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I don't knowknow where you are located, but Wyoming has some dark skies and beauitful camp sites if you can make it that way. A guy I went to bootcamp with in

I don't knowknow where you are located, but Wyoming has some dark skies and beauitful camp sites if you can make it that way. A guy I went to bootcamp with in my Army days was born and raised in the city. One of our first nights in the field I remember he was astounded at the number of stars. I guess like your daughter, he had only ever seen a few at a time his entire life. He actually thought shooting stars were something that Hollywood contrived. So myself and another guy stayed up a little bit with him until he saw one. His mind almost exploded.

eth0up 7y ago
A great way to "explode" the mind routinely is a pair of 15x70 binoculars with premium optics. The effect of handing them to someone, nudging them to Orion's belt or Pleiades, etc, and hearing the inevitable expletive never gets old. Continues to work on self indefinitely, for me.
- bradstewart 7y ago
  Recommendations for a good pair?
  - eth0up 7y ago
    Entry price will be near $400 for what I was referencing. Mine were Garrett Optical (Signature Series), which I think is no more. However, the build is almost identical under different brands, eg Orion Resolux. The features in these porro prism 15x70 models, for an equivalent, should be: Fully multi coated; waterproof; bak-4; individual diopter focus. Garrett was meticulous in testing collimation before shipping, which is critical for quality viewing at higher magnification. I had the Resolux too, but in 10x70, which were great, but not as wow. When I can afford it, I will buy the Fujinon Polaris 16x70 ($900), unless I stumble into great wealth, in which case I may consider the largest pair of roof prism Leica available. The well-built porro style binos are best equipped with a monopod for extended viewing, due to their weight. Roof-prism binos are lighter, but much more expensive and rare in large apertures, ie objective lens. I briefly had a pair of Zeiss Victory (roof prism) 10x50 which were phenomenal, highly portable and stunningly clear, but simply couldn't provide the wowness of the 15x70. Ideally, I'd have both. Edit: Whatever you choose, my advice is to never even consider "zoom" as a feature in any pair of binoculars. It is tempting in concept, but almost never conducive to quality.
- secabeen 7y ago
  Does this even work in suburban areas, where Orion and the major stars are all pretty clear, but the sea of dimmer ones are blown out?
  - eth0up 7y ago
    I find they work quite well even in suburbia. Of course, they work best elsewhere, but are very much worth having almost anywhere, for me. I have been been amazed many times after pointing my binos to an apparently void area of sky and seeing what was hidden to the naked eye.

eth0up 7y ago

A great way to "explode" the mind routinely is a pair of 15x70 binoculars with premium optics. The effect of handing them to someone, nudging them to Orion's belt or Pleiades, etc, and hearing the inevitable expletive never gets old. Continues to work on self indefinitely, for me.

bradstewart 7y ago
Recommendations for a good pair?
- eth0up 7y ago
  Entry price will be near $400 for what I was referencing. Mine were Garrett Optical (Signature Series), which I think is no more. However, the build is almost identical under different brands, eg Orion Resolux. The features in these porro prism 15x70 models, for an equivalent, should be: Fully multi coated; waterproof; bak-4; individual diopter focus. Garrett was meticulous in testing collimation before shipping, which is critical for quality viewing at higher magnification. I had the Resolux too, but in 10x70, which were great, but not as wow. When I can afford it, I will buy the Fujinon Polaris 16x70 ($900), unless I stumble into great wealth, in which case I may consider the largest pair of roof prism Leica available. The well-built porro style binos are best equipped with a monopod for extended viewing, due to their weight. Roof-prism binos are lighter, but much more expensive and rare in large apertures, ie objective lens. I briefly had a pair of Zeiss Victory (roof prism) 10x50 which were phenomenal, highly portable and stunningly clear, but simply couldn't provide the wowness of the 15x70. Ideally, I'd have both. Edit: Whatever you choose, my advice is to never even consider "zoom" as a feature in any pair of binoculars. It is tempting in concept, but almost never conducive to quality.
secabeen 7y ago
Does this even work in suburban areas, where Orion and the major stars are all pretty clear, but the sea of dimmer ones are blown out?
- eth0up 7y ago
  I find they work quite well even in suburbia. Of course, they work best elsewhere, but are very much worth having almost anywhere, for me. I have been been amazed many times after pointing my binos to an apparently void area of sky and seeing what was hidden to the naked eye.