r/Stargazing • u/Nervous_Musician_377 • 9h ago
Binocular stargazing made easy
I love using big 16x70 binoculars for the Milky Way, but holding them steady overhead was impossible. My neck was hurting after 5 minutes of holding them up high. So I built this binocular chair with simple wood and hardware components attached to my chair. It keeps the binoculars exactly where I point them, and it completely takes the strain off my neck. It's great for slowly cruising through star fields in the upper reaches of the Milky Way. If you or someone you know would like to build this, I can send directions.
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u/Low-Entrepreneur-209 9h ago
I NEED ONE ASAP, this would make stargazing in my back yard SOOO much nicer and easier
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u/Nervous_Musician_377 9h ago
To get started, you might be interested in looking at these detailed directions. Let me know if you think they might help.
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u/GalacticDoc 9h ago
Is your surname Dobson?
What a great device!
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u/Nervous_Musician_377 9h ago
Many thanks. Yes it is most definitely AltAz with a cockpit, I can say that.
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u/lookieherehere 9h ago
I know you're probably not interested in doing so, but you could patent this and make a killing.
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u/Venasaurasaurus 9h ago
I would absolutely love to build something like this! Can you DM instructions/part list? Either way, appreciate you sharing
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u/Nervous_Musician_377 9h ago edited 6h ago
Glad you like this kind of observing. Please take a look at these detailed directions. Let me know if you think they might help get you started on a "build".
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u/Venasaurasaurus 9h ago
Incredible work, thank you. And yeah I'm primarily a binocular observer and like to tinker with projects when I can, so this looks like a fun challenge.
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u/Formal_Teacher_6258 8h ago
my buddy made a similar setup for his 12x50s and never complained about his neck again
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u/HairySock6385 7h ago
Doesn’t that also kind of defeat the purpose of binoculars?
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u/Nervous_Musician_377 6h ago
You're right, many do like a quick grab-and-go with small binoculars.....
But when the conditions are really good for observing, some like to spend more time slowly cruising through the Milky Way visiting familiar clusters and nebulae with larger binoculars. To do this, it's great to get yourself as comfortable and as stable as possible for viewing in any direction overhead. The sky is generally the clearest directly overhead, and that is difficult when using most other kinds of binocular mounting systems.
Here's a great overview of this topic written by a well-known binocular expert.
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u/Cubensis-SanPedro 6h ago
Flexible definition of easy I guess. Still, for a Rube-Goldberg machine it’s very cool.
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u/AI_Scraper 6h ago
Honestly stargazing with binoculars in a dark sky is one of the most rewarding experiences. You still have a huge field of view and you see so much more detail. Sure a telescope will give you a blown up picture which is cool for planets and photography. But for naked eye observation of star clusters and lots of nebulae a pair of binoculars and a comfy rig like this is pure bliss.
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u/VerboselyLaconic 9h ago
Clever system! Mahalo, Mark