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OVERVIEW To BIPH, or not to BIPH, that is one of the questions buzzing around amateur astronomy circles these days. Having read some outstanding reviews on the performance of the BInocular PHoton Machine (manufactured by Night Vision Astronomy), I was delighted to get my hands and eyes on a unit for evaluation purposes. There are several types of reviews I could have done. The review I have chosen is to describe the usability and performance of this unit from the point-of-view of adding enjoyment to the hobby. This review is not meant to describe the technical nature of the unit. Similarly, I am not interested in discussing whether or not the unit can see a .2 magnitude difference in the outer halo of stars in some miniature celestial object. Rather, this review IS meant to describe the usability and performance of this unit for the more typical observer. That is: If observing time is precious to you because you work hard at your day job, come home to spend time with your family and then pray you have some strength left over for ten minutes of observing If your scope is never perfectly setup or readily available for extended observing sessions If you rarely get to darker skies If you don’t have fancy navigation and tracking systems on your scope If you are completely at the mercy of poor transparency, seeing and a bright moon …then this review is for you. BIPH OVERVIEW BIPH is a generation 3 military night vision device that has been ingeniously adapted for astronomical use. It uses a barrel which fits into any two inch focuser and sports a comfortable green luminescent viewing screen wide enough for both eyes to view the panorama. The view, much like a miniature television screen, can be seen with your eyes up close to the comfortable rubber eye cups (more like bat wings). It can also be seen equally well when standing three feet away such as when happens during public outreach. BIPH can be used two ways: coupled with a camera lens or with a telescope using a two-inch focuser. I used a Canon 200mm f/2.8 for the hand-held and tripod mounted setup. I tested it in a top-of-the-line refractor, Newtonian, Schmidt Cassegrain and Corrected Dall-Kirkham. I also used my humble 13.1” homebuilt Coulter Newtonian. Regarding accessories, BIPH can be used with a barlow for increased magnification and with a reducer for wider fields of view. BIPH also benefits for some objects when using an H-alpha filter, which traditionally can only be used for photographic purposes. All equipment I tested was supplied by, and available from, Night Vision Astronomy (sans telescopes of course). SUMMARY I have seen as many “new” objects with BIPH in the time I have spent reviewing it, under incredibly adverse observing conditions, as I have in 30 years of observing. Without a navigation system to help but my atlas, I have found objects faster, which increases my observing time, and decreases my frustration. Similarly, the objects I do find and share with my family or with folks at star parties elicit, “Wow” rather than a polite but disappointed, “Oh.” BIPH & A CAMERA LENS When I use BIPH with the camera lens, I find this arrangement becomes the ultimate grab-n-go scope because it is like holding a pair of 18” binoculars in my hands under dark skies. I make this comparison for several reasons. First of all, I am using two eyes, which does makes this a binocular system. A plus of all binocular systems is that they are so much more comfortable than using a one-eyed monocular setup. Second, no matter what the phase the Moon is in, using the system with a camera lens let’s me see the Milky Way as if I were at a much darker site. I can sweep and scan our galaxy and find objects normally visible only in large scopes with no Moon. For instance, with this handheld setup I could see the nebula that comprises the Horse Head and Flame Nebula complexes in a pre-dawn sky. That’s simply unheard of in any normal binocular or many telescopes. Another benefit of using the camera lens setup is that the wide field and real-time view of faint objects like the North America and Butterfly nebula rising next to a tree on the horizon provides a true sense of scale. This itself is priceless in my mind. I was able to lift BIPH to my eyes, see these objects, and then lower BIPH and understand exactly how big each object was with a visual comparison. I simply can’t appreciate that with a telescope in the same way. BIPH WITH A TELESCOPE Putting BIPH in my 13.1” Newtonian and viewing nebula deemed visible only photographically is amazing. Getting my two young daughters and my wife to say, “Wow” for the first time, and really mean it, is priceless. The main benefits for me: My observing sessions of nebulae and globulars is extended to every night of the month despite the phase of the Moon I find objects much faster I am sure of their identification I can grab-n-go the BIPH/Lens combination and see faint nebula in 10 minute micro-observing sessions Globular clusters come to life Public outreach becomes much easier and elicits far more, “Wows” Both senior citizens and children can readily see the views and appreciate them An inexpensive telescope like my humble home-built scope produces views that blow away the views of many objects in expensive scopes without BIPH After looking through a number of high-end scopes using BIPH (and not using BIPH) for this review, I had to ultimately answer the