| Several people have mentioned binoculars. If you do get binoculars, and might also want to use them for watching the local wildlife that visits your yard, take into account the "close focus distance". Almost all binoculars can focus on things that are far away, which is usually the case for astronomy (and in those cases when it isn't, you are too busy running from the asteroid that is about to hit you to be making observations...). But how close they can focus varies a lot. I've seen good recommendations for the Celestron Nature DX [1] series as a good but not too expensive binocular for critter watching. The 56 mm models can focus down to 3 m, and the smaller models down to 2 m. I have the 8x42 model, and it has been great when I'm at my desk in the living room next to a big window, and see a critter I want to take a closer look at sitting on the rail of my front deck. I can just pick the binoculars up and get a good look right from my desk. With my old binoculars (50+ year old Tower Optical binoculars that my family had when I was a little kid), I had to back up to the opposite side of the room to focus on something on the deck rail. If you want to wear glasses while using binoculars, make sure they have an adjustment for that. The rear binocular lens is supposed to be a certain distance from your eye. There needs to be a mechanism that allows you to get closer to the lens when wearing glasses, to compensate for the added distance glasses add. For the Celestron Nature DX, you simply twist the eye cups. They are on some sort of threaded mechanism that can move them in or out as you twist them. Move them all the way out to use without glasses, and move them in when using glasses. I believe I've seen some where you swap eye cups to switch distances, which seems like it would be inconvenient. [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B73JONS/ |