I was doing my best to beat a summer cold, this weekend, and the sky was not co-operating, anyway, so, like the dedicated astronomer I am, I did the next best thing - I pulled out the star maps and cruised through the night sky indoors. Just love star maps and appreciate a good one.
I did manage to do some double star work, last week, though.
Splitting Albireo at 10x in a handheld binocular is a challenge. It's as much a test of your ability to hold a binocular steady as it is a binocular's optics. Sitting in my lawn chair, holding my
Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe near the objectives, I could tell Albireo was a "bit out of focus" compared to other stars. Not good enough. I got a different lawn chair - a recliner - and tried, again. This was something of an improvement, but still can't say I was seeing two stars. Finally, I stood and braced the binocular against a building wall. That did it.
Sure, I should be using a tripod, such as a
Bogen 3180N, as a minimum, for double star work, but I use binoculars for astronomy to get away from tripods and mounts. Not quite ready to give up my freedom.