question, "Would I spend a significant chunk of money on BIPH or would I buy a bigger, better telescope?” After careful thought I have to say, "I would buy BIPH." The enjoyment is simply there for me. So what if I can't see all objects equally well? Not all galaxies benefit from BIPH nor do certain types of nebula. Similarly, I can’t view the planets or the moon. But the fact is, my 13" Coulter handles those objects at the cost of hundreds of dollars without breaking the bank. If I want to increase the enjoyment value of the objects I can see with BIPH (e.g. globular clusters, open clusters, many nebulae, many galaxies and more) I'd save my pennies and get it. No questions asked. And adding in the fact that getting BIPH with a lens gives me an ultimate grab-n-go scope, my decision is made firmer. An Observing Session Anecdote I have added a this one extract from my observing sessions to detail the reactions of some other people. They should give a better feel for some of the enjoyment that a number of folks had when using BIPH. Keep in mind, that BIPH does produce some differing reactions in some people, including experienced observers. But for many of us, I have found that we have a greatly increased enjoyment of astronomy when using BIPH and that reaction is more the norm rather than the exception. STAR PARTY ANECDOTE: We had clear skies tonight in the parking lot. The transparency was miserable and the light pollution pretty severe, but we carried on! The M15 globular cluster was the object of the night since there was little else to see in those skies. Using a quality eyepiece in someone’s C12, M15 was easily found but remained a faint fuzzy: mostly unresolved, mostly just smudgy. With BIPH and the Star Sweeper, M15 became a ball of stars with a resolved halo and distinct body with a dense core. For me, the difference was night and day. The 10 or so people who saw the eyepiece view and who came back around to the BIPH view all said, "Wow!" And then I stuck it in a top-of-the-line 17.5" trained on M15. One of the scope handlers kept calling people over to see the view. It was astounding. The halo of stars was 3D, the body was resolved clearly and inside was the core which made the whole object clearly 3 levels deep. Probably 20 people looked through and 90% were, "Wow!" I compared it with a high-end eyepiece and once again, a $22,000 scope only showed a granular faint fuzzy. It took BIPH to elicit the "Wows" from the crowd with its resolution. Then I put in the barlow and it just became bigger and cooler. After this stint I put the camera lens on and one man just floated around the Milky Way saying, "Incredible! I see stars! So many stars!" Several people had the same experience with the camera lens, Even though we could barely make out Cygnus with the light pollution and transparency issues, BIPH brought home star fields. If you have any questions about my review or my experience with BIPH, please feel free to contact me via my website at www.StarryHost.com. Jack Swaton StarryHost Summary of Results Note: This table is intended to summarize observations using various equipment. Detailed notes are listed separately. The BIPH columns used different combinations of widefield focal reducer, barlow and H-alpha filter. The DOB with Eyepieces column used various quality TeleVue plossls and a William Optics wide angle eyepiece with and without an OIII filter. An entry of, “No” meant I tried to find the object but could not. An entry of, “N/A” meant I did not have the opportunity to use that equipment with that object. OBJECT Moon Transparency Seeing Location BIPH With 200mm Lens BINOCULARS 13.1” DOB With Conventional Eyepieces w/wo OIII Filter 13.1” Dob With BIPH & Accessories Andromeda (Galaxy) Full Poor Poor Moderate sized, hazy patch No Moderate sized, hazy patch, difficult to differentiate central bulge from disk Moderate sized, very defined. Central bulge defined; disk edge more defined California (Nebula) Full Poor Poor Clearly defined; full length visible; scale in the sky is apparent No Only visible if I found it with BIPH first; barely discernable; never would have found it on my own; averted vision only Clearly defined; readily found by star stepping; able to use direct vision Orion (Nebula) Full Poor Poor As good of a view as most telescopes under darker skies albeit small in scale; rough shape of nebulosity apparent Small smudge patch; no good definition of shape Always a wonderful site; nebulosity sports jagged edges and dark lanes; trapezium clear BILLOWY! I’ve never seen such detail and a 3D effect; truly looks like a heavenly cloud lit by the Glory of God; Trapezium tack sharp; nebulosity extends way outside the field of view Horse Head (Nebula) Full Poor Poor The nebula complex home to the this and the flame nebula clearly visible under a near full moon in pre-dawn skies-amazing! Small image scale precludes seeing the actual horse head No No Even under adverse light skies, the nebula are clearly defined and I can use direct vision Flame (Nebula) Full Poor Poor The nebula complex home to the this and the flame nebula clearly visible under a near full moon in pre-dawn skies-amazing! Small image scale precludes seeing the actual horse head No No Even under adverse light skies, the nebula are clearly defined and I can use direct vision Blue Snowball (Planetary Nebula) Full Poor Poor No No; not able to locate it Very clean non-stellar object in BIPH though still small. Some