Eyepiece cheat codes: Observing galaxies in small telescopes

When it comes to faint fuzzies, you either get it or you don't. A lot of people don't understand what the point is to look at these things that all just look like very faint grayish white blobs. Why not just look at images? If I have to answer that question for you, you probably should stick to imaging or stay on the sofa. 

Smaller telescopes, those about 10 inches or less, excel on open star clusters and some of the brighter objects in the sky, including some of the larger galaxies like M31, M81 and M82, and some of the brighter nebulas, like M42, the Orion Nebula, M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M17, the Swan or Omega Nebula. But most galaxies tend to be faint fuzzies in the eyepiece, like my sketch of NGC 4762 below. 

The joy of searching for faint fuzzies 

A big part of the fun of starhopping is the hunt. Winding your way from a bright star through an interesting star field usually yields new discoveries that you wouldn't get if you just punched in an NGC number and your scope slewed right to the object. 

While I often jump from one object to another object in a different part of the sky, sometimes I like to relax a little bit and just get to know a specific area of the sky. I find little clusters, double stars, interesting asterisms, and other objects that I wouldn't otherwise observe. 

Push the limits

Usually where there's one galaxy, there are others. Many are out of reach of small telescopes, but there's a surprising number that can be seen, especially in a good sky. While there are calculated limits to what you can see in a particular aperture and sky, I recommend you take these only as guidelines. I've often seen objects that were supposedly beyond the limits of my telescope's capability. It's fun to push these limits. In my experience, the galaxies and details listed here can be seen with a 10-inch telescope and often smaller apertures in a reasonably dark, transparent sky with decent seeing and no Moon in the sky. (Image: A gravitationally lensed galaxy cluster imaged in the infrared by the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Vicente Estrada-Carpenter-Saint Mary's University.)

When I was much younger and I only had a 4.5 inch reflector, I spent some time looking for really faint objects. I saw some of them and others I could never find. But I learned about my telescope's capabilities and my own. I also began learning the sky, and I'm still learning and relearning it.

I remember seeing all five members of Stephan's Quintet, a tight group of very faint galaxies ranging from 12.6 to 14.0 magnitude near the larger galaxy NGC 7331 in Pegasus, with my 4.5 inch. Back then my eyes were better, and in a larger scope nowadays I have trouble seeing even a couple of the members. That helps me to understand how my eyesight has changed, and how the sky is getting brighter.

Above: Difficult but not impossible for small telescopes: Stephan's Quintet in Pegasus. (Fort Lewis College Observatory, CC-by-NC-SA 4.0)

Even looking at brighter galaxies, if you spend some time on them, not just taking a casual glance but spending 10 to 30 minutes, or even more, really examining them, you might surprise yourself how much detail you can actually see. 

Things to look for

When you first look at a galaxy, you might think to yourself, well, it is indeed just a faint fuzzy blob. Nine times out of ten, though, if you spend some time really looking at it, you'll start to notice there is more to it than first meets the eye. This is when you become a true observer. 

(Image: Astronomer Vera Rubin in her last year as an astronomy major at Vassar College, 1948. Rubin later found the first evidence to support the theory of dark matter through her study of the rotation of galaxies. Vassar College Archives and Special Collections)

Here are a few things to look for that will help you discern details you never thought possible to detect. 

• What shape do you see? Round, oblong, oval, thin, cigar-shaped, pointed ends, etc.
• What is the directional orientation of an elongated galaxy (for example, northwest to southeast)?
• What is the core of the galaxy like: stellar, slightly brighter, dramatically brighter, diffuse, etc.?
• Is there a central bulge?
• Do the arms taper to a point or are they stubby?
• Which points are likely foreground stars and which might be brighter parts of the galaxy (or even a supernova)? Good seeing and sharp focus can help you sort them out.
• What are the edges like: do they fade out slowly, are they ragged, sharply defined, etc.?
• Do you see any mottling, clumpiness, or variations in brightness across the galaxy?
• Any dark lanes or sudden cutoffs of brightness?
• Is one side of the galaxy different from the other or is it symmetrical?
• Can you detect any hint of spiral structure?
• Any nearby galaxies or other interesting objects in the neighborhood?

