Bigness is a virtue in telescopes most of the time. The larger the light-bucket, the more photons ("raindrops" of light) it can collect. But big telescopic instruments are also heavier, more ungainly and can demand greater care and feeding. We've chosen the Celestron SkyMaster 25x100 binoculars as our Editors' Choice for large astronomy binoculars.

In the case of binoculars, serving up the universe in stereo gives you more than double the pleasure of one-eye on the sky. But servicing the demands of two eyes more than doubles the mass of the optical system. So as you scale up from the small portable "field glasses" that might be great for watching, say, fast moving racecars to the larger apertures appropriate for resolving the majesty of the slowly revolving stars, the glass gets very heavy, very quickly.

BUY a pair of Celestron SkyMaster 25x100 binoculars >> Below: Hands On Video Tour of Celestron's SkyMaster 25x100 (Click to Play):

At 156 ounces, Celestron's SkyMaster 25x100s are impossible to hold steady on the stars by hand. Dont even try. But perch them on a suitably hefty mount and theyll convey an optically accurate sky-watching experience that can move your soul. [Related: See our Buyer's Guide: How to Choose Binoculars for Stargazing]

So, buying these Celestrons means also buying a tripod and maybe a counter-weighted arm. But the binoculars are ready when you do: A solid-feeling "reinforced" metal bar forms a keel, from the objective lens covers at the front to the bulbous "prism warts" towards the rear. A built-in tripod adapter slides along this spine; a knurled knob tightens the adapter down at your preferred position. [When your observing night is over, the bar makes a comfortably grip-able lifting fixture; which you've likely set it at the natural balance point. So you can "one-hand" these heavy beasts into their protective case.]

Now that you're set-up, have a good look at your Celestron 25x100s, starting at the business end where youll put your eyes. The 4-millimeter "exit pupils" (the bright spots of actual image) look eerily small surrounded by the large-looking 20 mm eyepieces. But they're big enough to fill most adults' dark-adapted eyes. And the 15 mm "eye relief" (the distance from the eyepiece's surface to the last spot a full-width image can be seen) is long enough for eyeglass wearers to get a well-focused broad view. [Our Editors' Choice Runner-Up Orion Astronomy 20x80 binoculars has a slightly longer eye relief at 17 mm.] You probably won't even have to fold down the rubber eyepiece-guards.

Best Astronomy Binoculars 2014 (Editors' Choice)

Those eyepieces each (independently) rotate through 450 degrees to provide critical sharp focus. They aren't really "diopters," such as you find on lower-power binoculars. It's best to think of this whole rig as a pair of side-by-side 100 mm refractor telescopes, with image-erecting prisms built-in, and separate non-removable eyepieces

Jump to the other end of the binoculars, look "backwards" through the 100 mm objective lenses and you'll notice the barrels' interiors are well knurled. Small raised rings down the length of the tubes act as light diffusers, baffling the prisms from late-arriving rays, reducing scattered light, which can compromise your image.

And the images these big eyes can pass are astounding. I like trying to pick out clusters of galaxies in large binoculars, like springtime's Leo Triplets (they aren't really siblings). But just to manage expectations, some of the best galaxy groups are too faint and faraway for even big binoculars, like autumn's Stephan's Quintet (they don't really play music, anyway).

Read the original here:

Celestron SkyMaster 25x100 Binoculars Review: 2014 Edition