hint of darker core and brighter ring; I’d love to see this in a barlow; this is the first time I’ve ever found the Blue Snowball and I did not use a filter and of course the moon was relatively close and full Lagoon (Nebula) Full Poor Poor Amazing hand-held view! And in the same FOV as Trifid! And during a bright moon from my suburban driveway! No N/A N/A Trifid (Nebula) Full Poor Poor Amazing hand-held view! And in the same FOV as Lagoon! And during a bright moon from my suburban driveway! No N/A N/A Double Stars Full Poor Poor Clearly resolved Clearly resolved Clearly resolved Clearly resolved Star Fields Full Poor Poor The star fields in Sagittarius and Cygnus were glorious; hundreds and hundreds of stars even under bright moon and poor transparency Only dozens of stars viewable under such poor conditions N/A N/A Rosette (Nebula) Full Poor Poor Clearly visible in this hand-held unit under in pre-dawn sky No No Viewable with direct vision; clearly defined object; first time I have seen this object! M15 (Globular Cluster) Full Poor Poor Clearly visible as small object; skies bright and poor transparency No In 17.5” $22,000 scope, object was defined and resolved In 17.5” $22,000 scope, this looked 3D and had a halo, body and core; great resolution of each Hercules (Globular) Full Poor Poor Visible under poor skies as a smudge; image scale very small Barely discernable as a light patch N/A N/A Pac Man (Nebula) Full Poor Poor Clearly visible with direct view; outline of mouth visible No Averted vision helps; mouth visible Direct view; clear shape of Pac Man discernable Milky Way Full Poor Poor Even under full moon skies and miserable transparency, the star fields in the Milky Way are clearly visible Under these adverse conditions, the Milky Way star fields are far less rich and the Milky Way’s outlines are far harder to discern N/A N/A Rosette (Nebula) Full Poor Poor Central lanes and irregular circumference visible; direct vision No N/A N/A Beehive (Open Cluster) Full Poor Poor Good; the brighter stars seem more accentuated over the traditional view Good; always a treat but the brighter stars don’t seem to be as accentuated in the BIPH view N/A N/A M45 Pleiades (Open Cluster) Full Poor Poor So lovely! For some reason, asterisms seem to stand out more clearly in BIPH Asterisms are good in binos, but for some reason, BIPH accentuates the groupings a bit better N/A N/A Asterisms (Star Groupings) Full Poor Poor For some reason, asterisms seem to stand out more clearly in the BIPH Asterisms are good in binos, but for some reason, BIPH accentuates the groupings a bit better N/A For some reason, asterisms seem to stand out more clearly in the BIPH Sh-2-247 (Molecular Cloud/ Diffuse Nebula in Gemini) Full Poor Poor Gemini visible as rounded cloud, not visible without Ha No N/A N/A M35 Full Poor Poor stars resolved, cloudy nebulosity visible of the rest No N/A N/A 2158 (Nebula with M35) Full Poor Poor Galaxies (Other than Andromeda) Full Poor Poor N/A No Of the same galaxies viewed (edge-ons and face-ons; I was able to find the objects much faster in BIPH and to use direct vision rather than averted vision; edge-ons were clearly better for me Of the same galaxies viewed (edge-ons and face-ons; I was able to find the objects much faster in BIPH and to use direct vision rather than averted vision; edge-ons were clearly better for me Ring (Planetary Nebula) Full Poor Poor Visible but the image scale is very tiny; looks like a non-stellar object No in these skies Looks like a smoky round patch with a filmy central region; no central star Looks like a clearly defined donut with the central star! Central region much better defined; best view ever Meteors Full Poor Poor Extremely faint meteors fly into making an always dynamic view Relatively fewer and brighter meteors fly into making an always dynamic view Extremely faint meteors fly into making an always dynamic view Extremely faint meteors fly into making an always dynamic view Satellites Full Poor Poor Extremely faint man-made satellites fly into view all evening long Far fewer satellites are visible and the time window to view them is closer to dusk and pre-dawn Fewer man-made satellites fly into view all evening long Extremely faint man-made satellites fly into view all evening long Flocks of Geese Full Poor Poor It was hilarious! I though I found a new asterism in a chevron shape but discovered it was a flock of interstellar migrating geese… No N/A N/A License Plates Full Poor Poor Say, this is fun! Who says the stars are all you can look at night? N/A N/A Say, this is fun! Who says the stars are all you can look at night? Cepheus (Open Cluster) Full Poor Poor (one of my personal favorites for an open cluster because it is so dense) appears like a globular cluster in BIPH with a brigher central region and extended structure. Similar to binos but much better, brighter and more resolved. Wonderful. Clearly visible as a small grouping of stars, but mostly appears cloud-like with few resolved members N/A N/A Star Fields (Sagittarius & Cygnus) Full Poor Poor Amazing number of stars, even in moonlit & predawn skies with poor transparency Relatively few stars visible; no sense of the Milky Way star fields in these areas N/A N/A Bear Paw (Nebula) Full Poor Poor I believe I found this “extra” nebula the first time out with BIPH; it was an “extra” nebula in the same area as Trifid and Lagoon; never went back in further sessions to verify No N/A N/A