Binoviewers for old eyes

[MikeP]

The June S@N has a letter from a user of giant binoculars. He asserts that he sees more detail when using two eyes to view and makes mention of improved viewing of low contrast, faint details.

My question is ... would a binoviewer have the same effect i.e. help me see faint objects better?

My eyesight is good but 60 is on the horizon and my eyes are not as good as they used to be. Even with a C11 (now well collimated again) and a good quality light train, I struggle to see galaxies and certainly have never seen any detail such as dust lanes - they are just smudges.

I know some of you use binoviewers, I'd welcome your opinions.

Mike

[albatross]

Yes, I agree with seeing any lack of detail, other than the smudges you mention. I can definitely see more than I could over a year ago when I first started out with a Skywatcher Evostar 120 and I understand that your eyes learn to adapt to skywatching with the passage of time. I now have a Skyliner 300p which is definitely better than the 120 but still isn`t the Keck!. Regarding the bino option, I tried a set of William Optics Binoviewers on the 300p but it didn`t have enough `back focus` to work. I also have a pair of Vixen BT80M 80 x 36 binoculars which are absolutely superb as you have an excellent `telescope for each eye` with changable eyepieces if you want. I also have a pair of Helios Apollo 110 x 20 giant binoculars which are very good but not as sharp as the Vixens. So, yes, I much prefer looking through two eyes but I can`t strap two 300p`s together as yet! I must also say that nothing is as important as clear dark skies for seeing anything seriously good, I envy Steven O`Meary living on Hawaii.

[bern]

Only way I can "see" much with my skies is with an Astrovideo camera

bern

[jarbi]

Mike,

I use binoviewer for planets and the Moon mostly, sometimes for deepsky as well. It gives indeed more details and much more relaxing for observing for several minutes.

I can recommend the Baader binoviewer with a coma corrector+ 1.7x barlow adapter, which gives very good image quality AND you need only 40mm inner focus travel ( available for reflectors and refractors as well ).

You can find more information on their website:

http://www.baader-planetarium.de/zubehoer/okularseitiges_zubeh/binokular.htm#bino

The binoviewer and the correctors you can see mounted at the bottom of the page.

cheers,

Janos

[FLO]

I have been promising myself a binoviewer for some time. Technically, we should see less thru a binoviewer but being a million+ year old species we have evolved to use both eyes and if our brain is allowed to process info from both eyes, we do see more.

Strangely, after we have noticed something extra thru a binoviewer, we can then see it thru a single eyepiece...

[robindurant]

Hi

Due to my age I have very poor eyes, with floaters as well. When I am veiwing only and not imaging I sue the Binos. I find that with the Moon it is fantastic. With Planets very good as well. With DSO not as good but marginally better. I hope this grading helps.

Robin

[MikeP]

Thank you all for the feedback, especially Robin - your grading is very helpful.

It is DSOs that I have difficulty with and I had read what Steve says about our brains making more of what we see with two eyes that what it can with one. If as Robin says, the improvement on DSOs is marginal, I think I will just look for darker sites / choose darker nights.

If I get the chance to try one, I might change my mind, but the cost of the binoviewer plus at least one more eyepiece is a bit too much to take a chance on.

Mike