I started astronomy in a serious way back in the late '60s. So much has changed in amateur astronomy over the years, not the least of which is the equipment. In those early days of my astronomy,
binoculars were relegated to a secondary observing tool, something to keep beside the
telescope if you wanted a wide-angle view of the sky. The standard astronomy binocular was a 7x50. There were no giant
astronomy binoculars and the idea of using a binocular as a primary instrument for astronomy had yet to become popular. Since I didn't have a
7x50 and, being a poor starving college student, could not afford a 7x50, I used my old 10x40
birding binocular. It actually worked quite well and taught me most of the basics of binocular astronomy. That's why I laugh when someone says you have to have a really big binocular to do astronomy. If more people would just grab the binocular they already own and head out under the stars, they might discover how easy binocular astronomy is and then, of course, contact me when they want to get something larger.