PeterW

I have a similar issue, they have good cutoff but are lethally bright if you are in the covered area. I have asked, but no luck yet. I have had to find small bits of the garden that are shielded or maybe hang something on the washing line. I am planning to start growing an apple tree to eventually block the worst offender. I also wondered if it would be possible to make some small baffles like you show and then attach them with double sided tape, so you aren’t damaging the lamp, might provide some better blocking. peter

@GavStaris NOT an imager, I have tried convincing him to add a high frame rate camera.... no luck. Can’t wait to see the views that scope gives. peter

Keep them in a pocket and only take them out when you need to... or activelynwarm them up as suggested. Remember tonuse lithium batteries. Peter

The trigger ball does need cleaning of metal dust and the adjuster screw tightening, that way it works fine with my heavyweight 10x50. Peter

I woz one. Now to edit down 150000words to something targeted, punchy and actionable. We are watching eagerly and hope that our view of space gets better too. Peter

5mW max, buy from a reputable Astro company and you should get the power you ordered (I bought from a more mass market eshop and got 10x the power I wanted!) given you only need to use one of these for a few seconds, assuming that the Centre rail is pointing where the bins are and assuming the laser direction is aligned to the housing of the pointer, the simplest would be an “X” shaped widget that rests on the rail and the laser rests on, so they’re aligned. Easy to design and 3D print.m, what diameter are the rail and laser? I have tripod mounted 70mm angled bins with a “?weaver rail”, which has a small v-groove in the middle. I just rest the pointer in the groove, short laser bursts to help me point the bins where I want them, then the pointer goes back in the pocket (they don’t like the cold much). This will get you close enough, especially if you’ve use lower power bins to understand better where you want to point. Peter

Blast, I’ve used them before. You couLd try https://www.opticalrepairs.com They seem to be working. peter

You can hold the filters in the eyecups (with some ingenuity). I have a few pairs with front treads and use camera filter ring adapters to hold 2” filters on the front. Larger angled binoculars can take 1.25” eyepieces so are easy to filter. Peter

You’ll need to organise a starparty up that way, preferably one with fixed accommodation (in case the weather isn’t friendly). Well done on the cocoon, I hop from the North American. Did you poke the bins around gamma cygni? Maybe the helix too? Peter

Optically the best are Nikon WX.... but only optically.... all binoculars are compromises, depends what you care about. Peter

Thanks for the reminder, had drafted some rambling notes, just tidied them up and added a bit and posted. Will be interesting to see the report that comes from this and how it will be championed so it delivers long lasting benefit. Peter

I have wondered if I can knock up a bracket to hold onto a GoPro headband: But with eyecups they sit on my face nicely when looking zenithwise, so I’ve not got round to it yet. petwr

Many places, but best to use a reputable astro retailer and make sure the power is <5mW max. I got some “5mW” from a cheaper source and they tested out to around 50mW! Had to build a customer neutral density cap to attenuate them down to safe levels.best to keep them warm and use lithium batteries to stop the output getting too affected by the cold. I keep mine in a pocket and then pop it on a vgroove to use and then back into the warmth. peter

As binoculars give a right way up view I’d familiarise myself with the area with lower power binocukars and pop the green laser on the big bins so you can get started in the right place and jump to your target. Bin bins show plenty (possibly too many) stars, so star hopping isn’t too hard. I have 45degree angles eyepiece binocukars so just use a tripod and video head, (only get close to the zenith is any trouble but possible) I would need a different head if I got a larger model though. Having a solid stable mount that you can access all the sky with is key or you’ll get less use from your binoculars. Peter

Best filters for this... I got some CLS filters for light pollution reduction, but maybe not narrow enough?? Peter

Bike inner tube home made winged eyecups are the first line of defence against straylight. They don’t fall off backwards when you’re looking upwards! Peter

Wide angle low power binoculars and look down the milkyway..... should keen one busy for a while. Where are you going? Peter

