Binocular question

[cocheese 0]

I have Bushnell 10x50 wide angle.

To view the shuttle launch from say 11 miles away, would you recommend spending $60+ to get 20 x 70 or something with a zoom, or is zoom for tripods only? No tripods for me.

[wayneflorida 0]

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I have Bushnell 10x50 wide angle.

To view the shuttle launch from say 11 miles away, would you recommend spending $60+ to get 20 x 70 or something with a zoom, or is zoom for tripods only? No tripods for me.

I saw the night launch in April. I have 10x50 and did not use them until shuttle was in the air for 45 seconds or so.

During my viewing of the launch I never saw the shuttle. All I could see was a plume of flame.
Daylight may be different.

10x50 probably good enough.

[quade 4]

I think you'd be really disappointed with trying to use 20x70s without some form of stabilization.

Go to the store and ask if you can try them outside to track an airplane.

I think what you'll find is it's difficult to keep the image steady and it will also be more difficult keeping the binoculars aligned with your eyes.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[JohnMitchell 16]

Are you gonna make it down to one of the last launches?

It's a shame Obama canceled the capsule project. Short sighted as hell.

[quade 4]

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It's a shame Obama canceled the capsule project. Short sighted as hell.

We'd have to move this discussion to SC if it went much further, but the capsule is still being produced and will be privately operated. Ultimately, isn't that also what we should want? And I'm not talking in the "smaller government" political sense, but rather making space travel a commercial venture rather than a government one.

It was all fine and good that the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria were financed by the Queen of Spain, but the real breakthroughs came when private companies set up shipping and trade.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[ryoder 1,590]

"Shuttle launch";
Yeah, right.
You're just checking out the chick in the apartment across the street.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Niki1 2]

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I have Bushnell 10x50 wide angle.

To view the shuttle launch from say 11 miles away, would you recommend spending $60+ to get 20 x 70 or something with a zoom, or is zoom for tripods only? No tripods for me.

I saw the night launch in April. I have 10x50 and did not use them until shuttle was in the air for 45 seconds or so.

During my viewing of the launch I never saw the shuttle. All I could see was a plume of flame.
Daylight may be different.

10x50 probably good enough.

I was at the first launch in '81. We had a causeway pass which is 6 1/2 miles from the pad. We were in line with the exhaust tunnels and the smoke billowed up quite a bit when they fired that mother up. I had my binoculars on it but could not see anything for 3 or 4 seconds (seemed like much longer). Then I saw the nose come up over the cloud of smoke and everyone was cheering wildly. When I could see the whole thing, all of a sudden, I thought my eyeballs were being fried. Looking at it through binoculars HURT. So be careful with that. The sun was up about 1 1/2 or 2 hours and I could feel it on my right side but I could also feel the heat from the rockets on my front. We could "see" the sound comming across the water as it created ripples on the glassy surface. And when it got to us, it felt like that JVC speaker ad. A sonic wind.

All in all, it was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. Or heard. Or felt.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?