars with a spotting scopeGiven that this is our first spring in our new northern Wisconsin home, my binoculars and spotting scope are constantly pointed at the lake as we await ice-out and, hopefully, the arrival of migrating waterfowl. Yes, I use both my birding binoculars and my birding spotting scope to keep an eye on the lake. They’re a team, you might say. A quick scan with my binoculars tells me there is something on the lake that needs a closer look, then the spotting scope goes into action to provide that closer look. This is typical of the way that most birdwatchers use a spotting scope, myself included, though there are times when you only rarely need the binoculars - you can get quite good at aiming a spotting scope after years of using one. In fact, there have been days at the marsh with the spotting scope where I could have left the binoculars at home, though I didn’t trust myself to do so. As a compromise, I found that by exchanging my full size birding binoculars for compact binoculars, I could save to a little weight and bulk and the compacts do what I need to do, quite well, as companions to the spotting scope. That's something you might want to remember next time you head to the lake or marsh. Thursday, March 17, 2011Northern skies for telescopes Most astronomers, given a choice of living anywhere they wanted, would choose to pack up their astronomy binoculars and telescopes and head for southern skies. Why? Southern skies seem to have a disproportionate share of those objects we astronomers most love to see in the telescope eyepiece. Hey, the world’s great telescopes are located in southern skies for that very reason. So, here I am, in the northern part of a northern state. Do I feel cheated or deprived because my northern skies are a little less densely packed with objects for my telescope? Hardly. In some ways, the view is all that much better for not having the sky so crowded with targets for my telescope. One of my favorite areas, for instance, is Ursa Major and Canes Venatici. These constellations are home to some superb galaxies, for instance, both for telescope and binoculars. Best of all, being this far north, these constellations are usually high in the sky where viewing is the best. For sure, I will be making some trips to southern skies in the future, but, for now, I have plenty of reasons to setup & use a telescope every chance I get. Wednesday, March 16, 2011The moon, cloudy nights, telescopesWhat do astronomers do when the moon is high in the sky and interfering with their search for faint objects? What do astronomers do when the clouds roll in? Do they just put their astronomy binoculars back in the case or cover their telescopes and wait it out? In the case of the moon, we turn our telescopes on the moon, itself, or put objects in the telescope eyepiece that are still bright enough to see even when moonlight turns the sky less than perfectly dark. Planets are a good example. The biggies in the planet world for telescopes are principally Jupiter and Saturn. These are both large enough and bright enough to show detail in even small telescopes. Mars is a much tougher object, but in favorable years, you can see some detail even with small telescopes. Venus, of course, is the brightest planet of all, but all we see are its uniformly bright cloud tops. That makes it a telescopically boring object, though it does have phases lie our moon, since its orbit is within earth’s orbit. Uranus and Neptune are little more than dots, even in the largest telescopes because of their distance. Mercury is also too small as well as too close to the sun to show any detail, either. As for the clouds, well, yes, time to call it quits, but there is such an enormous wealth of new things to learn about astronomy that we astronomers never seem to be able to catch up on our reading. Then, too, there are astronomy clubs, astronomy lectures, astronomy programs, telescope forums and astronomy organizations such as the Astronomical League. In other words, there is no shortage of things to do on cloudy nights. Tuesday, March 15, 2011Galaxy hunting telescopesSpring, for most of us die-hard astronomers, is traditionally the season for big telescopes and galaxy hunting in the “realm of the galaxies”. That is an area of the sky in Leo and Virgo that provides us with a window of sorts through the usual clutter of our own galaxy. This “window”, then, allows us to see out into the universe with it’s incredible wealth of distant galaxies. While there are a few galaxies in this area that are bright enough to be seen with astronomy binoculars or small telescopes, most will require large telescopes. Why? Large telescopes with their larger lenses and/or mirrors, send more light to the telescope eyepiece and this allows us to see fainter objects and therefore more objects. Make no mistake, faint is the challenge with galaxies. Want to spend hours seeing and counting galaxies? Aperture – telescope size – is the name of the game. In fact, with a large telescope, there are so many galaxies visible in the realm of the galaxies that it becomes a challenge to correctly name and identify one from another. For the last decade or so, my preference in telescopes has been small, portable, high quality refractors. These are ideal for some types of observing, but they are not galaxy hunting telescopes. That means I haven’t played the galaxy hunting game in a long time. That is about to change, however. I currently have plans to buy a telescope with enough aperture so that I won’t have to sit out this spring’s galaxy hunting. More, later. Stay tuned. Monday, March 14, 2011The traveling astronomerIt’s more than a little ironic to realize that we humans currently know more about astronomy than ever before, but, at the same time, the opportunity for most of us to actually practice astronomy with astronomy binoculars and telescopes is becoming ever more of a challenge due to urbanization and light pollution. If you don’t understand why, just compare the number of stars you can see in the