Tips and Tricks

• Most galaxies within range of small telescopes cannot be seen at all without using averted vision.
• Only the brightest central part of a galaxy may appear in the telescope compared to images, which aggregate the faint light of the outer arms or halo that is invisible to the eye. Features such as star clouds or supernovae may appear to be well outside the boundaries of the visible galaxy.
• Make a note of which direction is west, which will always be the direction an object drifts without tracking. This helps you orient yourself and describe a galaxy through sketching or taking notes, if you keep an observing log.
• Large, bright galaxies do well with lower power, but don't be afraid to try higher power for additional detail—it dims the galaxy but increases the contrast, similar to using a filter.
• Small, dim galaxies may not even be visible until you increase power, but tracking them can be difficult in high power if you are tracking manually, especially with a sparse star foreground. 
• Get a good look at the star field in low power and make a mental note of certain star patterns that you can use as markers if you get lost or you bump the scope. Pay special attention to those east of your target, which will come into view as your target drifts out of the field of view to the west. Use them like breadcrumbs to find your way back. Also make note where your finderscope is pointed.
• A zoom eyepiece is great for finding just the right power to see a galaxy best.
• Try sketching a few galaxies until you get a feel for how to make note of the visible features and can assemble them to form a complete picture in your mind.
• Some galaxies have a pretty bright listed magnitude, but have low surface brightness, in other words the brightness is spread over a larger area, so they may not be as easy as the magnitude would indicate.

The character of a galaxy 

The "tuning fork" diagram of galaxy morphology devised by Edwin Hubble and refined by Gérard de Vaucouleurs (Antonio Ciccolella / M. De Leo, CC BY 3.0):

Galaxies are classified by shape and activity. I've never really gotten into all the specifics of this, but in general, there are spiral galaxies, which include barred spirals like the Milky Way, there are lenticular galaxies, there are elliptical galaxies, there are irregular galaxies, and there are galaxies with active nuclei that can take any shape. 

Now do some observing

The following are some representative galaxies that show up well and often show some detail in 4 to 10 inch telescopes. Aperture is king when observing galaxies, so use the largest telescope you have access to. Even in very small apertures, just trying to spot as many of these as possible is an interesting observing project. These are visible at different times of the year. The darker and more transparent the sky, and the better the seeing (steady air), the more you will see. The images are included to give you an idea of the type of galaxy and features you can try to look for, but imaging chips and computer processing tremendously exaggerate all the features, color, brightness, etc.

Link to a Sky Safari Observing List for the galaxies listed below:

Astronomerica-Galaxies for Small Telescopes

This is in the Sky Safari .skylist format. Download to your phone or tablet and import into Sky Safari Pro or Plus. Do this by emailing the .skylist file to yourself, open the email on your device, download it, then select the file, select "open with" and choose Sky Safari. You'll get an acknowledgment that it was imported. The list will show up as "Imported List" followed by the date and time. You can rename it in Sky Safari. 

Spirals 

Spiral galaxies, the most common type of galaxy, can take on many different appearances, based on the angle from which we're viewing the galaxy. Because these are generally flattened discs with central bulges, the viewpoint can really affect their character, as well as how easy or difficult they are to see. 

Interesting edge-ons

I love thin edge-on spiral galaxies, as do many observers. There's something fascinating about seeing that thin slash against the darker background. Small telescopes can be used to see many of them well and appreciate their character. Here are a few.

M104, the Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo; look for a stellar core, the sharp edge of the dark lane on the southern edge of bright central area and the much dimmer glow on the other side of the dark lane (8.0 mag)

(NASA/Hubble Team/Hubble Heritage/Keith Noll/Kevin M. Gil, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 4565, in Coma Berenices; look for the central bulge and the thin dark lane using high power; can you determine where the tips of the arms end? (10.4 mag)

(Brucewaters, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the lower left.

NGC 891, a large but surprisingly dim and ghostly edge-on in Andromeda; look for the full needle shape and vague clumpiness, which may only come to you after extended observation, south-southwest arm easier; a 12th mag star just on the other side of the core complicates the observation; the dark lane requires larger apertures (10.8 mag but very low surface brightness)

(C.Howk (JHU), B.Savage (U. Wisconsin), N.A.Sharp (NOAO)/WIYN/NOIRLab/NSF, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the upper left.

