{"id":361,"date":"2007-09-17T08:20:44","date_gmt":"2007-09-17T08:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2007\/09\/17\/binocular_diver\/"},"modified":"2007-09-17T08:20:44","modified_gmt":"2007-09-17T08:20:44","slug":"binocular_diver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2007\/09\/17\/binocular_diver\/","title":{"rendered":"Binocular Diversions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an effort to compensate for not getting out to dark sites for observing lately, you&#8217;ll notice that my recent observations and sketches are taking place from my front yard. But even that has been getting tough to make time for. So I decided to ease up on my expectations a bit more for a couple nights. I pulled up the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.astroleague.org\/al\/obsclubs\/binomess\/binomess.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Messier<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.astroleague.org\/al\/obsclubs\/dsbinoc\/dsbinoc.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deep Sky<\/a> Binocular Observing Lists from the Astronomical League and decided to see how deep my 15 x 70 Oberwerks could take me with casual use from home. And by casual, I mean just roaming around the front and back yards without a tripod, looking for the best views. Look out Neighbors! He&#8217;s got some FAT binoculars pointed over your roofs! <\/p>\n<p>So far the police have not been called.<\/p>\n<p>This continues to emphasize for me that apart from the immediate glare of lights from 24-hours businesses nearby, I have really great north, east, and zenith sky quality. Decent dark adaptation is a futile quest due to all the reflected light, but clarity is awesome in those areas. And it really showed up as I went through the Messier list one by one. The showpiece objects, like the Auriga open clusters were of course stunning, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to make fairly straightforward hand-held observations of the theoretically tougher objects. The AL Messier Binocular observing list has objects divided into Easy, Tougher and Challenge categories with about 34 objects not listed at all. <\/p>\n<p>As the fainter, unlisted items (such as M74, M76, M77 and M57) began to give themselves up, it occurred to me that I may want to try running my next Messier Marathon with these binoculars. I recalled that Brent Archinal ran it <a href=\"http:\/\/www.novac.com\/nl\/95\/archinal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">with 11 x 80 binoculars<\/a> in 2001, so why not? I might still run it concurrently with my telescope, just in case M30 and M74 give me insurmountable trouble.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been going through the binocular Messier list with mainly written notes, and only rudimentary sketches to verify star fields around some of the more difficult objects. It&#8217;s an interesting contrast to my normal observing and sketching routine where I may only make 2 or 3 saturated observations over the course of an evening. With this little program, I was enjoying 25 or so objects in the same period of time. It&#8217;s satisfying in its own way&#8211;not satisfying enough to pull me away from digging deep whenever I can, but it&#8217;s a great diversion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Binocular Diversions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-observing-report"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":64,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2004\/12\/06\/astro_and_lunar\/","url_meta":{"origin":361,"position":0},"title":"Observation Record Forms and Templates","author":"jperez1690","date":"December 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Observation Record Sheets","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Tools and Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Tools and Techniques","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/tools-and-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":611,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2013\/02\/20\/drawn_to_the_un_44\/","url_meta":{"origin":361,"position":1},"title":"Drawn to the Universe &#8211; FEBRUARY 2013 &#8211; The Pleiades and BU536","author":"jperez1690","date":"February 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Positive Sketches of the Pleiades and BU536 Click image to view larger version. Subject: Pleiades and BU536 Issue: February 2013 Astronomy Now Basic Media: Graphite on white stock Featured Technique: Observing and sketching at multiple magnifications: Naked Eye, Binocular, and Telescopic Suggested Sketching Materials: White sketch paper 2H and HB\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/img201302AN_PleiadesMag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/img201302AN_PleiadesMag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/img201302AN_PleiadesMag.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/img201302AN_PleiadesMag.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":333,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2007\/06\/15\/mu_crucis_dun_1\/","url_meta":{"origin":361,"position":2},"title":"Mu Crucis (DUN 126)","author":"jperez1690","date":"June 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Mu Crucis","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Double Star&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Double Star","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/double-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":635,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2020\/07\/20\/comet_c2020_f3_3\/","url_meta":{"origin":361,"position":3},"title":"Comet C\/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) &#8211; 18 July 2020","author":"jperez1690","date":"July 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Sketch of C\/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) - 18 July 2020 Click for larger version. 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