night sky out in the country with the number of stars you can see in even a small city. That’s the problem. Of course, if we could just get everyone to turn off those lights next time we setup & use a telescope, problem solved. For those of us, then, who think that the best way to spend a dark, clear night is to be outside, looking through a telescope eyepiece, those dark rural skies are truly gold. That’s why more and more astronomers are packing up their telescopes and binoculars in their vehicles and heading out to the country. That may seem like a lot of effort to make the most of our telescopes, but it can a small or mid-sized telescope in the country can perform like a big telescope left back in the city. That’s something to keep in mind when it comes time to choose the right telescope for you. For the traveling astronomer, then, portability is a very important feature. Friday, March 11, 2011More winter landscape photography  You might say March in the north woods is the icicle month. Whenever temperatures start to hover around the freezing point by day and fall back at night, you start to get icicles. This far north, we still have plenty of winter left, of course – ice out won’t happen till mid-April – but it is nice to see an early sign or two of spring. It’s also fun to photograph icicles and other signs of spring with film cameras or digital cameras. Since I never take days of good cross country skiing for granted, I have been on the trails these last few days, cameras safely tucked away in my camera case, trying to get some last pics of our winter landscapes. Now, if I was dead serious about winter landscape photographry, I would be using medium and large format cameras mounted on a good tripod, but there is only so much that I can or will handle when on skis. By the time I stuff the camera case with a 35 mm film SLR camera and a couple of point and shoot digitals, I have all I want to carry. Time to head out on the trails before my snow is gone or just too icy or slushy for good skiing. Thursday, March 10, 2011will the clouds stay away this tonight?Sunny, right now, but will the clouds stay away this tonight? That’s a question that anyone who uses astronomy binoculars or telescopes asks on a clear day, especially when you leave in an area where sunny days are anything but common. It’s not that we astronomers aren’t grateful for sunny days, we’re just greedy enough to want to have clear nights, too. Before I met my husband, Bill, I was doing my homework on various places to retire that met me specific criteria as to desirable. A climate that allowed me to setup & use a telescope or play with my binoculars on as many clear nights as possible was high on my checklist. The location would also have to be far from polluting city lights so that I could see plenty of faint objects in the telescope eyepiece. Is it any wonder, then, that so many of us astronomers dream of retiring to remote desert areas with one clear night after another? One out of two ain’t bad, as they say. I am certainly a long way from offending city lights, but I am also about as far from a desert as I can get, up here in northern Wisconsin. In the overall balance of things, it was the best choice for both of us, but with every sunny day that we get, I can’t help but wonder if those clouds will stay away tonight. Wednesday, March 09, 2011Snowy day binoculars and camerasIt’s snowing, the wind has picked up, but the temperature is a balmy 29 degrees, so my feet are itching to get into my ski boots and head out on the lake where the only sounds will be the wind blowing through the pines and spruce and the whisper quiet of my skis swishing in the fresh snow. Before I go, however, I better fill the birdfeeders and put out some more corn for the deer, which I can see walking across the yard in the fresh snow. Life up here in the north country has taught me to be flexible and appreciate what Ma Nature sends my way. I like taking pictures on snowy days, so, today I will take both film cameras and digital cameras on my ski outing. I also enjoy birdwatching on snowy days, though the action can be on the slow side in such weather. It is the atmosphere and ambience, however, that counts on such days and, besides, compact binoculars are easy to carry, even when loaded down with other gear. Tomorrow night, the skies are forecast to clear, so I will probably exchange the compact binoculars for astronomy binoculars. I can’t lose and it’s a nice place to be. Tuesday, March 08, 2011What is the best telescope?What is the best telescope? I squirm a bit when I get that question, same as I do when I get questions as to the best binoculars, best spotting scopes, best digital cameras and so on. Why? It’s really many telescope questions masquerading as one question and it is a telescope question that can only be answered relative to the person asking. A better question, then, when buying a telescope, is what is the best telescope for me? That is still not an easy question to answer, since you must ask some basic telescope first questions and then move on to consider all the various telescope designs in your quest to choose the right telescope. You then discover that no one telescope design stands at the top for all astronomy applications - each telescope design has its good and its bad - and, if that wasn’t enough, there is personal preference to consider. You may just like refractor telescopes better than, say, reflector telescopes and who can argue with that? As for me, I have owned and used all the major telescope designs and have been happy with all of them, depending on what type of astronomy I wanted to do on a particular night. Small APO refractors are wonderfully portable and easy to use and image quality is second to none, but nothing beats a big Dob when it comes time to hunt down those faint galaxies. In other words, the best telescope for me is the one I need and want on a particular night. Monday, March 07, 2011Buy digital cameraLike so many photographers, I use the heck out of small point and