Are These Binoculars Good Enough?

[Matuchkin]

I currently have Soviet Russian 8x30 binoculars, from somewhere in the 60s. I am trying to go out stargazing with them, now that I am finally in a less-bright area outside of the Greater Toronto Area. I have a few questions to ask:

1. Are these binoculars even adequate for stargazing?

2. If so, what can I see with them? A close up of the moon? More stars? M31-33? How about some planet-spotting? Just how far can I push them?

3. What does 8x30 even mean? I'm not an expert.

For the sake of information, here's what it says on the binocs:

 I couldn't get a hang of my cyrillic keyboard setting, so here's a picture off of google.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Matuchkin

[Shpaget]

Any binocular is better than no binocular, assuming they are properly collimated (not cross-eyed). If you get the feeling that you see two images, don't use it too much. It will give you a headache, literally.

You will certainly see more stars and more features on the Moon, but planets will still be just a smidge more than a dot. You can push them as far as you want. No harm in trying to observe objects a few billion light years away (you won't see them, though).

8x30 means it is 8x magnification and 30 means that the objective lens is 30mm in diameter. Practically, for stargazing 8x is actually quite fine. It's a good magnification for stargazing. Unfortunately 30mm is a bit on the small size, so the image may not be as good and bright as you might expect. But like I said, any binocular is better than no binocular.

 

[Matuchkin]

13 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

You will certainly see more stars and more features on the Moon, but planets will still be just a smidge more than a dot. You can push them as far as you want. No harm in trying to observe objects a few billion light years away (you won't see them, though).

 

How about larger objects, such as the Andromeda or Triangulum galaxies? Would I, for example, be able to make out their halos?

[Shpaget]

If you have access to a patch of dark sky, then you have a decent chance to see it even with the naked eye. Binoculars will make it easier.

[tater]

Binos are great for that "swimming in space" feel. Go someplace dark (Milky Way should be a thing), lay down and just look around. Drink it in. 

[Scotius]

Galileo made his discoveries using a telescope worse than your binocular I'm sure it will be enough to show you craters on the Moon, blob of Andromeda Galaxy and even Jupiter's moons.

[Shpaget]

Just now, Scotius said:

Galileo made his discoveries using a telescope worse than your binocular I'm sure it will be enough to show you craters on the Moon, blob of Andromeda Galaxy and even Jupiter's moons.

Gallileo had really dark skies.

[Scotius]

Hmm, true that Still, my own 10x50 monocular is not that much stronger, yet works quite well on the outskirts of my home town, with sodium streetlights and glow from nearby greenhouses polluting the sky.

[Green Baron]

7 hours ago, Matuchkin said:

I currently have Soviet Russian 8x30 binoculars, from somewhere in the 60s. I am trying to go out stargazing with them, now that I am finally in a less-bright area outside of the Greater Toronto Area. I have a few questions to ask:

1. Are these binoculars even adequate for stargazing?

2. If so, what can I see with them? A close up of the moon? More stars? M31-33? How about some planet-spotting? Just how far can I push them?

3. What does 8x30 even mean? I'm not an expert.

1. You'll see a little (not much) more than with the bare eyes.

2. Stars. Star-Clusters, in a dark night on the northern hemisphere orion nebula, andromeda galaxy's core, anromeda's collegue probably not .... Moon's terminator could be worth it ! Try it: Scorpion should be high in the south in the evening now (it's already in the southwest here on the atlantic islands), there are too red spots: the brighter one is Mars (Ares), the other Antares (Anti-Mars :-)). Direct comparison .... O, Toronto, Scorpion is under the horizon or very low i fear ...

3. 8*magnification, 30mm front lens diameter.

When viewing out of the hand no more than 15*magnification, it'll shake too much. Good marine binos have 7*50, from 10* on i'd use a tripod. The larger the opening of the front lens the more light can be collected. A good bino for star things would be in the range +/- 12*70 ....

Hope that helped :-)

@Shpaget already had all the info, sorry :-)

 

6 hours ago, Matuchkin said:

Halos (spiral arms of andromeda galaxy) no way. Just barely with an 8" telescope, a contrast/skyglow/artificial light filter and under a *very* dark sky and high up and some imagination.

Or by long-term exposure with a camera ...

Edited August 20, 2016 by Green Baron

[Matuchkin]

1 hour ago, Green Baron said:

Or by long-term exposure with a camera ...

How long? I might be trying this.

[Green Baron]

Oh well, try it out. Camera on a tripod, wide-angle lens, standard asa-settings (100), aperture open, full manual control, no automatism. Start with 30sec. and double (60, 120, 240, not more). You'll see even after 30sec that the stars will be a little "long", not pointy. After 4min exposure you will already see circle-sections and that the rest of the sky will quickly be overexposed. Near a city that can already be the case after 60sec. ....

Depending on the quality of your camera and the temperature you'll also see the noise of the chip.

Just play :-)

 

Edited August 20, 2016 by Green Baron

[Shpaget]

If you do delve into astrophotography, sooner or later (sooner rather than later) you'll need some sort of tracking to compensate for Earth's rotation. The cheapest and simplest device is the so called barn door tracker. It's quite powerful device which can provide good tracking for up to about 20 minutes. Of course you won't use 20 min exposures, but multiple shorter.

In any case, dark sky is the single most important thing for good seeing.

[UmbralRaptor]

10 hours ago, Matuchkin said:

How about larger objects, such as the Andromeda or Triangulum galaxies? Would I, for example, be able to make out their halos?

They work, though binoculars tend to best for open clusters (eg: Pleiades, Hyades, Mel 111, Mel 20, double cluster). Globular clusters are also visible, though more of "yeah, there's a faint puffball" than anything else.

