S and T Report

to zenith. To direct the view either left or right, you have to turn the mount. Initially I placed Sky Window on a heavy-duty camera tripod. A plate on the bottom of the unit has seven mounting holes tapped with a standard ¼-20 thread, so the unit can be balanced with just about any size and weight binoculars attached. In addition to giving easy access to the whole sky, using a tripod also made it a snap to adjust the binocular eyepieces to a comfortable observing height. Eventually, however, I switched to using Sky Window on a small, glass-top table. While this required me to move around the table when I wanted to view different parts of the sky, it also provided a comfortable support for my arms and a surface for sky charts and a flashlight. I sat at the table using Sky Window much as I would sit reading a book.

Sometimes it's the unexpected features that I find most appealing about a new product. Such was the case for Sky Window, a novel binocular mount manufactured by Trico Machine Products of Bedford Heights, Ohio. Last summer the company sent us a unit for evaluation as an item for our New Product Showcase. Two things were apparent the moment I pulled Sky Window from its shipping box: the mount was beautifully made of machined and anodized aluminum, and it would indeed live up to the manufacturer’s claims of being very comfortable

to use. Nevertheless, I also knew that a binocular view of the sky reflected in a mirror would show an image that was both upside down and mirror reversed. And this was sure to compromise one of the most appealing aspects of binocular astronomy, or so I thought. But, as the old saw goes, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, so I carted Sky Window home to try it under the stars. What I discovered the first night outside surprised me, but it was an unexpected feature that emerged in the following weeks that really caught my attention.

Obvious at a Glance
Take one look at Sky Window and you'll understand in an instant how it works. Standard binoculars are rigidly held at a comfortable, down-looking angle, and through them one sees the sky reflected in a pivoting mirror. Perfectly balanced and fitted with two thumbscrews to provide friction, the mirror is easily tipped with the fingers to sweep the view from horizon

Sky Window: A Novel Mount for Binocular Astronomy
When it comes to comfort, this mount is unmatched for scanning the heavens with binoculars.
By Dennis Di Cicco

Sky Window has three conical feet made of soft rubber. Because these grip most surfaces too tenaciously to allow smooth movement in azimuth, the man-ufacturer provides plastic caps for the feet. Most of the time I left the back foot uncapped so that it gripped the table, forming a natural pivot for azimuth motion. As such I could use my fingertips to sweep the mirror vertically and pivot the unit left and right.

With all three feet capped, pressing the unit from side to side with my fingers merely caused a lat-eral movement without changing the viewing in azimuth.
I was surprised how quickly I adapted to the unusual orientation of the view. Part of the reason is the "intuitive" directions seen in the eyepiece. Unlike the view in an inverting telescope, when you want to center an object that appears to the left in Sky Window's field of view, you swing the mount to the left.

My initial worry about aiming Sky Window evaporated my first night outside. Using the same method I usually employ to aim binoculars, I would peer along the side of the binoculars and look at the sky's image reflected in the mirror. This was difficult only when I aimed near the horizon, since the tilt of the mirror restricted the amount of sky visible when I looked above the binoculars.

Later I used one of Howie Glatter's green-laser Sky Pointers as a high-tech finder. Strapped to the side of the binoculars with a couple of rubber bands and "fine tuned" with a cardboard shim, it proved perfect for aiming at a specific target as well as identifying where in the sky I was looking when I swept up an interesting object. The laser's aim can be precisely fixed, since the beam can be seen in the binoculars.
The view with Sky Window is rock solid, and it stays put. This made it a joy when I used star charts placed next to the unit on the table. I could switch between looking at the charts and viewing through the binoculars without fear of bumping the mount and losing my aim. The view remained steady even

when I pressed my face into the binocular eye-pieces, making it possible to pick up subtle details in the scene that I otherwise might have missed if the field of view jiggled about.

So what was the unexpected feature of Sky Window that I really liked? Convenience. Small and compact even when left with the binoculars attached, the unit was unobtrusively stored on a counter in a corner of the laundry room during my testing. It was ready at a moment's notice to carry outside. No other binocular mount I've tried has offered such convenience. There's something to be said for gear that's quick and easy to set up, especially when you live under fickle New England skies!