Mar 22 2008
what planets can I see with my 12×50 binoculars?
Adidas asked:
I have a pair of 12×50 binoculars, coated optics, 275ft at 1000 yds.
which planets might I be able to see through it? and what else can i see with it?
Kansieo.com
I have a pair of 12×50 binoculars, coated optics, 275ft at 1000 yds.
which planets might I be able to see through it? and what else can i see with it?
Kansieo.com
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5 responses so far
you can see uranus and a lot of stars
Mars, Saturn, Jupiter & Venus. The Moon can look spectacular through binoculars, as can some of the star clusters, Hyades and Pleiades for example
With Jupiter you can often spot the four largest moons, saturn of course the rings depending on the inclination to Earth.
Some people claim you can see Uranus, but it is difficult to find, and would look very small, faint and star like.
Mercury is a very difficult object to find, and as with Venus, you are looking toward the Sun at sunrise and sunset, remember not to look directly at the Sun itself as this will cause eyesight problems, not excluding blindness
Stars and Nebulae around Orions Belt are good targets.
Some advice, leave your binoculars outside for about an hour before you do any observations, this allows the temperature of the air inside them to equalise with that outside, this will aid focus.
12x is tough to hand hold. Do you have a steady tripod?
Mercury is a dot. Venus shows a crescent. Earth is pretty good. Mars is an orange blob. Jupiter should show bands and the 4 moons. Saturn may show bands, and the rings – though the rings are nearing edge on just now. Titan and a few of the brighter moons will be visible. Uranus is a blueish disk. Neptune is a greenish point. The Moon’s craters and other features are clear.
The great Andromeda Galaxy (m31) is a fuzz ball. The great cluster in Hercules (m13) is a fuzz ball. The great Orion Nebula show a little detail. The double cluster in Perseus is pretty cool. You’ll easily be able to see both fuzz balls.
The sky maps (see link) have lists of binocular objects every month.
What type of binoculars should you get? For astronomy, the binoculars should be about 10×50 (the 10 refers to the power, the 50 to the diameter in millimeters of the lens, or the ability to gather light) with higher diameters, and hence higher light gathering ability, showing more detail at the expense of weight (use of very large binoculars generally requires a tripod). I’d strongly recommend that you also buy a camera tripod and make sure the binoculars have a tripod mounting ***** hole on them or have an (optional) accessory bracket/adaptor so that you can mount the binoculars to the tripod. (Note, you could also use 7X50′s but lower magnifications are not as satisfying. 12X50 is also a good choice, powers much beyond 10 to 12 become difficult to hold steady. I have also tried the fancy image stabilizing binoculars by Cannon and they do a nice job but are quite expensive.) but idk the planets you can see
You can see all of them, including Neptune, You won’t be able to see much detail on the planets beyond the phases of Venus and the moons of Jupiter. You will be able to see many deep sky objects, and a number of double stars and variable stars. Two good lists of target objects are in the source.