[Tringa]

I can't comment on the Meade binoculars but I think 10x magnification is about the limit for hand holding and even then when I use some 10x50s I like to rest then against something.

There is a temptation to go for very high magnification but anything above 10x is difficult to hold still and particularly for astronomy it makes no difference.

More important for astronomy is the amount of light the binoculars can gather and this is determined by the size of the object glass and bigger is better. However, a pair of binoculars with 80mm objectives will gather loads of light, but would be far too heavy to hand hold and would definitely need a tripod. This is also ignoring that they will be very expensive.

So a good compromise is something like 7x50, 8x50 or 10x50 all of which will show many more stars and objects than with the naked eye and can be used for terrestrial use too.

Dave