I agree with the Nixter's advice. When you're stargazing, you're looking at objects millions of miles to millions of light years away. You need to pump up the power.
I read some of the discussion about 7x50s above, and to me, they are totally inadequate for stargazing. Even if your in your thirties, the exit pupil is already too big, and unless you observe from a dark site, the skies will look washed out. Plus the FOV in a typical 7x50 is only about 7-7.3*, which gives you a rather narrowish 49*-51* apparent field of view. You wouldn't want to look down a pipe at birds, why would you want to at the night sky?
But most importantly, you won't see much (if any, depending on your skies) more detail than you can with your 8x Habichts but your arms will tire much more quickly because of the heavier weight.
7x50s are best for marine use. Like a modern day Galileo, somebody pointed their marine binoculars up at the sky and decided that these were the "bong" for stargazing and the rumor got passed on until it became mythic in proportions, but it's still a myth.
My favorite binoculars for handheld stargazing are the Nikon 12x50 SEs. I can see more detail on bright extended objects than an Obie 15x70, but they are beyond your budget (but worth thinking about down the line).
I have pretty shaky hands, but when I'm well braced in a reclining lawn chair, I can minimize the shakes even in a 15x bin. Yeah, stars bounce a little, but my brain cancels out the shakes and concentrates on the moments of "steady seeing" and I can still see more detail than I can with a 10x bin.
If you want to resolve some outer detail in M 13, separate the hub from the spiral arms in M 31, and see the swan shape in M 17, you need higher magnification
and bigger aperture.
If you don't mind collimating them when they arrive (if they get knocked out being shipped from one state away, they will get knocked out flying overseas), and you don't have expectations of robustness beyond their price point, the Obie 15x70s are hard to beat for handheld stargazing at your price point.
http://oberwerk.com/products/70mm.htm
If they seem too heavy, you can knock off half a pound by stepping down to the 15x60s.
http://oberwerk.com/products/60mm.htm
Now if you have a telescope and are just looking for a bin to sweep the Milky Way and to look at asterisms, a decent 10x50 will give you a wider FOV.
For that purpose I actually prefer my Nikon 10x35 EII, with its wide 7* (70* AFOV). If I want to see more detail on DSOs, I'll switch to my 10x42 SE, though the 12x50 SE would be better, but my opportunities for stargazing on a dark, cloudless night that isn't freezing are so few and far between that the 10x42, which also serves me for birding/nature watching, gets more use.
So the first thing is to decide if you really want a dedicated pair of binoculars for stargazing or if you want a "two-fer" - a bin that will work for either hobby. That will determine your aperture size since you will probably don't want to carry around a 15x70 for birding.
I also find it harder to hold 12x-15x steady for birding than I do for stargazing since my back is braced in the recliner when I'm stargazing and the weight of the bins is on my face not out in front of me.
Brock