Cherry Springs Star Party: Afterglow with the NP101

What I like about star parties is meeting and speaking to all the fine people that travel long distances for great observing experiences.  Sometimes the conversations continue after the event. This is an excerpt from a note I received from Bob Danko, of Warren Ohio, soon after returning from the Cherry Springs Star Party this June.

First I want to thank you for star testing the TV-NP101 at the Cherry Springs Star Party on 24 June 2017. I can’t believe you took the time to do that, and also talk to me for some time. 

I have used this scope about a dozen times already. I am very happy with this scope. Jeff at Camera Concepts probably sold me my keeper scope. I always wanted a Tele Vue. 

Bob commented that he was pleased with the 7mm DeLite (62° apparent field) he bought for the scope and on his plan to buy another eyepiece in the DeLite line for it.

I wrote back to Bob thanking him for his kind note. Because the 7mm DeLite offers 77x (with 0.80° True Field), I recommended his next eyepiece be the 4mm DeLite that will yield 135x (with 0.46° True Field). The other benefits of staying within the DeLite-line is the generous 20mm eye-relief and adjustable/locking eyeguard that make them great for use with the FoneMate™ smartphone imaging adapter, which we had discussed at the star party.  The long eye-relief allows DeLites to work well with DIOPTRX™ astigmatism correctors as well.

I did point out another alternative in my reply: with a driven mount the 3-6mm Nagler Planetary Zoom would make a great second eyepiece. This will pickup the magnification right where 7mm DeLite left off: 90-180x on that scope (0.54-0.28° True Field). I always recommend this eyepiece for “fine tuning” eyepiece magnification to match the seeing conditions. The trade-off, I pointed out to him, is a more limited apparent field of view (50°) and shorter eye-relief (10mm).

I wished Bob many clear skies! I look forward to meeting more of you at the next star party.

• Tele Vue DeLite eyepieces (mobile version)
• Tele Vue Nagler Planetary Zoom 3-6mm (mobile version)
• Tele Vue DIOPTRX™ astigmatism correctors (mobile version)
• Tele Vue FoneMate™ connects your smartphone to select Tele Vue eyepieces (mobile version).
• Tele Vue NP101is  scope (mobile version). Note that the visual performance of the current TeleVue-NP101is is identical to that of Bob’s Tele Vue-NP101.
• Stargazing at Cherry Springs State Park —official site
• Cherry Springs Star Party next year: June 14-17, 2018
• Black Forest Star Party will be at Cherry Springs State Park on September 22-24, 2017