Hi, just a brief comment: The gain of 1.0 mag with 8x56 binos compared with 7x35 is somewhat optimistic since it can only be reached under perfectly dark skies. There are a number of online "limiting magnitude calculators" taking several parameters, some of them physiological, into account. I developed such an empirical model (please contact me personally for details since this is rather off-topic). Under moderate light pollution skies (ie Bortle 5 if you are familiar with the Bortle scale) I observe a gain of 0.7 mag. Still enough, yet, to see twice as many stars, satellites and debris... Jean-Luc "Matson, Robert" schrieb: > Hi Jonathan, > > > I can usually get to magnitude +6, +7 (sometimes +8 with averted > > vision and squinting) with my binoculars, which are 7x35's. Just > > out of curiosity, would I see at least a marginal increase if I > > were to switch to 8x56's (I am in my 20's, for pupil concerns) ? > > Absolutely, regardless of your pupil size. The 56mm diameter > objectives have 2.56 times the light gathering power of the 35's, > which buys you a full visual magnitude, all other factors being > equal. If you have 7mm-diameter pupils (and well-corrected vision > when your eyes are fully dilated) then you'll benefit from the > larger binocular exit pupils of the 8x56's. > > --Rob ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/sat/seesat/seesatindex.html
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