NGC 5907, a large, thin splinter in Draco; look for subtle detail in the center area in larger scopes; if you have a wide field eyepiece, see if you can fit spindle-shaped galaxy M102, to the west-southwest about 1.4 degrees, in the same field (11.1 mag)

(KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Brad Ehrhorn/Adam Block, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the right.

NGC 4216, nearly edge-on, within the Virgo Cluster (11.0 mag)

(Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona, CC BY-SA 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons) (NGC 4222, 13.9 mag, upper left, and NGC 4206, 12.8 mag, lower right) North is to the upper left.

NGC 3501, a tough one for the larger apertures in Leo not far from NGC 3507; a very faint slash in a sparse field that gives your eye a better chance of picking it up in averted vision now and then (13.6 mag)

(ANAKLO, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 2683, in Lynx, nearly edge-on; look for a flattened nucleus, almost double-lobed, faster dropoff in brightness on the northeast arm (10.6 mag)

(ESA/Hubble & NASA, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the lower right.

NGC 4631, the Whale or Herring in Canes Venatici; try around 110x, look for much smaller and dimmer dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 4627 (The Calf, or Pup), and while you're in the area, find the Hockey Stick, NGC 4656/7, a 9.6 mag disturbed barred spiral (9.8 mag)

(Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona, CC BY-SA 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 4244, in Canes Venatici; enjoy the thinness, you won't make out much else, check out NGC 4214 nearby (see below) (10.2 mag)

(Ole Nielsen, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

Face-on or nearly face-on spirals 

Some brighter face-on spirals offer the challenge of getting hints of the spiral structure and knots of star formation and nebulosity in darker skies with good transparency and seeing. A 10-inch will show the following details, but you may be able to pick them out with smaller apertures, depending on your sky.

M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici; look for the smaller galaxy, NGC 5195, as well as hints of spiral structure (8.4 mag)

(Todd Boroson/NOIRLab/
NSF/AURA/, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the left.

M61, a barred spiral in Virgo; look for a stellar nucleus and a semicircular dark lane just east of the nucleus, as well as a bright knot on the north side (9.7 mag)

(KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/
Adam Block, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the left.

M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major; large with low surface brightness; look for a condensed core and non-uniformity to the surrounding glow; you may be able to pick out some of the brighter emission knots such as NGC 5455 out near the south edge of the galaxy, looking starlike in lower power, NGC 5447 and NGC 5450, which are right next to each other about the same distance from the core as NGC 5455, but toward the southwest (7.9 mag)

(NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - KBR Wyle Services, LLC/Scott Wiessinger, University of Maryland College Park/Jeanette Kazmierczak, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 3184, in Ursa Major; look for a brighter but non-stellar core, with hints of structure in the galaxy's outer glow (10.4 mag)

(Sloan Digital Sky Survey, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

M83, in Hydra; best framed in low power; look for a very bright core that dominates the galaxy and hints of shading and structure in the arms; outer area suffers greatly from light pollution, 10.7/11.7 mag double star (8" separation), Herschel 4599, just on the southeast edge of the outer arms of the galaxy (7.6 mag)

(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Greenbelt, MD, USA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

Oblique-view spirals

M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, is a classic obliquely-viewed galaxy, tilted somewhat from edge-on, northwest to southeast; look for the two satellite galaxies, M32 and M110, a dark lane on the west side of the nucleus, and possibly a fainter dark lane outside of that, as well as NGC 206, a knot of nebulosity far out on the southwest arm (3.4 mag)

(Steve Fung, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the right.

M33, the Pinwheel Galaxy in Triangulum, very large; spiral structure not discernible, but look for many clumpy areas, including the HII region NGC 604, which looks like a very faint galaxy way off to the northeast of the core, seemingly outside the galaxy (5.7 mag)

(Alexander Meleg, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the left.

