Needed: Eye Care Professional who will help with glasses for Astronomy

[BeachAstro]

Hi, I'm a dedicated amateur astronomer who currently wears progressive lenses (plastic with A/R coatings) for distance vision and some reading correction, and a small amount of astigmatism. I believe that with a dedicated pair of "astronomy" glasses I will get improved "naked eye" vision at night. I've been told contact lenses are not an option for me.

I live in the Seacoast NH area and I'm looking for an Eye Care Professional who can help me obtain a pair of glasses which will maximize my night-adapted vision for stargazing. I have read Barry Santini's 2005 article in Sky & Telescope and in fact it was Barry who suggested using this board to make the request. Travelling to Boston is a quite reasonable option for me, but Long Island is a little far...

I understand it might take some experimentation to get the right prescription. That's OK, I'm willing to bring flippers out at night, etc. The night sky provides lots of opportunity to test my vision - splitting close double stars, seeing fainter and fainter objects, etc. I understand that some overcorrection might be required to maximize utility for astronomy.

As an aside, I also need to be able to read my star charts, so these glasses will probably be bifocal. Maybe trifocal to include some mid-distance too, in case I need to find something I drop on the ground?

They should probably be wrap-around so they can be as close to my eye as practicable (since many telescope eyepieces have limited eye relief). Probably glass to keep them from getting scratched in the field. A/R coatings a must to avoid loss of light. They definitely don't need to be progressive, and they certainly don't need to make a fashion statement since they will only be used in the dark. :-)

That's about as far as I've been able take things on my own. If you know someone who is willing to help in the New Hampshire / Boston area, please contact me. Of course, they will get the rest of my optical business for me and my family too!

Ted Blank
Hampton, NH

[HarryChiling]

I hate to suggest this but you may want to consider some sort of wave front corrected contact lenses. The reasoning for this would be you would have less of a minimizing effect from the eyeglasses and the if you can have a doctor on the cutting edge perform abberometry on you and have that incorporated into your contacts the problems associated with having a larger that average stop (dilated pupil at night) could be reduced or eliminated provideing you with crisper optics or the potential for this. This could also be doen in the case of lenses with *gasp* Izon lenses, I feel dirty now. Of course the Izon option would only help in a dead ahead gaze and I don't know how accomadating (no pun intended) they would be with experimentation in gettign the Rx right. Good Luck.

[BeachAstro]

Harry,

Just the kind of discussion I would like to have with an ECP in my area. Hopefully folks reading this board might know of someone who is interested in working on this kind of a "niche" request.

Thanks,
Ted

[Uncle Double]

Believe it or not, something as simple as refracting with all the room lights off can help a little. We normally leave some lights on because the cornea and lens are not shaped perfectly and a larger pupil (in the dark) will usually measure a little more nearsighted than you are in normal lighting. Talk with your doctor...I'd offer to help, but Alabama may be too far to drive with gas prices what they are. Good luck.

[tntborden]

Using glass for scratch resistance will have no impact since you want to have AR coating. The coating is on top of the glass and will scratch first. Hoya High Vision AR coating on top of plastic will be almost as hard as glass to scratch.

[Barry Santini]

Using glass for scratch resistance will have no impact since you want to have AR coating. The coating is on top of the glass and will scratch first. Hoya High Vision AR coating on top of plastic will be almost as hard as glass to scratch.

This only somewhat true. ALL the BAYER scratch test results that the coating manufacturers use really do not relate to real-world use, especially at a telescope eyepiece (I should know). However, Hoya Super Hi Vision is amongst the best AR coatings for non-glass lenses.

Barry

[Barry Santini]

I hate to suggest this but you may want to consider some sort of wave front corrected contact lenses. The reasoning for this would be you would have less of a minimizing effect from the eyeglasses and the if you can have a doctor on the cutting edge perform abberometry on you and have that incorporated into your contacts the problems associated with having a larger that average stop (dilated pupil at night) could be reduced or eliminated provideing you with crisper optics or the potential for this. This could also be doen in the case of lenses with *gasp* Izon lenses, I feel dirty now. Of course the Izon option would only help in a dead ahead gaze and I don't know how accomadating (no pun intended) they would be with experimentation in gettign the Rx right. Good Luck.

Harry,

I'm not sure how familiar you are with observational astronomy. You NEVER want to diminsh the entrance pupil of the eye for *naked* eye observing.

[BeachAstro]

Just wanted to let everyone know how things are going. I ordered the set of Night Myopia flippers from Optego Vision. Originally I was just going to get the -.25 / -.50 version but I decided to spring for the additional -.75 and -1.00 diopter.

Upon taking the flippers out under dark sky conditions I found I saw more and better stars all the way up to -1.00. The differences were remarkable and I felt a real surge of emotion as I suddenly saw the sky in a way that I remembered from younger days. It was like a trip back in time. What a refreshing change from the usual litany of parts that don't work like they used to.

I called local Optical shops and found one who said they would work with me. I spent a very nice morning yesterday at Eyesight Inc. in Portsmouth, NH, with Dr. Alan Thompson. He was accomodating in every way, took time to listen to the issues and challenges I was bringing to the table, and together we decided on a set of plastic, AR and nonscratch coated, non-progressive bifocal "astronomy" glasses in an inexpensive ($129) frame with stiff temples and spring hinges. The stiff temples will allow me to more easily replace the glasses on my head when I am wearing a knit winter cap during observing. The prescription will be for an additional -.75 over my current distance prescription, and the bifocals are so I can read the charts with glasses on. It was a bit of a challenge to find frames that were not Palin-esque, because I wanted more "glass" not less.

When the glasses arrive I will let you know how they work out. But thanks to Barry for participating in the original Sky & Telescope article, and thanks to all the folks on Optiboard who share their knowledge so freely.

[HarryChiling]

Harry,

I'm not sure how familiar you are with observational astronomy. You NEVER want to diminsh the entrance pupil of the eye for *naked* eye observing.

Agreed, the point was that the specific situation would have the observer in a dark enviornment which would mean his pupils would be dilated, this also means that with such a wide stop the effects of certain aberrations may be more noticeable.

[QDO1]

Get another opinion about the contact lenses!

thought i would sling in an alternate approach...

With spectacles - You might be better off with something very small, and round (i.e.) fitting in the eye socket a lot closer - ironically - this can give you a wider clearer field of view

There is nothing at all wrong with ani reflective coated GLASS! Which in a small frame will be very light, and very scratch resistant, exhibiing very low abberations. This is the method used by many astomoners over the years