Telescope Reviews: CN Report: The Denkmeier BIPH

A week ago, under dark New England skies, I had the opportunity to try out the new “Binocular Photon Machine” (BIPH) designed and built by Douglas Baum. It acts as an intensification eyepiece fitted directly into the telescope’s 2” focuser. The scope I observed through is an 18” Dobsonian running at F 4.2 with a focal length of 1920mm.

The intensifier has a unique viewing system where both eyes look into a single hooded screen as compared to the standard binoviewer system where each eye views through a separate eyepiece. It was very comfortable and there were absolutely no exit pupil problems.

I used the BIPH to view a broad array of deep sky objects including globulars, nebulas and galaxies. At first I was aware of the green intensifier screen to some extent, but after observing for a while, it became much less apparent, much the way it takes some time for the eyes to become dark adapted. What I did notice was an incredible increase in detail of the objects I studied.

M13 was my first target and it didn’t disappoint. I normally use one of the premier binoviewer systems with 19mm lenses which provide excellent views. The intensifier brought new detail to the object with ability to focus very finely. I moved on to M27, the Dumbbell, without any filter attached to my binoviewer. The view was large and bright. I then inserted the BIPH and it took on an entirely new range of detail. The nebula now extended well past the familiar dumbbell shape to show the entire nebula in fantastic detail with the upper and lower lobes that give M27 more of a football shape. Since I was in a nebula mode, I decided to try the BIPH on the Veil. This was one of the highlights of the entire night’s session under the stars. I first located it with the binoviewer minus any nebula filters and found it to be a nice image, although quite faint. Once I inserted the BIPH using a 9nm band pass H-alpha, the Veil took on a view, the likes of which I truly have never seen before, even in much larger dobs. The detail was extraordinary and the brightness was beyond description. I followed the Veil to both major sections observing bright knots, intertwining filamentary structure that had me in total awe. Similarly, the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus displayed the same amazing amount of detail with the distinct crescent shape that was lacking in the views not utilizing the BIPH. After catching my breath, I moved on to the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 891 in Andromeda. I happen to love observing edge-on galaxies but as many of you know, they can be of very low surface brightness and hard to see in detail. NGC 891 is such a creature. My scope’s view without the BIPH displayed a very long narrow object that extended almost 2/3 of the field of view but was quite dim and could possibly even be missed when looking for it. The BIPH took care of that problem big time. The view was so bright and sharp that the central dust lane looked like someone had drawn it with a dark sketching pencil. The bulge was clear and defined as well as the galaxy’s arms extending out in both directions. This truly was a memorable moment in my many hours of observing with the scope. While I was on the galaxy kick, I decided to try M33, the big face -on galaxy in Triangulum. Again, I first found it through the regular binoviewer means which provided a rather dim view due to its extremely low surface brightness. Although I could make out some spiral structure, it was faint and lacking of any real detail. No problem! With the BIPH inserted into the focuser, M33 exploded into view. Structure of the arms was so vivid that knots could be seen in them which usually come out only in ccd images. The extent of detail and brightness on the BIPH screen was fantastic.

Once I packed up the big dob and stored it for the night, one might think the evening was over as far as observing goes but wait - with a 105mm SLR lense attached directly to the unit, I pointed it at the North American Nebula in Cygnus. The screen just displayed stars in the field but by holding a nebula filter directly in front of the camera lense, the nebula shot into view as distinct as could be from the Gulf of Mexico to the East Coast. The same result was achieved when I targeted the California Nebula in Perseus. What a kick!

In conclusion, my first experience using the BIPH system was incredible, to say the least, and I look forward to another session with it. The ability to insert the unit into the telescope’s focuser, as one would an eyepiece without the need of power supplies, cords, monitors, etc, makes this an observing accessory that every deep sky aficionado is surely going to want to own.
Mike C.