Are two eyes really better than one??

[inspectapart]

I managed an hour or so with mars tonight using a questar 3.5". I tried my 11mm TV plossl giving me 177x mag.(very good) I also gave my Pentax 6-19mm zoom a go, giving me between 102x and 325x magnification.( Also very good up to about 200x) But the best view tonight was seen using my WO binoviewer and 20mm eps. This gave me about 200x mag and provided the finest detail by some way.

Can it be that two eyes really are better than one when viewing the planets and the moon ?

[kniclander]

that's certainly been my experience:). I believe I see significantly more in my cheap and cheerful binoviewer set-up than in the same scopes with one "better" eyepiece.

[Peter Drew]

In a word, YES. The brain is used to receiving two images to process, if you use just one eye the brain is presented with one image and one of noise. Think of it as processing one single astro image as opposed to stacking two images and processing them. The relaxation when using both eyes is also a help.

[inspectapart]

It seems to me that quite a few Astronomers shy away from using BVs, but I really enjoy the view through mine. perhaps there is an advantage if one has the top end EPs like Ethos or Pentax. One day if I can manage to get hold of a couple of 24mm panoptics and a Zeiss, Denkmeier or Baader top of the range BV.Perhaps I will have found the ultimate in viewing experience?? Well for planetry and luna at least.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Binocular observing and telescope observing are two very different things.

I prefer the 2 eye approach but love the magnification offered by telescopes.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

It seems to me that quite a few Astronomers shy away from using BVs, but I really enjoy the view through mine. perhaps there is an advantage if one has the top end EPs like Ethos or Pentax. One day if I can manage to get hold of a couple of 24mm panoptics and a Zeiss, Denkmeier or Baader top of the range BV.Perhaps I will have found the ultimate in viewing experience?? Well for planetry and luna at least.

A guy in my astro group is currently on the lookout for a second 24mm panoptic for that very reason... Some people clearly have too much money...

[kniclander]

Binocular observing and telescope observing are two very different things.

I prefer the 2 eye approach but love the magnification offered by telescopes.

agreed but I think the reason why people like binoviewing with a telescope is that you get two eyed high power viewing (in fact, for various reasons, low power binoviewing with a telescope is difficult to achieve)

[Macavity]

The "noise reduction" of the brain, versus the transmission losses of the beam splitting - For the bino-viewers, anyway? If I had the money, trying (making!) a full-blooded "binoscope" Dobsonian would be rather fun?

[acey]

a full-blooded "binoscope" Dobsonian would be rather fun?

Like this perhaps:

Large Binocular Telescope Observatory

[Grunthos]

Can it be that two eyes really are better than one when viewing the planets and the moon ?

Yes.

Steve Tonkin (aka tetenterre on these SGL forums) explains why in "The Binocular Advantage" in his book on Binocular Astronomy.

Without reproducing his entire text (you need to buy the book!) he explains that when using two eyes, our threshold of detection of objects is approximately 1.4 times that of using one eye (a result of different statistical and physiological phenomena).

To cut straight to the chase, a binocular can be said to give a more complete view than single eye observing.

(Steve explains it much better and in more detail in his book).