Thursday, January 10, 2008

Tripods for astronomy binoculars

I generally disdain the use of tripods for my binocular astronomy. Freedom from the hassle of equipment is one of the reasons I love binocular astronomy and, hence my preference for low magnification binoculars that can be easily handheld. There are times, however, when I mount even my 7x and 10x astronomy binoculars on a tripod. For example, splitting very close double stars is agonizingly painful without a support of some kind and, although I have improvised with a variety of makeshift mounts, a tripod is still the best solution for steadiness for these objects. Ditto for trying to count stars in open clusters. I also regularly use a tripod with my binoculars when acting as a tour guide for others. Just handing someone else a binocular and saying, "Find the star Enif and look about 4 degrees east" doesn't work too well. Better to find M15, first, and then explain to a guest what they are seeing when they look through the binocular.
 
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