Scrunchy Eye Syndrome!

[CKemu]

Silly as this may sound, but how do you guys observe?

What I mean to say is, that I close one eye, and look through the other, but for some reason, I tend to naturally close my eye rather tight/hard. Causing the eye to feel sore after 30 minutes or so.

I've tried covering my eye with a spare hand, but that gets annoying after a while. I live in a light polluted city, and leaving both eyes open firstly doesn't feel natural, and with all the light etc, makes me loose focus on the object.

Any tips, or are you men and women all sporting fashionable pirate patches? Arr!

[MikeWilson]

I wear a fashionable hoodie while I'm observing and this not only keeps me toasty and warm but it lets me pull the hood over the eyepiece and with my hand and the eyepiece eye guards lifted up, does a reasonable job of blocking out light.

However you need a really dark site (or binoviewers?) if you want to keep both eyes open and get a strong non-distracting view through the eyepiece.

[Chris H]

Eye patch for me, makes observing a lot more relaxing and you can cover your observing eye with it if you need to pop inside or turn a light on thus protecting your night vision.

It does not have a skull and cross bone on it but if it did who cares it's dark.

[kev]

As folk say eye patch at the begining - especially if you are in a brigt environment. Eventually you get to learn to "turn off" what you see in the other eye. That took about 20 years with me!

[brianb]

As Patrick Moore will tell you, the capability to keep an eye "scrunched up" will eventually come in useful for keeping a monocle in place.

My approach to the problem is distinctly low tech - simply keep the free eye open, covering it with the palm of my hand.

[Talitha]

Hi CKemu, nice to meet you.

I keep one eye closed, but position my face so that my eye is looking 'down' into the eyepiece instead of looking straight ahead. Since i'm looking down, it doesn't take much of a scrunch to close the unused eye, and there's not much muscle tension.

Give it a try, i hope it helps.

[ken rigg]

Silly as this may sound, but how do you guys observe?

What I mean to say is, that I close one eye, and look through the other, but for some reason, I tend to naturally close my eye rather tight/hard. Causing the eye to feel sore after 30 minutes or so.

I've tried covering my eye with a spare hand, but that gets annoying after a while. I live in a light polluted city, and leaving both eyes open firstly doesn't feel natural, and with all the light etc, makes me loose focus on the object.

Any tips, or are you men and women all sporting fashionable pirate patches? Arr!

ARR!

[LMC]

I too recommend the eyepatch.

My wife embroidered mine with festive whorls. I look a bit stupid if I forget to take it off and go the shops, but it works.

[brianb]

I look a bit stupid if I forget to take it off and go the shops

I just look a bit stupid ... I don't need an eye patch. But I firmly disapprove of wearing eye patches unless you have a wooden leg & wear a parrot on your shoulder as well. Arrr, Jim Lad!

[bigglesdad]

I use either a hoodie or a woolly hat which I can pull down over my eye.

[JamesC]

Another eye patch user here. As Kris says you can protect your telescope eye while reading charts or there are other lights on. Don't forget to put your hat on when adjusting the length of the elastic - otherwise it will be too tight (experience talking here). I sometimes pull down my hat so it is coving one eye, but that isn't super comfortable.

[Pug]

a russian hat with earflaps turned sideways! As has been said before, it's dark, who cares how silly you look (i look silly anyway!)

[Steve]

I tend to leave both eyes open, after a while you learn only to see through the one at the eyepiece. I used to use a Dobsonian with a white tube that made things more difficult but some black tape fixed that. Using a straight finderscope with both eyes open is rather handy, with practice you can see both the night sky and a magnified area with a crosshair.

[brianb]

a russian hat with earflaps turned sideways! As has been said before, it's dark, who cares how silly you look (i look silly anyway!)

The ushanka is sensible astro headgear but an eye full of faux fur, or real rabbit or sable fur for that matter, is not fun & is better avoided.