{"id":43553,"date":"2023-04-08T13:17:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T13:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=117720"},"modified":"2023-04-08T13:32:34","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T13:32:34","slug":"6-things-to-see-in-the-night-sky-with-binoculars-april-2023","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/6-things-to-see-in-the-night-sky-with-binoculars-april-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"6 things to see in the night sky with binoculars, April 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

With binoculars you can see so much more in the night sky. Take our deep-sky tour and find out. <\/p>

By Stephen Tonkin\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 08 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

There are hundreds of astronomical bodies that a pair of binoculars will bring into view for you.<\/p>\n

Not only will they let you see many more objects than you can with the naked eye, but the detail and colour in those objects become a lot richer.<\/p>\n

With binoculars, the Coathanger asterism<\/a> in Vulpecula actually looks like a coathanger and the Orion Nebula<\/a> becomes a fantastically detailed painting of light.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The Coathanger by Jos\u00e9 J. Chamb\u00f3, Hoya Redonda, Valencia, Spain. Equipment: GSO 8\u2033 f\/3.8, Canon EOS-100D<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The Milky Way<\/a> is no longer a tenuous glowing band, but a knotted tangle of stars, interspersed with mysterious dark patches.<\/p>\n

Albireo<\/a> goes from being an ordinary-looking star that marks the head of Cygnus<\/a> to an exquisite binary juxtaposition of gold and sapphire.<\/p>\n

And you can easily see galaxies<\/a> by the light that left them millions of years ago, when our ancestors were thinking about leaving the trees.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Double star Albireo by Tony Moss, Downham Market, Norfolk<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Binoculars are still suitable even if you want to do \u2018serious\u2019 astronomy.<\/p>\n

There are variable star<\/a> observing programmes specifically for binoculars, and their portability makes them ideal for taking to the narrow track where a lunar graze or asteroid occultation<\/a> is visible.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, you could wrap up warm, lie back on your garden recliner and just enjoy the objects that the binoculars let you find as you cast your gaze among the stars.<\/p>\n

Before you even realise it, you have begun to learn the sky and you\u2019ll soon be able to navigate around it better than the entry-level Go-To telescope you nearly bought instead.<\/p>\n

Best of all, you can have this complete observing system for two eyes\u00a0for less than the price of\u00a0one reasonably good telescope eyepiece.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
A pair of binoculars may be all you need to get started in astronomy. Credit: VW Pics\u00a0\/\u00a0Contributor \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In this guide we\u2019ll go through 6 wonderful targets that are visible in the night sky through binoculars.<\/p>\n

This binocular tour can be made all the easier by downloading our April 2023 binocular tour form (PDF)<\/a> and using it to help you navigate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tour form is black on white, so you can read it under red light and avoid spoiling your night vision.<\/p>\n

For more advice, read our guide to stargazing with binoculars, our pick of the best binoculars for astronomy and the best budget binoculars.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

6 binocular night-sky targets for April 2023<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Double Cluster<\/b><\/h3>\n

Half way between mag. 2.6 Ruchbah (Delta (\u03b4<\/span>) Cassiopeiae) and mag. +2.9 Gamma (\u03b3<\/span>) Cassiopeiae you will find a close pair of open clusters. These are known as the Double Cluster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a rural sky, you can see them with your naked eye as a distinctly elongated smudge of light, but binoculars will reveal two little concentrations of stars. Those stars are intrinsically extremely bright: if the Sun was there, it would be too faint for you to see it in binoculars!<\/p>\n

Melotte 15<\/b><\/h3>\n

If you imagine that mag. +3.3 Segin (Epsilon (\u03b5<\/span>) Cassiopeiae) and mag. +4.6 Iota (\u03b9<\/span>) Cassiopeiae are two corners of an equilateral triangle, Melotte 15 is the third corner.<\/p>\n

In 10\u00d750 binoculars, you\u2019ll see a large (20-arcminute) glow with a handful of brighter stars forming a V shape. If you have a UHC filter to hold over an eyepiece, you might see the nebulosity (IC1805, the Heart Nebula) that surrounds, and gave birth to, the cluster.<\/p>\n

Markarian 6<\/b><\/h3>\n

Markarian 6 lies slightly less than 1\u00b0 to the south-southwest of Mel 15. It\u2019s quite easy to miss, so we use larger binoculars. What you should see is an arrow of half a dozen ninth-magnitude stars pointing southwards.<\/p>\n

Owing to its faintness compared to Mel 15, you might assume it is much further away, but at 1,600 lightyears it is actually just under a quarter of the distance.<\/p>\n

Pazmino\u2019s Cluster <\/b><\/h3>\n

If you pan slightly more than 1.5\u00b0 due west from mag. +4.3 CS Camelopardalis, you will find an unremarkable little trapezium of seventh and eigth-magnitude stars. This is Stock 23, also known as Pazmino\u2019s Cluster.<\/p>\n

Your binoculars should reveal that this is much more than a trapezium and you may be able to resolve about half a dozen stars against a faintly glowing patch of sky about 10 arcminutes in diameter.<\/p>\n

Kemble\u2019s Cascade<\/b><\/h3>\n

On spring evenings, Kemble\u2019s Cascade<\/a> is near-horizontal in the sky, so this line of eighth-magnitude stars, with a brighter fifth-magnitude one in the middle, looks more like a wristwatch or bracelet opened out against the sky than a tumbling cascade.<\/p>\n

To find it, extend a line from mag. +2.3 Caph (Beta (\u03b2<\/span>) Cassiopeiae) to Segin the same distance to the central bright star.<\/p>\n

Beta Cam<\/b><\/h3>\n

You can see mag. +4.0 Beta (\u03b2<\/span>) Camelopardalis with the naked eye, and its mag. +7.4 companion, which lies 84 arcseconds southwest is easy to distinguish, even in small binoculars.<\/p>\n

Beta Cam is a yellow supergiant in transition between being a hot new blue star and a much cooler red supergiant. It sometimes flashes, probably due to the equivalent of huge solar flares.<\/p>\n

This guide originally appeared in the April 2023 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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