TRG – Telescope Review Guide

So now you have a brand spanking new pair of Bushnell or Zhumell binoculars. Now what? Just what can you expect to see with them? You’d be surprised! What follows is sights 10-6 of my Top 10 list of things to see.

10. Meteors and Satellites

Find someplace where you have an unobstructed view of the sky. Try to pick a night with a new or crescent moon. Lay on a chaise lounge or even the ground. Be comfortable! Scan the sky with your binoculars. Before too long you should be rewarded by the flash of a shooting star! Most months have at least a minor meteor shower. April has the Lyrids which, as I pointed out in me last article, could put on a good show this year since the moon will be crescent during the peak of the shower.

Satellites are perhaps even more fun to view with your binocular than meteors since they don’t flash across the sky in an instant as meteors do. I will never forget the first time I saw the International Space Station fly over, Space Shuttle attached! Sure I could see it with my unaided eye but when I trained my Bushnell on them, I swear I could count the rivets! Simply breathtaking. Satellite hunting doesn’t have to be a hit or miss proposition either. Sebastian Stoff has a wonderful cardware program called Orbitron that will tell you when you’ll have a satellite viewable from your location.

9. The Beehive Cluster

The Beehive Cluster

The Beehive Cluster is an open star cluster found in the constellation Cancer. It should be on your list of must sees because it was one of the first things Galileo viewed with his telescope.

8. The Double Cluster

The Double Cluster is two clusters located close together. Located in the constellation Perseus, the Double Cluster makes an attractive target because it’s fairly large and telescopes have a hard time imaging both clusters at once. With your binoculars, you won’t have any trouble seeing both clusters!

7. Jupiter

Jupiter and the Galilean moons as you might see them with your binoculars

Sure, your friend with the telescope might be momentarily miffed at your ability to simultaneously image both clusters of the Double Cluster but he will soon turn his ’scope to Jupiter and challenge you to beat him. Of course, you probably won’t be able to but you will be able to reproduce Galileo’s efforts and watch the four largest moons of Jupiter, the so-called Galilean moon’s, in their nightly waltz around that gas giant!

6. The Moon

The Moon

Sure you can see the Moon, and plenty of it, without any aids at all. You haven’t really seen it though, until you’ve seen it through binoculars! Don’t try to view when the Moon is full, or nearly full, as the brightness will wash out the fine details and may be too bright to be comfortable for your eyes. Instead, view when the Moon is half or smaller. The shadows will reveal mountains and valleys like you’ve never dreamed! Look at the Sea of Tranquillity and imagine Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking across that dusty surface. Has it really been 40 years since that amazing feat?

 Check back soon for my Top 5 list of things to see with your Bushnell or Zhumell binoculars!

What is in the night sky during April? The Moon, planets and even a meteor shower are on tap this month.
The Moon is especially noteworthy this month. It passes near all five of the naked-eye planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn plus as well as the stars Regulus and Antares. On the 22nd it will eclipse Venus as seen from most of the continental United States. 

Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, stands a little to the left or upper left of the Moon at nightfall on the 5th. The planet Saturn is below them.

Saturn aligns quite close to the Moon on the evening of the 6th, with Regulus above them.

Moon and Saturn by spaceritual

Antares, the brightest star of Scorpius, is close to the Moon on the 12th. It is close to the Moon’s lower left as they rise after midnight, and even closer at first light. As seen from Hawaii, the Moon will briefly eclipse Antares on the morning of the 13th.

 Jupiter stands a little to the lower left of the Moon at first light on the 18th. They are low in the southeast.

 The Lyrid meteor shower is at its best on the night of the 21st, especially with the Moon appearing as a thin crescent.

The Moon, Venus, and Mars congregate low in the east the morning of the 22nd. The Moon will eclipse Venus, briefly hiding the planet from view.

The Moon, the Pleiades, and the planet Mercury align low in the west-northwest as night falls on the 26th. The Pleiades star cluster is a little below the Moon, with Mercury about the same distance below the Pleiades. Mercury looks like a fairly bright star. Binoculars will enhance the view.