Last night was the first opportunity I had to test my new pair of William Optics Binoviewer in my 10" SW Flextube. The seeing was pretty terrible from my backyard, I wasn't able to push beyond 150x without Jupiter looking like a blob. I will have to perform this test again during the week hopefully with a better night's viewing.
My focus was mainly on Jupiter tonight and getting a feel of the binoviewers in the dob. I only used the 2x 20mm 66deg eyepieces that came with the binoviewer package. Here are my observations briefly:
Setting up:
1) With the 1.6x WO barlow screwed into the binoviewer, I had to lower the trusses approaximately an inch and a half (I will get a more accurate figure later) to reach focus. The BV will not focus with the 1.6x barlow
if completely extended.
2) With a 2x Televue barlow, the Binoviewer will focus even when the trusses are completely extended (Note to GSO/LB dob users: The Skywatcher 10" flextube has a focal length of 1200mm, f4.7). Jupiter appeared a little sharper as well using the televue barlow than the WO barlow.
3) Despite the WO and Televue barlow been 1.6x and 2x respectively, I felt the magnification was much higher when using them. From a quick observation, they seem to behave nearly at double the magnification each (i.e. 1.6x = 3.2x, 2x = 4x).
4) The BV allows you to turn the eyepieces to make fine adjustments to the left and right eyepieces. I had a little fiddle with it but found it didn't make much difference, or I wasn't using it correctly?
Observation:
1) First thing I noticed, the background was velvet black! Contrast was drammatically improved.
2) The "3D" effect people spoke about was there. I need to observe more targets though to experience this more.
3) It is FAR MORE COMFORTABLE to observe with two eyes than one
4) There was a white "halo" surrounding Jupiter. I'm not sure what this is caused from?
5) Due to the terrible seeing and high mag, it was difficult to get a 100% sharp and clear image of Jupiter.
However in those few fleeting moments when the atmosphere allowed, the advantages of observing with two eyes was made evident. I had seen detail in Jupiter that I've never seen before in all the dobs that I've owned.
Intricate details in the belts, festoons, browns were more saturated... an this was all despite the horrible seeing.
I will continue to observe Jupiter throughout the week and take note of my observations. I plan on doing a similar test on the moon in the coming weeks as well. Things certainly look promising with binoviewers though! If anyone can assist with removing the white "halo" effect that would be appreciated
