Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 72
ASTRONOMER'S WORKBENCH by Jerry Oltion
Binocular Mounts
A steady hand can gain you a couple of magnitudes.
and looking up, binoculars offer one of
the easiest ways to observe the sky. Yet
binoculars also present one of the most
difficult problems: holding the $#@!
things steady while you're doing your
observing! That has led to a myriad of
different strategies to stabilize them,
and Nebraska binocular observer Randy
Strauss has tried them all.
Well, probably not all, but he has certainly tried plenty, and he's come up with
some interesting variations on his own.
Randy's interest in binoculars came
about in an unusual way: His job sent
him to Geneva, Switzerland, for weeks
at a stretch, and he learned to appreciate the city's Saturday flea market,
where he often found wonderful
vintage binoculars and telescopes. The
telescopes were too big to bring home,
but he bought several of the binoculars
72
FE B RUA RY 2 018 * SK Y & TELESCOPE
p Made from a set of crutches and pine boards, this mount takes its inspiration from shouldermounted anti-aircraft guns. Randy placed the binoculars so the eyepieces would perfectly reach
his eyes when the crutch pads were firm against his shoulders. The long handle allows for stable
positioning. Right: To gain enough height to observe standing up, Randy strapped a tripod to
another tripod, which holds a pair of 25×100 binoculars with ease and gives him the height he
needs. For another stand-up stand, he attached a tripod to a length of PVC pipe slipped over an
umbrella stand. It rotates 360° and is also high enough to prevent neck pains.
and learned how to restore them. After
retiring, his appreciation for binoculars
continued, and he began using giant
binoculars in his back yard.
Randy describes himself as "a fair
weather, novice observer who, when
conditions are pleasant, studies a star
chart, selects a target, sets up my gear,
and is pleasantly surprised when I actually find what I'm looking for." Binoculars are perfectly suited for this type of
observing, but Randy soon noticed how
tired his arms would get. That led him
to build a mount, but he quickly realized that not all mounts are good for all
things. Some are best for scanning and
finding things, while others are better
suited for deep study of a single object.
Randy uses the standing mounts to
scan the sky, then he moves to a "tripod
on a tripod" or the shoulder or sawhorse
mounts when he settles on an object he
wants to look at for a while. The result:
"No more arm fatigue, no more neck
cramps. When you need to rest your
eyes, you just close them and relax.
Seeing through the binoculars while
lying on your back and with no more
vibration than from your heartbeat, not
using your arms at all, is the way to go."
LEF T: LY NN STR AUSS; RIG H T: R A NDY STR AUSS
SHORT OF JUST STANDING outside
Sky and Telescope - February 2018
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - February 2018
Contents
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - Cover1
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - Cover2
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 1
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - Contents
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 3
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 4
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 5
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 6
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 7
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 8
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 9
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 10
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 11
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 12
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 13
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 14
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 15
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 16
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 17
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 18
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 19
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 20
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 21
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 22
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 23
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 24
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 25
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 26
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 27
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 28
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 29
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 30
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 31
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 32
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 33
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 34
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 35
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 36
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 37
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 38
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Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 40
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 41
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 42
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 43
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Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 48
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 49
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - 50
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Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - Cover3
Sky and Telescope - February 2018 - Cover4
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