Night sky: A guide to buying your first pair of binoculars

Astronomers have discovered the farthest star yet.

Captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, the star is thought to have been formed 12.8 billion years ago, some 900 million years after the Big Bang.

Given its age, the star is believed to have long since died, but the light it emitted remains visible as it takes so long to travel through space to reach us.

Choosing your first pair of binoculars

Jason Mead, director of observations at Bridgend Astronomical Society, shares his tips of what you should be looking for with binoculars and telescopes.

“Sadly, most telescopes become hobby killers after their new owners have had trouble setting them up or when the scope doesn’t meet unrealistic expectations.

"However, everyone knows how to use binoculars. They are portable, can be relatively inexpensive, and are fantastic tools to stargaze with.

"If you’re new to astronomy, why not consider a pair to see if you enjoy the hobby first before taking that plunge into what can be a costly pastime," he said.

Every set of binoculars will have two main features: magnification and the objective lens size.

For example, a 10×50 set means they have 10x magnification and 50mm objective (main) lenses.

The secret to choosing the perfect nighttime binoculars is getting the right balance between magnification and lens size that will result in a clear, bright, and stable image.

In the night sky, some targets are so distant you will be tempted to choose high magnification. But bigger magnification also means an unstable image – this is because every small hand movement is also magnified.

Avoid this by either purchasing lower magnification binoculars or use them with a support aid such as a tripod or monopod (tip: an upturned broom to lean on is a great cost-effective support).

Larger magnification can still be considered if supported. They will offer more detail but will restrict your field of view somewhat (the area of sky you see).

Objective lenses

The second number when describing binocular sizes refers to the size of the main lenses.

This is probably the most important feature for astronomical binoculars.

The larger the lens is, the more light that gets in, the brighter your image will be.

inoculars for stargazing should be at least 42mm. Larger lenses of 50mm to 100mm are very common in astronomy simply because they can gather a greater amount of light.

But remember the downsides highlighted above.

Eye Relief

If you’re a spectacle wearer, opt for a pair that offers long eye relief.

This is the distance between the eyepiece and your pupil.

Long eye relief offers that extra distance and comfort without sacrificing the field of view.

Consider binoculars with ‘fold down’ rubber eye cups to allow spectacle wearers some control of the eye relief distance.

Jason said: "Check out binocular expert, Steve Tonkin’s ‘Binocular Sky’ website (www.binocularsky.com) for further information.

Meteor shower

The Lyrids meteor shower gets under way on Friday, April 15, lasting until April 29.

The shower peaks on the evening of Friday April 22, when the Earth passes through the densest part of the debris left behind by Comet Thatcher. The meteors will radiate from the constellation Lyra, (hence the Lyrids name), with the Zenith Hourly Rate, (ZHR - number of meteors expected during peak activity), in the region of 15 to 20.

However, the Lyrids has been known to generate much higher numbers per hour.

Entering the atmosphere at around 107,000 mph, the rubble left in the wake of Comet Thatcher will burn up around 55 miles above us in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Particularly large chunks have also been known to produce “Lyrid fireballs”, possibly leaving a trail that remains ‘lit’ for several minutes.

Planets

This month sees the best opportunity of 2022 to catch the elusive innermost planet of our solar system, Mercury.

From around Sunday, April 10, onward, look over in the west-northwest after sunset for a reasonably bright point of light low down near the horizon.

Over the coming weeks, that point of light, Mercury, will slowly climb in the evening sky setting at around 10.30pm by the end of April. On Friday/Saturday, April 29/30, Mercury will be positioned right next to the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters star cluster.

In the morning sky, Venus continues to dominate, rising at around 5am.

By the second week of the month, another planet, Jupiter, can be seen rising in the east as well, positioned to the lower left of Venus.

Between April 24 and April 27, see if you can spot Venus, Jupiter, and a waning crescent moon.

On Saturday April 30, Jupiter will appear just to the left of Venus.

Society meetings

Abergavenny Astronomical Society: Friday, April 15. 7pm. Rhodri Evans, senior lecturer at the University of Namibia – Seeing a black hole with the Africa Millimetre Telescope.

Bridgend Astronomical Society: Wednesday, April 20. 7.30pm. Dr Annabel Cartwright - Venus: Was it ever inhabitable, and could life have transferred to and from Earth? (Bridgend Tennis, Squash, and Bowls Club).

Free online talks

50th Anniversary of Apollo 16: Wednesday, April 20. 9pm. Go to the link to register free for the event: tinyurl.com/yvtfensj

Moon phases

• New Moon April 1;
• First quarter April 9;
• Full Moon April 16;
• Third quarter April 23;
• New Moon April 30.

Sunrise/sunset times

• Start of April: Sun rises at 6.47am. Sets at 7.45pm.
• End of April: Sun rises at 5.45am. Sets at 8.33pm.

Jonathan Powell is a contributor to the BBC Sky at Night magazine. He has written three books on astronomy - Cosmic Debris; Rare Astronomical Sights and Sounds (which was selected by Choice’magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2019); and From Cave Art to Hubble, all of which are available from Amazon. Jonathan worked at BBC Radio Wales as their astronomy correspondent and is currently a columnist at the South Wales Argus, and presenter on Astro Radio UK. He has also written a book on castles; Fortress Wales, and was part of the writing team for the BBC Television show, The Fast Show, which won a BAFTA.