Binoculars for stargazing

I'm thinking of getting a pair of binoculars, to do a bit of stargazing now and then. By stargazing, I mean the usual stuff like seeing what Venus is getting up to behind the moon, distinguishing between the ISS and alien spacecraft, and so on, but also occasionally stargazing in the sense of gazing at rock stars like the Red Hot Chili Peppers from the other end of the Olympiastadion. And who knows what other uses I might find for them.

So, can anyone give me some recommendations? I want something that's fairly compact and lightweight, but with a decent magnification. Then again, I've heard that for hand-held binoculars, esp. for stargazing, you don't want the magnification to be too high, or you won't be able to keep the target steady in the field of view. I believe the aperture, i.e. the amount of light entering the binoculars, is also a factor to consider. So what should I look for? Technical specifications, brand names, etc. And how much will it set me back?

Jeremy might know.

I reckon Sauter Sendliger Tor might be a good place to go, upstairy in the Telescope dept.

I dont know brand names but 10x 50 is a reasonable magnification to aim for.

I usually use my telescope but I am starting to use the bins as I am interested in learning about variable stars.

Try Sauter!

Thanks Jeremy, I'll have a look in Sauter when I get a chance. What does the 50 mean in "10x 50"? (Don't want the sales guy to think I'm a total ignoramus).

btw I am also a learner in astronomy!

I thingk the 10 is the magnification and the 50 is the diameter of the main lens.

4.20 this afternoon - venus behind the moon!

I've surfed around for some binocular astronomy stuff on the web. Funny thing is although I have a nice small scope I am starting to return to using binoculars as I want to learn about variable stars.

Hopefully this will give you some pointers to help choose a pair. To help get started read through these articles which include 3 articles on binocular astronomy. There is a web forum on the excellent Cloudy Nights website which might be of help.

I started out in astronomy using binoculars and Patrick Moore "Exploring the night sky with binoculars" which is very good to start with. I still read it now.

Thanks for the links, Jeremy. Lots of info there - haven't had time to read it yet. Also haven't bought any binoculars yet. Went to Sauter on Saturday, but got there 5 minutes before they closed (they close at 18:00 on Sat) so didn't have time to look around properly. I went upstairs, where they have the telescopes, but I got the impression they didn't have a large selection of binoculars - or maybe I just didn't look properly. Anyway, I'm not looking for anything too professional. Just something that I can glance at the sky with now and then, when I feel the need to marvel at the wonders of the universe.

You have to get binoculars with an image stabiliser. Very impressive for astronomy!

True Ian but I think the simplest are the best to start with.

I guess the cost is a big factor then. Unless they have another disdvantage?

Well, I ended up buying a pair of binoculars in a rush on Friday. Hadn't had a chance to go shopping all week, and I needed them for the Red Hot Chili Peppers gig at the Olympia Stadium on Fri evening, so I popped into Karstadt on my way there. They had a few models by Nikon, and some dirt cheap stuff from a brand name I'd never heard of and can't remember. So I decided to go for Nikon, and ended up buying the Nikon "Sportstar", 8x25, at a discount price of 89 Euros (though I see now from an ad in the paper that Sauter are selling the same model for only 59 Euros). They were ideal for the concert - lightweight and compact, powerful enough to see what was going on on the stage, but not too much magnification that could cause the image to wobble due to an unsteady hand. I did try in the shop a pair with 10x magnification, and noticed that it was indeed harder to keep the image steady.

For astronomy, I suppose - someone correct me if I'm wrong - a larger aperture than 25 would be better, because you want a large light-gathering capacity in order to make dim stars visible.

Oh that sort of star gazing.