NGC 2903, barred spiral in Leo, oddly not a Messier object; look for north-northwest to south-southeast elongation, impression of a bar, nucleus area somewhat broken up, mottling and clumping, including star cloud NGC 2905 just outside a slightly dark lane to the northeast. (9.0 mag)

(Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona, CC BY-SA 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the upper left.

M81, in Ursa Major; look for oval shape, stellar core, and possibly hints of a soft spiral structure including darker lane southwest of the core (6.9 mag). Also check out nearby M82 (see below) while you're in the area.

(KeithSteffens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the lower left about 7:00.

Lenticulars

Lenticular galaxies occupy a spot in between ellipticals and spirals.

NGC 4026, edge-on lenticular in Ursa Major; look for a big bright central bulge that houses a supermassive black hole and well defined pointy ends to the arms, especially the southern arm (10.7 mag)

(Sloan Digital Sky Survey, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 1023, edge-on barred lenticular in Perseus; look for nearly stellar round core (that also houses a supermassive black hole) (10.4 mag)

(NASA, ESA, and G. Sivakoff (University of Alberta); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 4762, edge-on lenticular in Virgo, look for a stellar core within an elongated central area (11.1 mag)

(ESA/Hubble & NASA, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons). North is to the upper left.

Irregulars, Peculiars, etc.

NGC 55, in Sculptor; look for a fat slash, trailing off more on the eastern end, giving it a comet-like or minnow-shaped (without the tail) appearance, clumpiness and mottling toward the center, especially on the southern edge (7.9 mag)

(ESO, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 4214, a dwarf barred irregular in Canes Venatici; the bright northwest to southeast bar makes it look a bit like an edge-on with a halo around it (10.2 mag)

(Ole Nielsen, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 4449, an irregular starburst galaxy in Canes Venatici; look for a brighter elongated mass in the center but no real core, splotchy mottling and a bump off the south end, fainter outer rectangular glow as if it were a fat edge-on that someone snipped the ends off (10.0 mag)

(KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/John and Christie Connors/Adam Block, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the upper right.

M82, starburst galaxy in Ursa Major, close to M81; look for a pinched dark intrusion or lane cutting laterally, or diagonally through the center, brighter pinpricks in the central area, and irregular, mottled arms on both sides (8.4 mag)

(N.A.Sharp/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is up.

NGC 5128, in Centaurus, if you are far enough south to see it well, closest radio galaxy, also designated Centaurus A; look for a dramatic thick dark lane separating the glow into two lobes, making it look like a tall, skinny hamburger, much brighter southern lobe (6.8 mag)

(ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, J.-E. Ovaldsen & S. Guisard (ESO), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the upper right.

NGC 4490, Cocoon Galaxy in Canes Venatici, starburst galaxy just finishing an interaction with the smaller NGC 4485 (the pair designated Arp 269); look for a fat, elongated oval with pointy ends, well condensed but mottled core, small round satellite galaxy NGC 4485 to the north (9.8 mag)

(Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona, CC BY-SA 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the upper right.

Ellipticals

In terms of visible detail, ellipticals are the plainest. Other than shape and degree of condensation to the core, there's not much to see. I recommend doing some research before you observe them so you can just appreciate what they are. I've only included two here that have a little more to offer, being in close proximity to another galaxy and a bright star, respectively. Have at it.

M60, in Virgo; look for the smaller and much dimmer spiral galaxy NGC 4647 just off the northwestern edge of it (8.8 mag)

(Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona, CC BY-SA 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the upper left.

NGC 404, "Mirach's Ghost" in Andromeda; challenging observation because it is so close to the 2nd magnitude star Mirach, Beta And, hence the name; look for it about 7 arcminutes to the northwest by putting Mirach just outside the field of view (11.2 mag)

(Ole Nielsen, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons) Mirach is the bright star below center, NGC 404 is the much smaller object up and right from Mirach. North is up.

Active galaxies (Seyferts, Quasars)

NGC 3079, an edge-on Seyfert in Ursa Major, showing a fat cigar shape; look for subtle mottling and asymmetry in larger apertures (11.5 mag)

(KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Jeff Hapeman/Adam Block, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the lower right.

