It's time to party! 'Star Party', that is

I have often been asked how to get started in astronomy. Invariably, people want to start talking about telescopes – what’s the best kind, who makes the best, how much do they cost? But, the fact is that buying a telescope isn’t the place to start as a budding astronomer at all! The first thing to do is to go down to the newsstand and pick up a copy of Astronomy or Sky & Telescope magazine. In there you’ll find a star chart and plenty of objects highlighted for the month. You’ll also find a wealth of information in articles and ads with links to endless streams of knowledge.

The next thing to do is to buy a good pair of binoculars. Telescopes have greater light-gathering ability and see deeper into the universe.

However, binoculars have some important advantages, including:

Affordability: I bought a pair of 7×50 binoculars at Walgreens for $10!

Portability: No telescope is as “grab-and-go” as binoculars.

Ease of Use: Although one should be shown how to properly use binoculars (lectures will be provided at the star parties!), they’re easier to master than most telescopes.

Versatility: Binoculars lend themselves to more uses than a telescope, including watching aircraft, rockets, and other wildlife.

“Two eyes are better than one,” to quote Astronomy magazines’ Phil Harrington. Both eyes working together generate a more vivid image for the brain, even without any true depth perception.

A wider field of view allows you to take in the huge expanses of stars and dust clouds.

Binoculars are described by two numbers separated by a multiplication sign (×). The first number describes the “magnification power,” or how much larger the image appears. The second number describes the diameter of the big objective lenses in the front (expressed in millimeters); the larger the lens, the more light it can gather. Thus, “7×50” binoculars magnify an object seven times, and have 50 mm objective lenses. (For the technical among you, our pupils are about 10 mm in diameter. Squaring the ratio of the objective lens and pupil diameters gives us the increase in light gathering power; in this case, 25.)

What kind is best for astronomy? Why, the biggest ones you can get, of course! However, if they are too big to hold steady by hand, you’ll need a sturdy tripod. The conventional wisdom is that 7×50s are the largest that can be held steady by hand. Today, with newer plastic lenses that are as good as glass, and strong plastics replacing metal, many 10×60s can be handheld quite well.

A word of caution about quality – all binoculars are not created equal. If you buy a $10 pair, carefully inspect them before leaving the store. In particular, make sure that both of the oculars point in the same direction! Ask if you can take them outside. Focus on a distant object and make sure you comfortably see only one image. If there is any tendency toward double images, try another pair.

You’ll recall that I said that the best binoculars are the biggest that you can hand-hold. To that end, a truly amazing innovation is the image stabilized binoculars. Point my big 15×70s at a target, press a button, and the image freezes (or nearly so) even though your hand is still shaking away! They run on only two AA batteries. The downside is that prices start somewhere above a grand. However, I bought a used a pair for $750 and have been delighted with them. I use them far more than my telescope!

Once you’ve seen all that you can with your binoculars and have become thoroughly familiar with the sky, which should take the better part of a year, you will surely be keen to acquire your first telescope – and will have learned a great deal about them before doing so!