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Using two night vision monoculars as a binocular

GavStar

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GavStar

GavStar

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I’d had a slightly frustrating observing session this evening (synscan issues) so I decided to finish up with some relaxing 1x night vision viewing of Orion.

My London back garden has an SQM reading of 18.5 so I was quite pleased to be able to see the top half of Barnard’s Loop. I have seen it before from London but this evening it stood out a bit more.

I then decided to compare my two pvs-14 night vision monoculars. With various adapters I have I’m able to attach both 1.25 and 2 inch filters to the front of my monoculars - as I have two ha filters of the same type but different size I could therefore do a direct comparison.

The comparison was interesting and as previous comparisons, the Harder Gen 3 beat the Photonis 4g.

However, I recalled Eddgie of cloudynights suggesting I try my monoculars at 1x binocular style ie one to each eye. So I decided to give it a go and the impact was pretty amazing. Suddenly not only could I see the top half significantly clearer but I also could see the entire loop stretch round Orion to Rigel, much like the views I got at my dark SQM 21 site a month ago (see unprocessed image below which was taken with a phone camera at the dark site through a single monocular). 

94726C65-C058-42E4-AAEB-BF0606F9858D.thumb.jpeg.5191fa76d8d317b18575ae9270e1538a.jpegTwo eyes are definitely better than 1 in this case and I found it easy to merge the views at 1x. 

It was a great way to finish the session!

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GavStar

GavStar

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It was my local astro club night yesterday. Definitely the worst conditions we’ve had for observing but as we had several new members attend we wanted to at least try to get some night sky views. 

It turned out to be looking at a washed out moon through cloud (pleasingly we retired to the pub at 10pm ?). I had much better views with my 3 and 5 year old daughters earlier in the evening through their little 76mm heritage when it was clear!!

When I got home I decided to have a quick play with my new bino NV toy. I only had a scan in a dark room but the 3D effect you get from 2 eyes is lovely - obviously less relevant for astro but great for nighttime wildlife spotting!!

But what was relevant for astro was that I could definitely pick up finer detail (eg read titles on book covers in pitch dark) much easier operating in bino mode rather than mono. Hopefully this does translate to the super wide field astro observing that I really enjoy.

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PeterW

PeterW

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Almost the worst conditions... at least we had the moon this time! I fear you’ll need another chroma filter for the “other eye” and maybe another 3x lens too. Should help ferret out some of those large hard to confirm nebulae

 

PEter

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Paz

Paz

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On 18/11/2018 at 02:47, GavStar said:

I’d had a slightly frustrating observing session this evening (synscan issues) so I decided to finish up with some relaxing 1x night vision viewing of Orion.

My London back garden has an SQM reading of 18.5 so I was quite pleased to be able to see the top half of Barnard’s Loop. I have seen it before from London but this evening it stood out a bit more.

I then decided to compare my two pvs-14 night vision monoculars. With various adapters I have I’m able to attach both 1.25 and 2 inch filters to the front of my monoculars - as I have two ha filters of the same type but different size I could therefore do a direct comparison.

The comparison was interesting and as previous comparisons, the Harder Gen 3 beat the Photonis 4g.

However, I recalled Eddgie of cloudynights suggesting I try my monoculars at 1x binocular style ie one to each eye. So I decided to give it a go and the impact was pretty amazing. Suddenly not only could I see the top half significantly clearer but I also could see the entire loop stretch round Orion to Rigel, much like the views I got at my dark SQM 21 site a month ago (see unprocessed image below which was taken with a phone camera at the dark site through a single monocular). 

94726C65-C058-42E4-AAEB-BF0606F9858D.thumb.jpeg.5191fa76d8d317b18575ae9270e1538a.jpegTwo eyes are definitely better than 1 in this case and I found it easy to merge the views at 1x. 

It was a great way to finish the session!

Does this pretty much represent how it looks visually? It's a ridiculous amount of detail!

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GavStar

GavStar

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17 minutes ago, Paz said:

Does this pretty much represent how it looks visually? It's a ridiculous amount of detail!

From a dark site of say 21.0 definitely (this phone image was taken from the Isle of Wight with and sqm around 21). If not better at the eyepiece. The last time I was viewing in the Isle of Wight I was getting better views than this image including seeing the rosette completely joined up to the cone region with nebulosity (band shift of the Ha filter cut off the cone region in the image). I’m hoping to get some more pics of more areas of the sky at 1x soon.

However, from London with the LP its more of a struggle. You do get the whole of Barnard’s Loop (particularly with the two eye approach) but it doesn’t stand out as much as the image due to a brighter sky background. Pretty cool to be able to see Barnard’s though from London.

I was able to test out the NV binocular setup up last night from London. About the worst conditions with the bright moon sitting close to Orion so no Barnard’s. But nice views of California and heart and soul. Two eyes is definitely better than one and also is much more comfortable and natural. It really feels like just scanning the skies naked eye (but seeing a lot of stuff).

I also used a 685 long pass filter last night to see the star fields of the Milky Way - absolutely amazing how many stars come out to play. The binocular picks up the fainter stuff better as well.

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Paz

Paz

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43 minutes ago, GavStar said:

From a dark site of say 21.0 definitely (this phone image was taken from the Isle of Wight with and sqm around 21). If not better at the eyepiece. The last time I was viewing in the Isle of Wight I was getting better views than this image including seeing the rosette completely joined up to the cone region with nebulosity (band shift of the Ha filter cut off the cone region in the image). I’m hoping to get some more pics of more areas of the sky at 1x soon.

However, from London with the LP its more of a struggle. You do get the whole of Barnard’s Loop (particularly with the two eye approach) but it doesn’t stand out as much as the image due to a brighter sky background. Pretty cool to be able to see Barnard’s though from London.

I was able to test out the NV binocular setup up last night from London. About the worst conditions with the bright moon sitting close to Orion so no Barnard’s. But nice views of California and heart and soul. Two eyes is definitely better than one and also is much more comfortable and natural. It really feels like just scanning the skies naked eye (but seeing a lot of stuff).

I also used a 685 long pass filter last night to see the star fields of the Milky Way - absolutely amazing how many stars come out to play. The binocular picks up the fainter stuff better as well.

Thanks for the notes. My fantasy astronomy kit hit list was binoviewing, an apo, and ha solar but night vision is just crazy and could possibly have gone to the top of the list.

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PeterW

PeterW

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That bino and the summer milkyway will be pretty mindblowing, hopefully showing  the billowy clouds and dark nebulae better that anything else. NV transforms night time viewing. I’d add a solar CaK filter (and camera) to your list, but solar minimum means the sun will be pretty boring for some years. The advantage of NV is that you can still use it when it’s cloudy... you just go looking for earth bound stuff instead... deer, rabbits, bats, badgers etc. 

PEter

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PeterW

PeterW

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Have a look at Alanjgreen and GavStar’s past posts. Feel free to PM them if you need further details. There is availability in the EU, though more costly than the US. A few filters will help you get the most out of it. 

Good luck

PeterW

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Highburymark

Highburymark

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4 minutes ago, PeterW said:

David Nagler at Astrofest pointed out that there are “more better” options for wide angle 1x night vision  views... just need some more tubes and chroma filters... ?

https://gizmodo.com/the-four-eyed-night-vision-goggles-that-helped-take-dow-1654543721

PEterW

And a few quid down the back of the sofa.....

Enjoyed our chat with Mr Nagler and Gavstar at Astrofest Peter.

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