Dual eypiece question

alt.astronomy:

Lets say, for example, that one had a 10" Newtonian telescope with a 2"
diam. single eyepiece. That would enable single-eye viewing.

Binocular viewing, however, involves both eyes, and that seems to enable
the use of more retinal receptors in a given amount of time. Also, the
visual nervous system does a considerable amount of processing of the
two images and the combined single image that results seems to be more
integrated than either individually.

Would it be possible to adapt a dual-eyepiece system to the original 2"
single eyepiece. Would binocular prisms work to split the image into the
two images? Would the images at each eye be only one-half as bright?

Somewhere in this quest it seems to me that persons with not so clear
vision could benefit by some type of binocular optical viewing system
and the additional benefit of the human nervous system processing of
image data.

Ralph Hertle

That's silly. It is much better to view computer monitor with both eyes.


"Ralph Hertle" wrote in message
...
alt.astronomy:

Lets say, for example, that one had a 10" Newtonian telescope with a 2"
diam. single eyepiece. That would enable single-eye viewing.

Binocular viewing, however, involves both eyes, and that seems to enable
the use of more retinal receptors in a given amount of time. Also, the
visual nervous system does a considerable amount of processing of the
two images and the combined single image that results seems to be more
integrated than either individually.

Would it be possible to adapt a dual-eyepiece system to the original 2"
single eyepiece. Would binocular prisms work to split the image into the
two images? Would the images at each eye be only one-half as bright?

Somewhere in this quest it seems to me that persons with not so clear
vision could benefit by some type of binocular optical viewing system
and the additional benefit of the human nervous system processing of
image data.

Ralph Hertle

Ralph Hertle posted:

Would it be possible to adapt a dual-eyepiece system to the original 2" single eyepiece. Would binocular prisms work to split the image into the two images? Would the images at each eye be only one-half as bright?

This is done, and is referred to as using "binoviewers", where a prism
arrangement splits the view and sends it to two eyepieces (usually 1.25"
though). They do give a sort of weak 3-D viewing effect (not true 3-D of
course), and they have the advantage of reducing the effects of motes and
floaters in the eyes when high power is being used. Some of these units are
available commercially. Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

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David Knisely wrote:

Thank you.

www.AltaVista.com provides some excellent keyword reviews of "binoviewers".

Ralph Hertle

Ralph Hertle wrote in
:

David Knisely wrote:

Thank you.

www.AltaVista.com provides some excellent keyword reviews of
"binoviewers".

Ralph Hertle



A good site to look at is www.cloudynights.com
Go there and do a search on binoviewers.

Remember that a binoviewer splits the image in two, so each image is half
(or less) as bright as the single image would be. It is a toss up between
viewing comfort (and the floater issue as mentioned) versus loss of image
brightness plus any aberations that the binoviewer introduces. The later
shouldn't be a problem with the top quality ones. Of course you also need
your eyepieces in pairs, which adds extra cost too.

Llanzlan.