(Viewed 2,349 times)

[Al Degutis]

An article in the Sept 2005 issue of Sky and Telescope talks about having "night myopia" or night-time nearsightedness. I am nearsighted (myopia) and wear glasses to correct for that and my astigmatism. A couple of weeks ago, I was at my neighbor's house and he was trying to point out some things in Triangulum for me to see in the 10x70 binos. I was having a difficult time following his star hops. After reading the article I believe my nearsightedness is worse in the dark. I ordered a pair of the "flippers" discussed in the article and will check it out. I fear that I'll find out I've been missing out on a number of meteors, the true splendor of the Milky Way and other naked eye wonders in my mag 5.6 (or better skies).

The timing is perfect because I was planning to pick up a pair of wrap-around glasses to give me a better field of view when observing meteors. I planned on picking out frames and using my precription from last December. Darn good thing I've procrastinated for the last few weeks. Well, actually not... because I probably won't have new eyeglasses in time for the Perseids.

I also came across this:

Binoculite

Get all the power of binoculars without having to hold them. Wear them like normal glasses, they weigh only 1.2 ounces and are comfortable for hours.

Binoculite "hands-free binoculars" are binoculars you wear like glasses. Binoculites are designed to be worn comfortably for hours--none of the eyestrain or headaches you can get with traditional binoculars.

Binoculites are lightweight, less than 1.2 ounces (about the same as a slice of bread). And they're easily adjustable for a perfect, custom fit.

Website: www.binoculite.com

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Al,

For meteor showers, I use my contacts. I also suffer from nearsightness and astig, but the contacts offer me unrestricted viewing.

I'm not familiar with the Flippers, perhaps you could enlighten us.

The Binoculite interest me, but it doesn't provide the power of the set up. If it did, I missed it.

Thanks for the link.

[Al Degutis]

admin said:

Al,

For meteor showers, I use my contacts. I also suffer from nearsightness and astig, but the contacts offer me unrestricted viewing.

I've never had any success with contacts. They all blurr out for me and I'm guess it's the astigmatism. Still hoping to find a pair of coric lenses that will work well.

I'm not familiar with the Flippers, perhaps you could enlighten us.

All they are is a handheld pair of optics that augment you vision with fractional diopters. So one pair is -0.25 diopter, the next is -0.50, and so on. After getting dark adapted you observe a familiar starfield (e.g. Pleiades) without the flippers and the work through the different diopters observing and comparing. While jumping to a -1.50 diopter may improve night vision, the stronger view may also cause headaches or eye discomfort so finding the right one for you is important, if there is a right one. I bought the set that goes from -0.25 to -1.00 (what they're calling the Night Myopia Flippers) and will test them out. You can borrow them later if you wish, or better yet we could have everyone check them out at the 2nd annual Chicago Astronomer Dark Skies Star Party (i.e. CADSSP) in October (hint, hint)

The Binoculite interest me, but it doesn't provide the power of the set up. If it did, I missed it.

Yeah, I wouldn't treat them as a serious observing tool, but a neat gadget. Of course, I've never tried them so I can be off base.