this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
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Astronomy
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I use 7x35s for outreach and they work pretty well. I got my kids the Celestron 10x50s and can't recommend them enough. They're really, really great. Not too heavy or bulky, even for kids, but still very capable of enhancing your stargazing experience. They can juuuust about split a Galilean moon, IME; Jupiter will look a little odd, but I haven't been able to distinctly identify a moon with them.
By split a gallilean moon, do you just mean see up to 4 moons separate from Jupiter? I'm pretty sure I can distinctly see them, at least with elbows on a railing or on some mount. I guess I'll have to look tonight if it's clear. I kinda only remember catching 3 at a time and not investigating further. I do have 20/15 vision so I guess that plays a role. Good point to remind me not everyone has my hawk eyes. I don't catch much color though. Usually too small and washed out. It'll have slight pink bands at best. I haven't been able to note a crescent shape for venus, either. But I figure even cheap scopes can show my planets, so it hasn't been my focus
Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm impressed! For me, Jupiter looked kinda smeary, like looking at it with an astigmatism, only it wasn't an astigmatism, it was the moons. As for Venus, I guess you might just need higher magnification to cut through the glare and resolve the crescent. The minimum power I use in my dob is 50x and you can clearly see the crescent at that power.