Equipment Tips
Though the best instrument for stargazing is your own two eyes, there's nothing like bringing lunar craters, star clusters, or nebulae into focus with a quality pair of binoculars or a small starter telescope.
Around $250 will buy a refractor scope with a 60- to 90-millimeter lense (about two and half to three inches), a tripod mount and a couple of eyepieces. Look for one with a filter — not for solar viewing, which should never be done directly — but for observing the Moon. Seen unfiltered, the glare of the full Moon can be as painful as a car's headlights. Also, steer clear of the generic models sold at discount department store chains. See the list of recommended manufacturers below.
A pair of 7x50 binoculars offers a comparable field of view and magnification of an entry-level telescope for a bit less money. Planetary conjunctions, lunar occultations — even the next great comet — will look just as sharp through good binoculars. The view suffers only with the lack of a tripod mount. You may want to brace yourself against a tree for steady observing. On the otherhand, binoculars are much more portable than a telescope — a handy feature if you have to drive beyond the glare of city lights to do your stargazing.
We have a pair of Pentax binoculars for sale in the Astronomy Gift Shop.
Dealers/Manufacturers
Meade Instruments Corp.
Orion Telescope and Binocular Center
Celestron International
Edmund Scientific
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