shoot digital cameras. The convenience and portability of these little digital cameras is just too hard to resist and I also use small digital cameras as my cameras of choice for all my digiscoping – taking pics with a small digital camera through the eyepiece of a spotting scope. Today’s point and shoots truly are little digital wonders. They are far from perfect, though. You get that portability and convenience at a price, photographically speaking. After all, you can also squeeze so much performance out of small camera lenses. For some types of photography, there is no substitute for digital SLRs and large lenses. You also get that portability and convenience at a price, in terms of lifespan. Darn it all, those small focusing motors on the little cameras can only handle so many shots before they get weak and start to stutter. You’ll know when your digital point and shoot is on its last legs when it seems like it won’t focus as quickly and accurately as it used to do. Sadly, my little Sony Cybershot is there, but it has given me great service and taken thousands of pics, in the meantime. Same story for the excellent little Canon digital cameras and Pentax digital cameras I have owned in the past. Looks like it will soon be buy digital camera time, again. Friday, March 04, 2011Local wildlife to photographA friend commented that it must be hard for me to leave home, what with all the wildlife I see right from my kitchen window. She is exactly right. For instance, I’ve seen a coyote several times the week, thorough the binoculars, as it walks along our lakeshore, nose down to the snow. Distance is about 75 yards. It never stops, so I have yet to get more than a quick glance through my little Nikon 10x25 Premier LX, but one of these times I may get lucky enough to get a closer look with the spotting scope and, who knows, maybe a pic via some digiscoping. I still don’t have a coyote pic, even though I have seen many coyotes over the years. It is definitely on my local wildlife to photograph list, though. So are some other animals. We have otters on the lake – I have seen them through the spotting scope – but, as with the coyote, no pics, yet. We do have bears, too, in our little neighborhood on the lake, according to my neighbors, and I can see why. Despite our proximity to town, most of our lake is still surrounded by undeveloped forest. No sightings, yet, but my digital cameras are ready. Stay tuned for pics. Thursday, March 03, 2011Moon and telescopesThis has not been a great winter for telescopes or astronomy due to the rather untimely appearance of clouds and snow every time the moon is new. Why is that important to an astronomer? Some of our favorite objects in astronomy binoculars or telescopes are very faint and the light from even a quarter moon makes them invisible. That’s why we eagerly await that time of the month when the moon reflects no light to earth, namely a new moon. In truth, the window of good dark sky observing is a bit wider than just the new moon phase. All you have to do is consult a moonrise and moonset table during quarter moon, for instance, and setup & use a telescope when the moon is not in the sky. Still, the new moon, up here in the north country, has been acting like a cloud magnet all winter, so truly excellent, dark skies have been scarce. Does that mean I go months at a time without looking through a telescope eyepiece? Hardly. I have no problem turning my small telescope on the moon and there have been many nights of grab and go style astronomy with the binoculars, but I am way overdue for a long observing session at the telescope. Wednesday, March 02, 2011Spring birdingSpring birding is THE birding time of year for most of us hardcore birders. It is all about spring bird migration and that migration is underway, right now. For example, Sandhill Crane numbers should be building rapidly in central Nebraska, as we speak, so grab your birding binoculars, birding spotting scope, tripod and digital cameras and go see the show this month. Nothing else quite like it. It isn’t spring in central Nebraska without Sandhill Cranes by the thousands. Okay, I’m feeling a little left out, because March is solidly a winter month, here in the north, while to the south, March brings open water and thousands of migrating cranes and waterfowl. It’s all I can do not to grab Bill and stuff him into the car with my binoculars, digitals cameras and spotting scopes and point the Toyota south. In fact, one of these years I am going to do just that and follow spring back north until it reaches our north woods, birdwatching as we go. Tuesday, March 01, 2011Big telescopesYes, I am a fan of small, high grade telescopes. If you read my blogs that is hardly a secret. Now that I live in a rural area with dark skies far from the light pollution of cities, though, I can’t help but think that a larger telescope might also be the right telescope on some nights. It is all about telescope aperture (size) when it comes to how much you can see with a telescope. More glass in your telescope means you can see fainter objects and that means you can see more objects and more detail, too, since larger lenses and mirrors have more resolving power than smaller lenses and mirrors. Much of this large telescope advantage is wasted under light polluted city skies, but out in the country, away from the lights, you can squeeze all the potential those big scopes have to offer. It’s fun to take a big telescope right to the theoretical maximum of what it can do and then try to push it for even a bit more. I am no stranger to large telescopes. I’ve been partners in several large astronomy club telescopes up to 17 plus inches in size and have owned several 10” Dobsonian telescopes on my own. I know what big telescopes can do and, now, when I look up into the dark skies over our home, I can’t help but wonder what I could see with a big telescope, once again. I guess the right telescope for some of us is more than one telescope. |
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