A handy monocular

Looks much like the above

For Christmas I got a neat little monocular - which is basically half of a binoculars - but set-up to look like a stubby telescope about 5"/ 25 cm long; with rotary disc focusing like binoculars.

It cost only about £10, bottom of the range. I'm not sure what is the degree of magnification, since no relevant information is provided - not massive, maybe 12X?

A monocular is good for me because my eyes are significantly-differently short-sighted - and binoculars can't usually compensate, so I end up closing one eye anyway. Whereas a normal telescopic-telescope - of similar price, has a small viewing field and is difficult to focus.

This little device is used during daylight for getting a closer view of wildlife; and at night it provides exactly the degree of magnification and extra light gathering that I need for stargazing. I can see all three stars in Orion's belt in the same view and all the 'seven' sisters of the Pleiades; and many stars too faint to show against the light pollution of the city centre are brought into visibility...

In general, with the monocular, I can probably see in the night sky (albeit only in a small circle) what somebody with perfect vision could see in the deserts of Egypt. If I spent more, I would presumably get something better; but anyway this is a valuable addition to the window sill.