Special Observing ReportSCAC Bonny Doon Star Party: 9/7/02
For many decades folks were very happy with the fact that both of their ears could hear music - even if it meant that the sound they heard was exactly the same (that is lacking stereophonic sound modulation).
BUT eventually the requirement for "High Fidelity" sound demanded that the sonic experience of the listener duplicate that of being in the concert hall. As such, depth of audio perception became an important attribute of the listening experience.
Such a "stereo" experience however, is not to be expected in amateur astronomy. For as we know, to see even the nearest stars shift against the background of space requires that optical signals from two scopes located on opposite sides of the Earth's orbit around the Sun (sum 186 million miles) be presented to the eyes simultaneously.
But, even a monaural listening experience allows both ears and more importantly both halves of the human brain to participate.
Of course this is not true in amateur astronomy. We observers are only able to admit light into one eye - and by extension only one half the brain's ability to process optically encoded stimulation is engaged.
In this way we have exposed one potentially serious deficiency related to our observing experience. AND that deficiency is a strike against most astronomical equipment now generally in use.
CONCLUSION ONE: SOMEDAY THE USE OF BINOVIEWERS WILL BE THE NORM AMONGST AMATEURS - NOT AS NOW - THE EXCEPTION.
- excerpted from AstroTalk, Equipment: Enhancing the Power of Perception, OTAs: Making it Bigger, Brighter, Clearer, Startesting And Scope Tuning Backgrounder
And last night that "someday" came to SCAC/Astrotalk member Dan. Dan of Tak FS-102 apochromat fame. Dan whose constant foraging through piles of "lost equipment" at local flea Markets, and dexterity with machine shop tools resulted in a superb Leica microscope-based binoviewer. A binoviewer which, when mated to Dan's able scope "Taki" showed the heavens as everyone should see them - through both eyes. But more importantly, as interpreted by both cerebral hemispheres and synthesized via cross talk over the brains corpus collosum...
And I was there too. And so was Leon, Jack, Andrew, Chris, and Dean. For on this auspicious occasion something truly magical happened. Something that completely turned our viewing experiences "upside down". Something that restored a sorely missing aspect of roaming the starry expanse of the heavens. Something that will ultimately revolutionize amateur astronomy. Something that will completely renew and regenerate even the most "faded and jaded" astro's love of the Night Sky.
But poor Dan. Here he was under fine 5.5 plus, 7+/10 stability skies. Surrendering one view after another to the queue of other observers...
With me right up near the head of the line - and sneaking around for seconds.
And what did I see?
I saw "the Big Picture".
Most of us are right handed. We peer through our solitary eyepieces with the eye that corresponds to our dominant hemisphere. And in most cases, that dominant hemisphere maps to the left half of the human brain. A portion of the brain that narrows perception and places especial attention on the "part" rather than the "whole". That half of us that "sees things" in isolation. That erects barriers and walls. That "dices and slices". That packages and labels with false praise.
Now all this means we miss "the big picture". There are seams everywhere. Things are presented out of context. The worldview is imbalanced. The gestaltic "figure" dominates the "ground". And we quickly lose interest in whatever we do manage to turn up in the night sky.
But imagine, if you will, being able to turn your telescope anywhere and be completely engaged in whatever you see. When even the simplest star field is seen by your whole being as part of an immense, continuous, panorama of connectedness. Such an experience is only possible when all those barriers start falling. And those barriers can only topple when the barriers inside your own head are demolished. When the bricks that make up the walls of your own psyche are dismantled and used to build bridges of "inner-connectedness".
It is a sad fact that until last night it was rare for me to spend more than five minutes steadily viewing any given study in the heavens. But last night, I could have spent the entire evening wending my way through the Double Cluster in Perseus at a mere 30x.
Yes, this is true. When binoviewing something strangely satisfying happens. Your eye doesn't just leap to the most intriguing detail within the field and wring all the interest out of it. No, not at all. The tendency is to take in the entire, in Taki's case two degree field at once. Meanwhile, near the center of the field of view the most salient feature seems to "mound up" at you. Then as your eyes sweep the field, whatever you attend to - no matter how subtle in turn takes that same focus of attention. So what you get is a very real sense of dimensionality. And not only that moveable focus - like a spotlight moving around a stage as each character in turn hails forth.
So last evening, under a very satisfying night sky. With any number of scopes at everyone's disposal, each of us in turn learned how to see Nuit in a New Light. And that new light, whether emanated from the sky in the direction of Sagittarius, Scutum, Vulpecula, Cygnus, Cassiopaeia, Perseus, Aquarius, of Andromeda gave each of us a private lesson in a universe without limits...
Thanks Dan.
to: top of page
to: Special Observing Reports Page
Email: Astro.Geekjoy