M77, a barred spiral, the prototype Seyfert in Cetus; look for the bright active nucleus and compare it to the nearby 11th magnitude star just to the east-southeast (8.9 mag)

(KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Francois and Shelley Pelletier/Adam Block, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) North is to the lower right.

3C 273, first quasar identified and the brightest, in Virgo; just look for it, you won't see any detail, just a starlike point, but you'll be looking at probably the farthest object you may ever see in your small telescope, at 2.4 billion light years (12.9 mag)

(Giuseppe Donatiello, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.) The quasar is indicated by horizontal tick marks. North is up.

Bino Body Mount - build a travel mount for binocular astronomy

I recently took a dark sky vacation to Arizona. I wanted to bring my 15x70 Garrett Optical binoculars, but they are 5.5 lbs., and I can't hand hold that with any kind of steadiness. I had previously built a zero gravity chair mount, but I wouldn't have access to a zero gravity chair. 

I was pondering compact and, of course, inexpensive solutions, and came upon this post on Stargazers Lounge. The observer uses a mini-tripod with one leg removed, resting the other two legs on his shoulders. This seemed like a great idea, except you still have to keep your elbows raised, which introduces both unsteadiness and fatigue. 

Taking that idea a step further, I devised a very simple apparatus that I call the Bino Body Mount, which solves the problem of having to raise your arms by adding a 90 degree handle to each side of a basic wood frame. You don't have to buy a mini-tripod, just a cheap 1x2 furring strip (my go-to wood for this kind of thing), a binocular tripod adapter, a 1" 1/4-20 stud knob, two star knobs, two hanger bolts, a flat washer, two fender washers, two neoprene washers, four wood screws, and two tennis balls (well, three really because they come in 3-packs). See parts and tools list at the end.

The mount breaks down flat for packing by removing three knobs. It's very lightweight, and can be used standing or sitting in any type of chair. Your arms stay at your side to provide comfortable support when standing and rest on the arms of your chair when sitting. As you recline further back toward the zenith, the shoulder bars transfer more and more of the weight to your shoulders, resolving the problem of raising your arms and tiring quickly. The Bino Body Mount also improves the view and fatigue factor with any size binoculars because you don't have to hold them in front of your face with your arms raised. 

For Comet C2023/A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), I sometimes used the mount standing because it was relatively low to the horizon and I really didn't need a chair. It worked great. I wouldn't recommend standing and looking anywhere near the zenith with binoculars, whether handheld, on a Bino Body Mount, or on a tripod. That's just painful and awkward.

For objects near the horizon, you can sit up and rest your arms on the chair arms. 

Note: That's a Bino Bandit around the eyepieces. It's a neoprene eyepiece light shield that I highly recommend despite it's relatively high cost because it works so well. 

You're not going to get rock steady views with this, but surprisingly close, and your arms and neck won't get tired. My brother and I spent many hours on our Arizona vacation using these, and they worked great with almost no fatigue. You will primarily see a jiggle from your heartbeat. You can look around anywhere in the sky that you could just handholding the binoculars. You can loosen the knobs to tilt the bino bar at whatever angle works best for you. You can adjust focus with one or both hands.

At this point, I am using the Bino Body Mount for all of my binocular astronomy observations, regardless of whether I'm traveling or not. It's simple, it's lightweight, it's compact, it's inexpensive, it's easy to build, and it works very well.

Sep. 2025 update: I was out at one of my astronomy club's observing sites recently and spotted a Bino Body Mount made by a fellow club member. He made it without the knobs, but still very serviceable! Mounting a 20x80 Zhumell binocular. 

Here's reader Mike with one of the three Bino Body Mounts that he built. Slick! I like the turntable chair mount, too. This is great if you don't want to have to move your chair to look at a different part of the sky. My kind of astronomy! 

Build it

The critical measurement is the distance from the tripod threads in between the barrels of your binoculars to the end of the eyecups, what I call the "thread-to-eye" measurement. The correct distance places the binocular eyepieces exactly where they would be if you were handholding them. This doesn't need to be super precise- within 1/2 or 1/4" is fine. You can tilt the bino bar when observing to make up for any slight error.

