First Observation with the new Binoculars

I finally had the time and the cooperating weather conditions to try out my new Nikon 10x50 binoculars last night. Overall, it was a decent night, slightly cool, and there didn’t appear to be any real cloud cover. Some definite haze as the evening wore on, but it was intermittent. Good or bad, I was anxious to see something, anything, in my new gear.

I knew I was going to have a hard time seeing much of anything – I’m in McMurray, just 20 miles south of Pittsburgh, and so the NNE part of the sky was visibly lighter due to light pollution. I also have a fairly bright gas-powered post light in my front yard (yes, they do still exist!) I decided to concentrate on the western part of the sky, as I could keep my back to the light. There were more stars visible to my eye than I expected, especially towards zenith. I got excited :)

I had already popped open Stellarium on my Mac to check the night sky. I’m still a complete rookie, so I need all the help I can get! I found a few landmarks, grabbed my planisphere and ran outside. I started with Venus, super-bright as expected. I star-hopped (still learning that, too!) to the twins of Gemini, also fairly bright and easy to find. I knew Saturn was “chasing Leo”, so I decided to hop over to the giant planet for a look. Along the way, I ran into a something I’d never seen before – I actually gasped as it came into view. I wasn’t expecting to see anything out there, and there it was, a lovely cluster spread out before me. Not visible naked-eye, which made it all the more breathtaking.

I had just seen M44 (the Beehive Cluster, or Praesepe)! Sure, that’s an easy one, I suppose. But I hadn’t found any catalog objects before this, so I was pretty excited. Now I was determined to see more.

Saturn was bright and pleasing to look at…even if I was shaking the binocular a bit by now. Once I dig out my tripod, I should get some more steady views. I honestly didn’t think the 10x50’s would get so heavy! Not sure, but I may have seen one of Saturn’s moons to the right side. Did I?

After a trip of a few well-known constellations, I tried to look for Hercules. I knew M13 was out there, hiding somewhere in the light pollution. Hercules proved hard to see in my location, the lights were washing out that part of the sky. Still, I waited, trying to let my eyes adjust. It took me a while to sort out which stars were which – the planisphere can be hard to get your bearings with. I finally was able to pick out a pair of stars on the left side (Rho Herc, Pi Herc), so I hopped up those stars, up again to Eta, and over to Zeta. I hope I’m getting these names right ;) Back and forth between Eta and Zeta…nothing. Using the averted vision method, which I had read about the night before, I spotted it! M13, a small grey puff just between the two stars of the keystone. Two Messier objects and two planets on my first night! Time for bed…I’m sure I’ll dream about huge SCT’s and apochromatic refracters (see, I am researching!)