2017 WSP with Prototype Image Intensifier!
What a pleasure to have long-time customers come over to our booth to say “hello” to “Uncle Al”. Tim and Spencer Vent came to WSP from Helena, AR. A special thanks to my friend Mal Speer who helps me set-up and demonstrate our products. Kermitis was parked on Tim Peters’ (DiscMount) van to greet visitors looking through our scopes.
It’s also great to meet other telescope makers such as John Pratte and Mike Lockwood (he made Pratte’s 32”, f/3.6 mirror). I always enjoy getting my “Omega fix” — seeing the incredible Omega Centauri globular cluster in a large Dob. (It was also nice to see that John installed an NP101 as a finder for his scope). And having John install our prototype night vision setup in his scope and having Darren Drake take a smartphone video of the Orion nebula with it. It was a unique first-light experience. Darren kindly sent us the video and his impressions as follows:
On the night of February 20th, at the Winter Star Party, we were treated to a wonderful view of M42 with John Pratte’s 32-inch, f3.6 Dobsonian telescope equipped with a Starlight Integrated Paracorr System (SIPS). Later, when we used a 17.3mm Delos and a new prototype image intensified eyepiece brought out by Al Nagler — the view took on a whole new level of detail. We decided to use a Tele Vue FoneMate™ to attach my Note 4 cell phone to the device to make a brief video. The zooming was simply done with the screen on the phone. The results were extremely impressive and even showed the ever elusive G and H stars of the trapezium. Stars down to 16th magnitude were seen. The clip shows a real time video playback that is seen pretty much in real time with no glitchiness. This is definitely a device that can add a whole new level to the observing experience.
At the 2017 Winter Star Party on Scout Key, Florida, Darren Drake (Indian Head Park, Illinois) used the Tele Vue FoneMate™ with a prototype image intensifier provided by Al Nagler. Video by Darren Drake.
For your reference, these are the labled trapezium stars from the video. 
| Trapezium Star | Visual Magnitude |
|---|---|
| A | 6.73 |
| B | 7.96 |
| C | 5.13 |
| D | 6.70 |
| E | 11.1 |
| F | 10.122 |
| G | 13.678 |
| H | 15 or greater |
Magnitudes obtained from Simbad database.
More images from the 2017 Winter Star Party
• Learn the advantage of using a FoneMate™ with your smartphone to image through Tele Vue eyepieces and your telescope.
• The 17.3mm Delos has a 72° apparent field, 20mm eye relief, and adjustable height eyeguard to find your personal observing sweet-spot.
• The NP101is, a visual and imaging scope, has a heritage that spans the history of Tele Vue, from the original Renaissance to the TV-101.
• A Paracorr color-free, coma corrector is essential when using fast Dobs.
