Location: home,
Equipment: Stelarvue 102ED, Celestron 8”
Recently I have acquired Orion Binoviewers #52071. They are run of the mill BAK-4 prism design rebranded by many companies (Orion, Celestron, William Optics, Stelarvue, etc.). They are well made for the price. Compact and lightweight. Seems to be well collimated. Listed additional in-focus travel is 101.6mm – short as far as binoviewers go. There are some complains of uneven brightness between the eyes, loose
The only drawback I can see is that the clear
Earlier this month I had a couple of practice sessions during daylight, mainly to figure out the light train to accommodate additional in-focus introduced by
After configuring the scopes during day light, I switched to the easiest target – the Moon, and spent most of the session observing it. Immediate benefit of binoviewers was that due to splitting the light between two eyes Moon brightness was dimmed and no filters was necessary. Meade 26mm Plossl has provided sharp, high contrast views (32x in
Next was to test a few pairs of EPs I have managed to collect in anticipation of binoviewing.
I have started with APM ultra flat field 18mm (5.3 cm diameter) and has discovered immediately that I can’t merge images – my nose is in the way. This rules out Mark IV zooms two. Bummer!
Next, I have tried Pentax XF 8.5mm (4.3 cm diameter). They have merged quite easily, but with no room to spare, pressing a bit against my nose but not too tight. Unfortunately, the seeing was bad and lunar surface was boiling in both scopes. Can’t wait to revisit at better seeing.
Next were Vixen SLVs 25mm (4.5 cm diameter) - one of my all-time favorite designs. At first glance I was able to merge the images, but somehow it was uncomfortable. Switching from one eye to another I have discovered that I can't center eyes over the EPs properly, my nose was again in the way.
Later I have checked my
Last thing I wanted to try was double splitting with binoviewers. I used 8”
Leo
Phi Leo – double – 4.5, 9.8, 89”, white, silver; wide easy pair.
STF 1529 – double – 7.1, 7.9, 9.4”, white pair. Clear split at 78x.
HJ 4433 AB – double – 5.6, 10.8, 55.2”, white, silver.
Each time I would place binoviewers on the target for a split second I would see all stars as doubles, and then the brain would merge images. I read that this is fairly common when people look at small targets at high powers using binoviewers.
While observing the Moon was more relaxing with two eyes, for doubles I am not sure yet. With one eye you get a bit of strain from keeping the other eye close, with bino viewer a bit of strain merging images – pick your poison! I need to try more, and definitely try some brighter
Initially, I wanted to get Baader Maxbright II binoviewers. They have been praised for having larger open