 

Source: I have a pair of east german 8x30 binoculars.

[Matuchkin]

55 minutes ago, UmbralRaptor said:

I have a pair of east german 8x30 binoculars.

Ah, "Best-Germany", good call. How did you get them? 

57 minutes ago, UmbralRaptor said:

They work, though binoculars tend to best for open clusters

Are there any clusters that appear in the northern hemisphere at summer?

[UmbralRaptor]

26 minutes ago, Matuchkin said:

Ah, "Best-Germany", good call. How did you get them?

From a relative, but calling them East German is a bit of a joke. Zeiss had some factories in the DDR to exploit the lower labor costs.

26 minutes ago, Matuchkin said:

Are there any clusters that appear in the northern hemisphere at summer?

Yes, though at Toronto's latitude, I'd expect the better ones are fall/winter. What's your southern horizon like / how much can you see of Scorpius and Sagittarius? Both have lots of open and globular clusters, and even one emission nebular with Orion-level brightness (Messier 8)

[Green Baron]

He, there are a few stargazers here :-)

@Matuchkin, if you have an android device wth gps and acceleration tracking (shows you the sky as you hold and move the device) try google skymap (though i hate to advertize a google program ...). Nasa has a similar program but i don't remember how it's called. These two don't cost nothing and are reasonably up-to-date and accurate. There are more of these programs, "Red Shift" for the pc being probably one of the better, but they cost.

In the end i fear you won't get happy without a good book on "practical astronomy".

 

Edited August 20, 2016 by Green Baron

[jwenting]

On 8/20/2016 at 2:42 PM, Scotius said:

Hmm, true that Still, my own 10x50 monocular is not that much stronger, yet works quite well on the outskirts of my home town, with sodium streetlights and glow from nearby greenhouses polluting the sky.

Your 10x50s were a lot stronger. Not so much the magnification but the light gathering capability... 8x30s are extremely dim, and I'm not sure I'd trust Soviet glass...

[UmbralRaptor]

On 8/20/2016 at 2:10 PM, Green Baron said:

@Matuchkin, if you have an android device wth gps and acceleration tracking (shows you the sky as you hold and move the device) try google skymap (though i hate to advertize a google program ...). Nasa has a similar program but i don't remember how it's called. These two don't cost nothing and are reasonably up-to-date and accurate. There are more of these programs, "Red Shift" for the pc being probably one of the better, but they cost.

 

 

As far as Android apps go, I'm partial to Clear Sky Droid (nearterm viewing conditions), Moons of Jupiter (where Jupiter's moons are, lets you adjust for various telescope types), Moons of Saturn (same but Saturn), PlanetDroid (ephemeris, etc), and Sky Map (it's not really a Google thing anymore).

[Green Baron]

@jwenting You're right with the 30/50 comparison. Can't say much to binos, but for telescopes: the best (and most costly) amateur telescope objectives (air-spaced triplet lenses) come from Russia. LZOS near Moscow .... also the russian LOMO mirrors are among the world's best amateur telescopes mirrors when it comes to single-made one-off telescopes.

Depending on your purse, for the mirrors you can of course choose the glass ... Schott, Ohara, they have them all, see the specifications ;-)

I am dreaming of the LZOS 6" (152mm) refractor (got a used 4,5" f/7 and will never give it away) but sadly can't afford the german importer's prices :-/

 

Edited August 23, 2016 by Green Baron
links

[cubinator]

They're definitely not good enough, they have no RCS and don't gimbal.  

Seriously, though, just try looking at some stuff. No need to ask on the internet when you can do, *ahem*, SCIENCE!!! 

Edited August 24, 2016 by cubinator

[Matuchkin]

I was in Haliburton with them, a week ago- they outdid themselves. I saw a bunch of Messier object, some of which were crystal clear. M31 looked fabulous in them. Mars and Saturn formed a nice triangle with Antares. Overall, the best (and first) true stargazing experience I ever had, and I conducted it by myself.

Anyway, stuff happened (birthday?), and I got an Orion SkyQuest XT8 dobsonian reflector telescope, with Plossl 25mm and 9mm eyepieces. So how's that for stargazing? What can I see with this? Any specs?

Edited September 12, 2016 by Matuchkin

[SuperFastJellyfish]

If you download Stellarium you can input your scope and eyepiece info, and it will show what things will look like as if you were looking through the eyepiece.

Edited September 12, 2016 by SuperFastJellyfish

[_Augustus_]

You can get 50mm binos for $35, but your Soviet binos are probably a much higher optical quality than Celestron Cometrons. I've used 8x26 binoculars under dark skies in France with great success, but they're near-useless in my light-polluted neighborhood.

EDIT: Saw you posted on Cloudynights, I'll talk more on there.

Edited September 12, 2016 by _Augustus_

[YNM]

8x30 is a very fine one - not too big, but not too zoomed. It's comparable to most telescope finder, so you can certainly look at things that's bright enough to be used as markers. Planets will still be dots anyway. Binoculars are good for large, extended objects - maybe you can be lucky and spot a comet or something. Things that can be relied on are Moon, clusters, bright nebulas. The rest needs some effort.

[Matuchkin]

4 hours ago, _Augustus_ said:

You can get 50mm binos for $35, but your Soviet binos are probably a much higher optical quality than Celestron Cometrons. I've used 8x26 binoculars under dark skies in France with great success, but they're near-useless in my light-polluted neighborhood.

EDIT: Saw you posted on Cloudynights, I'll talk more on there.

You're on cloudynights? What's your name there?