Binoscopes of the Third Kind

Abstract

What are “binoscopes of the third kind”? Binoscopes for the most part can be either commercial (first kind) or homemade (second kind). But there are a lot of binoscopes out there in telescope land that are both. The author likes to call these kinds of binoscopes simply “binoscopes of the third kind.” They can have a varied combination of parts or accessories that are both homemade and commercial and still can be a lot of fun to build and use for astronomy. These types of binoscopes can have mounts that are commercial but have homemade optical systems. Or they can have mounts that are homemade but carry commercial optical tube assemblies. Either way, “binoscopes of the third kind” can have a little of both built in the way of commercial and homemade qualities (see Fig. 10.28). For the most part, it doesn’t have to be necessarily a binoscope either. It can be anything associated with and/or used for binocular or binoscope astronomy in general. So has a new binoscope ATM astro-term been “coined” here? Probably not. And even if for some reason it never catches on as a new “household word,” the author won’t be too disappointed.