If you have multiple binoculars with different thread-to-eye distances, as is the case with my Meade roof prism binoculars, you just drill a pair of holes in the shoulder bars at the correct distances and you can easily reposition the bino bar as needed. Or you could just make two mounts!

See the parts and tools list at bottom of the post.

Step 1:

Measure and cut

Measure and cut a 1x2 furring strip into five pieces. You can make them whatever lengths that work for you, but I made the two shoulder bars 12" long, which accomodates most porro prism binoculars with an approximately 4" thread-to-eye distance. On a second Bino Body Mount, I cut the bars 13-1/2" long for my Meade roof prisms, since the measurement is about 6" for them. The bino bar (the crosspiece that holds the binoculars) is 11". The two handles are 12". One six or eight foot furring strip will be plenty and leaves some extra in case of "constructor error."

Step 2:

Bino bar

Drill a roughly 11/64" hole in the center of both ends of the bino bar (the 11" piece) and insert a 2" 1/4-20 hanger bolt into each, using the "two-nut" technique (thread two nuts on the end, tighten them together, then screw in by turning the upper nut, screw out by turning the lower nut). The threaded end of the hanger bolt should stick out far enough to accomodate the 5/8" width of a furring strip, another 1/8" for a neoprene washer, 1/16" for a flat washer, leaving about 1/4" for the knob to screw onto. So leave about one screw thread of the wood screw part showing and you should be fine. You can always adjust it.

Drill a 1/4" hole in the middle of the bino bar. This will hold the tripod adapter using the 1" stud knob and flat washer.

Step 3:

Shoulder bars

Drill a 1/4" hole in each shoulder bar where the bino bar crosspiece hanger bolts will be inserted. This should be the measurement above plus about 6 inches. So for a 4" thread-to-eye measurement, drill the hole about 10" from the end of the shoulder bar that will rest on your shoulder. Put a neoprene washer between the bino bar and the shoulder bar, then on the outside of the shoulder bar, a 1/4" flat or fender washer and the knob.  

Step 4:

Test the fit. People's bodies vary, so if the above calculation doesn't work, make an adjustment by drilling a hole a little closer or further from the end. This is the important part, so make sure you get it right and it's comfortable for you. Adding tennis balls will give you a little more distance, and putting a thicker pillow behind your head or wearing a hood will give you a little less. It doesn't have to be perfect, just close enough to work for you. 

Remember you can make minor adjustments by loosening the side knobs and changing the bino bar tilt slightly. I like to have the binoculars tilting slightly downward compared to the shoulder bars (see images above), except when observing near the zenith. In that case, I like to have the binoculars pretty much pointing straight out parallel with the shoulder bars, especially when observing in a chair that doesn't recline very far.

Cut an X or hole in two tennis balls and stick them on the ends of the shoulder bars so they fit snugly and won't fall off easily. This is harder than it sounds. Tennis balls are tough! I used a large folding knife to poke an initial hole, then cut the rest until it fit snugly on the end of the 1x2. See this video, or if  you have an electric carving knife, this video. I always wear heavy leather gloves when working with sharp things near my hands that could slip. 

Step 5:

Handle bars

Attach the handle bars on the outside of the shoulder bars about 7" from the ends that rest on your shoulders with two wood screws per side. You can also add tennis balls to the handle bars for the ultimate in opulence.

Step 5:

Finishing touches

With fender washers under the two side knobs, a flat washer under the bino mount knob, and neoprene washers on each end of the bino bar (to help keep it from slipping without having to overtighten the knobs), test it all and if no further adjustments are needed, sand and paint the wood pieces. 

The final assembled Bino Body Mount (with my 15x70s mounted).

Front view showing placement of the neoprene washers.

The pieces disassembled for packing in a suitcase. This mount has longer shoulder bars with two sets of holes to accomodate both my porro and roof prism binoculars. No tools required to assemble and disassemble. Just unscrew three knobs.

What's better than one Bino Body Mount? Two Bino Body Mounts! One for me and one for my brother. I hope you enjoy yours!

