January 11, 2009

Can i see the ISS with 30×50 binoculars?

Can you answer hi's question about Binoculars?:

I know where to look and all but is it possible to see the iss, sattelites, some planets?

Camera Binoculars

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Comments on Can i see the ISS with 30×50 binoculars? »

January 13, 2009

nick s @ 10:36 pm

You can see ISS easily with the naked eye. In a few days, it and the Shuttle will pass across the sky for many viewers in the world, and both will be about as bright as the brightest stars.

Wow, ISS has been going for years and is visible from most locations a lot of the time. It is so sad that people are so citified that they have never seen its silent passage across the sky.

Also, are you sure your binoculars are 30×50. The 50mm objective sounds right, but 30 mag is an unusually high magnification for binoculars, and I would think would make them hard to use. The whole thing about binoculars is their wide field view, which requires fairly low magnification, usually 7 to 15, or 20 at them most.

Correct me if I am wrong about your binoculars.

January 16, 2009

space_man_stitch @ 11:53 am

It is very ease to see with the naked eye on a clear night, even in the city.
Just this last week they installed a new solar panel and it MAY be as bright as Venus, the prightest object in the sky behind the Sun and Moon of course.
You can start here for NASA tracking.

You can sign up for free at the link above and input your location and get current tracking information for your location. You can also get tracking info on All the other visiable satelites in the sky.

January 18, 2009

MOrpheus @ 11:09 pm

yes u can

30x magnigfication u migth see some details 2

January 20, 2009

Jack D @ 5:11 am

As others have pointed out, you can easily see the ISS with the naked eye, and you can certainly see it with binoculars. However, if you really have 30 x 50 binoculars, your chances of seeing it them would actually be fairly poor. At 30x magnification you will have trouble getting it in the field of view, and you will have an impossible time holding the binoculars steady enough to know what you are looking at (unless you have them mounted on a good tripod). With 7 x 50 or 10 x 50 you would do fine.

In any case, the ISS and other satellites will just look like a bright point of light. You could see some planets with binoculars (certainly with 30 x 50's on a tripod but even at lower magnification). Jupiter will be prominent in the southwest sky after sunset tonight and would make a good target. It looks like a very bright star to the naked eye, but in 30 x 50's you should see it as a round disc.

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