Binocular Viewers for Telescopes

Binocular Benefits
So why spend the bucks for binocular views of the heavens? First, there is the sheer comfort of looking through a telescope with both eyes wide open. It is a much more natural viewing experience than looking with just one eye.

The views also have a three-dimensional quality. This defies logic since the light is still coming from a single optical system, not twin systems as with real binoculars. Furthermore, astronomical objects are so far away that even if we had twin telescopes side by side there wouldn't be any discernible parallax, which is what creates the depth perception we have of Earthly scenes. Yet, views do look 3-D. The sky appears distant, beyond the edge of the eyepiece, giving the impression that we are looking though a window into distant space and not at a flat image inserted into the eyepiece. Even on deep-sky fields, bright stars and well-defined objects like the Dumbbell Nebula seem to hang suspended in front of a distant star field. In the case of some colored double stars, a yellow star appears closer than a bluer companion.

The 3-D effect is particularly dramatic when you are viewing the Moon. Mountains really look high, and craters really look deep. You feel you are looking at a real landscape on a world that appears not as a flat disk but as a globe curving away from you at the limb. With wide-angle eyepieces, I experienced the proverbial spaceship views of the Moon that we always imagine but never quite achieve with monocular viewing.

I found another treat came when I viewed planets at high magnification. After a few moments you realize that the viewing is comfortable because something is missing - eye floaters. Gone are the dark shadows (caused by material within the eye) that appear to drift across planets viewed at high power. In truth, the shadows are still there, but when you are looking with two eyes the brain largely ignores the floaters that are unique to each eye. I found I could just stare at a planet and enjoy the view without being bothered by floaters. Planetary details become easier to see and study.

Choosing Eyepieces
The Tele Vue Bino Vue arrived with a pair of new Nagler 16-mm Type 5 eyepieces. These provide the legendary 82º apparent field of a Nagler with a good 10mm of eye relief in a package no larger than most Plössl eyepieces. Their compactness and light weight make them ideal for bino viewing. And the views are incredible. It was as if the eyepieces weren't there and I was looking out into unlimited space. A lifetime best view of the Moon came with the 16-mm Naglers. The whole lunar disk filled the field, yet with enough power that I could trace the finest rills and ridges. For the good part of an hour I let my eyes roam around the 3-D-like image, picking out details here and there, without ever panning the telescope. This is the kind of "wow" experience you get with a bino viewer.

Choosing a Viewer
Although the costs may seem high, many avid observes don't hesitate when spending hundreds of dollars on yet another premium eyepiece, usually in search of the elusive spacewalk experience. If that's your quest, you may want to consider a binocular viewer instead.

Additional Magnification Options with Bino Vue

Using the Bino Vue with attached 2x amplifier/corrector, you can insert the amplifier into the Tele Vue 1¼" 2x Barlow to yield 5x magnification, or the 1¼" 3x Barlow to yield 7.2x magnification. The Tele Vue 1¼" 2x Barlow can also act as a 3.2x amplifier when it's chrome barrel is used with the BVC-0125 Bino Vue flat coupler (see below).

A more compact excellent alternative is to use the 2" 4x Powermate with T-Ring adapter directly into the Bino Vue body (instead of the 2x amplifier/corrector) to yield 4.3x magnification.

The above arrangements are the best we have found, yielding full field sharpness with maximum illumination uniformity, as tested with the 24mm Panoptics, the sharpest widest field eyepiece for Bino Vue.

Upgrade for Older Bino Vue 2x Amplifier

It is now possible to have your 2x Bino Vue Amplifier retrofitted to accept 1¼” filters. The retrofit service includes Bino Vue Flat Coupler (which replaces the ¾” long black nose piece on your Bino Vue), and installation of a new lens retainer with 1¼” filter threads. The Bino Vue Flat Coupler allows space for the new retainer and a filter to fit between the end of the 2x Bino Vue Amplifier and 2” diagonal mirror without interference.

Please call Tele Vue for pricing and a Return Authorization Number if interested

Your retrofitted 2x Bino Vue Amplifier