Equipment for Stargazing

There comes a time when you want to see more than what’s available with the naked eye. Whether it’s the rings of Saturn, the bands of cloud around Jupiter or some of the more impressive nebula, you’ll need a telescope or a pair of good binoculars. Here’s a guide to what to look for.

Whatever the pastime, choosing the right equipment can be bewildering to the novice. This is particularly true for astronomy, especially when you take into account the sheer range of optical equipment, lenses, filters, eyepieces, mounts, and goodness knows what else. You can be forgiven for feeling a little lost.

Over the coming pages we take a look at some equipment that will help you get the most from your time as a beginner, through to intermediate, advanced and beyond. But let’s cover some of the basics first.

Binoculars

A good starting point for many are the humble binoculars. Generally much cheaper than a telescope, a pair of binoculars help you to see some amazing sights in the night sky, including the bigger planets and superb detail on the surface of the moon.

Binoculars are measured by their magnification and objective diameter, such as 7 x 50. The first number, magnification, is the ratio of the focal length of the objective divided by the focal length of the eyepiece, resulting in the magnifying power of the binoculars. So a binoculars with 7x produces an image that’s seven times larger than what’s seen by the naked eye.

The second number, the objective diameter, determines the resolution and how much light is entering the binoculars. This is probably the most important of the numbers, as it signifies how well resolved the objects you’re looking at are. Through a pair of 10 x 50 binoculars, for example, the light from a faint object is better viewed and with a good amount of magnification.