[1/27/2025 update] Some tips on use:

• Always carry the apparatus by holding the binoculars. That way, if you forgot to tighten something or it got loose, it's the mount that will hit something, not your binoculars.
• Apropos the above, periodically check that the three knobs are tight.
• Some tilting of the binoculars from side to side on the tripod adapter is desirable so that if you are looking off to the side a bit it will stay lined up better with your eyes. 
• When observing near the horizon while sitting, I like to rest my palms on the side knobs with my fingers curled around the ends of the handle bars, tucking my elbows in for support

Parts list

1x2 furring strip (6 ft.)

Binocular tripod adapter (example)

1" 1/4-20 stud knob (most come in multi-packs- good for lots of projects)

Two 1/4-20 2" diameter threaded five-star knobs

Two 1/4-20 2" hanger bolts

Three 1/4" hole flat washers 

two 1/4" neoprene washers

Four 1-1/4" wood screws

Two tennis balls

Tools:

Tape measure or ruler

Power drill with 1/4" and 11/64" (or close) drill bits, and phillips head bit (or screwdriver, or both)

Hand or power saw

Two 1/4" hex nuts and two 7/16" combination wrenches or pliers (to screw in the hanger bolts)

Sturdy pointed knife to make holes/cuts in tennis balls

Sandpaper, tack cloth, paint, and paintbrush

Nice to have but not essential: 

    Mitre box (to make straight cuts)

    Clamps (to hold the wood for sawing and drilling)

Upgrading from starter eyepieces

Beginner telescopes come with very basic eyepieces to get you started as soon as you open the box. Sometimes these are pretty decent and will work for you for a long time and sometimes they suck, but most people want to upgrade at some point. Unfortunately, many people now tend to upgrade too much, too soon.

My recommendation is to get an inexpensive zoom eyepiece to go with your new telescope. There are quite a few under $100 that are available. Even though I have a nice Baader Hyperion 8-24x zoom, this year I purchased a Svbony SV135 7-21mm zoom. It's a lot lighter, about six times cheaper, and a decent performer, getting mostly good reviews on Cloudy Nights for its price, and I agree. I got one for my brother, too, and he loves it. [Note: If you wear glasses or want a slightly wider view, you might want to go with the Svbony SV191 7.2-21.6mm zoom, which is a bit more expensive and not quite as sharp.]

With a zoom, you will get a feel for how different objects in the sky look in various eyepiece focal lengths, which determine the power, and what works best in your telescope. (Telescope focal length ÷ eyepiece focal length = power. For example, a telescope with a 750mm focal length with a 10mm eyepiece in it will give you 75x.) If you do eventually upgrade your eyepieces, after you get to know the sky better and know what you like to look at, you can keep the zoom and use it when you want to travel light, for quick sessions, planetary and lunar detail, double stars, and for outreach. That's what I do.

Zoom eyepieces like the SV135 have a narrower field of view than many comparably priced eyepieces and generally aren't quite as sharp or well corrected for aberrations, although this one does tolerably well. By twisting the barrel, you are able to zoom into exactly the desired power, replacing a large set of eyepieces with just one. 

As you progress, you might want wider or sharper views, which come at a cost. Televue eyepieces, the premier example of consistently high end eyepieces, are expensive because they give you well-corrected wide views, which don't come cheap. But a relatively cheap zoom allows you to experiment with different powers on different objects so you can find what works best in your telescope for you. Then you have a better idea of what you want if you decide to upgrade. This also allows you to take full advantage of your new telescope immediately. 

Well, maybe not immediately. More critical than upgrading eyepieces is learning the sky and how to find things in it with your telescope. See the Space Walk Among the Stars sound guides, which will help you find some wonderful deep space objects, as well as posts on determining directions in your telescope, how to set up your telescope for starhopping, the Astrohopper app, and others. 

The internet is full of observing guides. I would start by visiting the Sky & Telescope site, with their Interactive Sky Chart and lots of information for beginners. You'll find tons of information there. Also visit Cloudy Nights, the premier amateur astronomy forum. The Beginners Forum will keep you occupied for many cloudy nights to come and provide a place to ask questions.

Left: Screenshot from Sky Safari Pro. Apps like this help you locate objects in the night sky and can even control your telescope if it is go-to equipped.