Building and Using Binoscopes

Provides easy to understand information and guidelines about the design and construction of binoscopes

Focusing on both homemade and commercial products, this book provides the reader with simple and straightforward information about the modelling and building of binoscopes. Binoscopes can be thought of as binoculars enlarged to the size of telescopes: essentially, a combination of the two. Constructing a binoscope is easier than most people think, but it still demands attention to detail and proper background knowledge. The author goes on to provide additional information about how to understand the products currently on the market, should the reader choose to purchase a binoscope instead of building one. Lastly, the book also compares binoscopes with telescopes in great detail, outlining the differences the reader can expect to see in the night sky from using both. The celestial views obtained with a binoscope, compared to a single telescope of the same aperture, are a very different experience and well worth the effort.

Norman P. Butler is an award winning telescope creator and published writer of telescope-building articles, some of which have appeared in popular astronomy magazines and books. A graduate of San Diego City College, Norman holds a Master’s degree in physics and astronomy. After serving in the US Navy for many years as an Opticalman, he worked for AVCO Everett Research Laboratory at Haleakala Observatory, Maui, building electro-optical equipment for use on a 1.6M and dual 1.2M telescopes. While there he also performed core measurement studies on the supermassive galaxy M-87, as well as additional galactic studies and stellar scintillation measurements. Later on Butler went on to teach at the university level in Shenzhen, China, before retiring in 2011 to the island of Saipan in the Northern Marianas. Butler has received the Engineering Merit Award and Warren Estes Memorial Award, both for homemade binoscopes that he designed and built.