Vega to al farawis is 14degrees?! You could glue some thin bits of bike inner tube to protect your glasses from damage. The further your eyes are from the eye lenses the narrower the field, the 2x54 work best with almost eyeball to glass contact. As I showed I have made winged eyecups out of bike inner tube too. Lying on the ground the eyecups hold the binoculars in place for hands free (as long as you don’t look too far from the zenith). Mine suffer a bit from bright off axis lights lighting up the side of the field, I did try to make some straylight shields for my homebrew, but being so wide it’s hard to do much. I like seeing fields with lots of tiny little stars in, these work nicely, though not taken them to really dark skies yet. Peter

OK star test. Easily get vega to Deneb (24deg) in one field with OK star shapes and space beyond them. Best field of view width is with the stars at the extreme left and right edges. If you stare carefully in the middle and are very careful in positioning then Vega to Altair (34deg) is at the most extreme range, but you are using the very edges of your peripheral view and the stars are very smeared out and it’s only because they are bright that this is possible. The nikon homebrew and Orion are identical in their fields. So I’ve been a bit hard on the Orions, but the 36degree is optimistic. peter

What’s the Field of view of these new Helios ones, seems to be the same as the Orion and homebrew ones with 24ish degrees, The focus on the Orions is useful and quite sensitive. The homebrew are infinity focussed so you need to use your eyes to get nice stars, so not for people who need glasses. Both need close eye placement to get the full field of view. I agree the field of view is not *super* wide, which I had hoped for, but I don’t find it too claustrophobic. You might find it hard to find any nikon teleconverers as plenty of us have built these things. If someone can get an accurate measure of the objective diameter then it’ll be easy to 3D print some pushfit filter adapters. The only trouble is hat after measuring a number of 2” filters I find there is some variation in their outer diameter, so adding a bit of duct tape to adjust the fit might be required for different filter models. Peter

Just compared the homebrew Nikon tce2 2x54 and the new Orion 2x54. Almost exactly the same views. The focussing on the Orion helps (though i need to get the eyecups on right or I can knock the focus off slightly), but then the tapered shape of the Nikon helps (the stepped profile of the Orion tends to dig into the bridge of my nose). I’ve added 3D printed or bike inner tube winged eyecups to them that helps make eye placement comfortable and reduces the nose impact of the Orions. The field fades to black round the edges and stars get nastier as they reach it. If you deliberately look though these at an angle the stars are so smeared as to vanish. It’s hard to accurately estimate the field of view, easiest is to note two bright stars and with averted vision (looking in the centre) get one close to the field edge and judge how far the other one is to the other edge. They don’t feel that constrained. However in normal use the field is spacious and with a good size for your eyes to wander about in the middle, the fuzzy edge isn’t too distracting and any edge nastiness isn’t noticable. The centre stars are nice and tiny, thought one was better - then convinced myself the opposite. They really are the same. Just noticed that the orion also has a tripod mount hole on the front. Noticed quite a few of Elon’s little moving stars during their comparison. Peter

Why not add some chrome or bling to your scope! peter

I have the Orion and a 2x54 homebrew one (essentially the same without focussing). i,ll need to refresh my memory on the edge correction. These devices (like other binoculars) are best used looki get the centre of the e field and then panni my your head and the binocukars, not moving your eyes as you do with monocular eyepieces. If there are no threads then out comes the 3D printer to make a push fit adapter, make the holes a wee bit too big and use small tabs of duct tape to get the desired friction fit you are after. I used these on a number of optics till I found that filter adapters cost pennies (from the right places), though I still use them on optics that lack common filter adapter threads. peter

Look rather like the new Orion 2x54 https://uk.telescope.com/mobileProduct/Orion-2x54-Ultra-Wide-Angle-Binoculars/132438.uts which only have the same 24degree field of view as most of these do. The eye lenses seem longer (and with smaller objectives) so less likely the objective barrel will dig into your nose (which the Orion is to me) Be interesting to see how sharp they are. There seem to be a lot of options now. Wonder if the Objective lenses are threaded and so able to take filters with a suitable adapter. Peter

It’s the near horizontal light that rattles bout and spreads its fingers into the countryside. Shield well and the spread should be less and you’d save petrol money. Angles bins also avoid the need for a P-mount. Peter