Star party slideshow: guiding new users

The April Starfest at the university, before and after it got dark:

Guiding new users:

Before the new user sits in the chair:

• Have the chair-front counterweight solidly in place (important).
• Demonstrate, or those standing in line could watch the person in the chair.
• Coarse adjust the teeter mount height and the neck cushion height.
• Coarse adjust the distance out to the oculars, using the thumbscrews, taking into account eye glasses. However, most don’t need to use their glasses (see the note at the end).
• Coarse adjust the IPD only if theirs is very unusual (less important).
• Push the teeter up out of the way.

Then the new user does this:

• They sit fully back in the chair, sitting tall, not slouching (important), unless they are very tall.
• They use their torso strength to tilt the backrest back a little.
• They use their right hand on the cradle (not on the binoculars) to push the teeter/cradle up or down.
• They bring the teeter down parallel in front of their eyes (you could then re-adjust the gap to the oculars using the thumbscrews).
• Again, they can adjust IPD if theirs is very unusual (less important).
• They push the teeter down a bit and look over top of the binoculars at a small star or target.
• They can pan using the left hand drive wheel.
• They bring the teeter back up and center the small object in the binoculars (from behind, you could push a little to line them up).
• They adjust the focus, typically one eye at a time.
• They can push the teeter down away from their eyes, to look for their next target.
• They can slew to targets either while looking through the binoculars or not. They would typically slew without touching the binoculars.       
• For high elevation targets, they use torso strength to push the backrest further back. When new users make large changes in viewing elevation, it is safer without the binoculars directly in front of the eyes. The cushion is best if under the nape of the neck.
• To lower the viewing elevation by a large extent, or to exit the chair, they use lower leg strength, and grab the armrests to tilt the chair upright (they could swivel the teeter up first, so that both hands can pull on the armrests).

Other advice:

• Those who cannot operate an ordinary zero gravity chair, will need more assistance.
• Very short persons and children, may have difficulty getting high enough to see.     
• For high elevation viewing the teeter mount height setting is important, especially for very tall users. The oculars may push against the eye sockets if the teeter mounts are not high enough.
• The chair-front counterweight is intentionally heavy (important). It reduces the chance that the entire chair could tip backwards, and it assists when returning the backrest upright.
• Many can choose to not use eye glasses and can instead focus each ocular. This may not work for those with a lot of astigmatism. However for star-hopping, it is helpful to be able to see some bright star locations when not looking through the binoculars.