Month: October 2017

Tele Vue TV-NP101is Relativity Experiment: Data Update

Artwork inspired by images and data from Dr. Bruns’  eclipse experiment website.

This is an update on Dr. Don Bruns’s attempt to measure star-position deflection with our Tele Vue-NP101is telescope during this past August’s solar eclipse. His goal was not just to duplicate the famous 1919 experiment (by Sir Arthur Eddington that proved Dr. Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity), but to demonstrate that portable, readily available amateur equipment can produce results that rival that of professional hardware from past decades. His experiment was to “determine Einstein’s deflection to an accuracy of 1%, the best optical measurement of the deflection ever demonstrated.” He points out that a professional attempt at the 1973 eclipse achieved an error of 11%. See our blog post “Tele Vue NP101is to Test Einstein’s General Relativity” for more background.

Continue reading “Tele Vue TV-NP101is Relativity Experiment: Data Update”

Subject: 10715 NAGLER (1983 RL4)

What does the surface of asteroid 10715 Nagler look like? Asteroid Eros (NEAR Shoemaker mission image above) may have originated in the same Maria group of asteroids as 10715 Nagler. (NASA-JPL)

We’d like to share with you this nice letter Al received from Roger Harvey recently.

From: Roger Harvey
To: Al Nagler
Subject: 10715 NAGLER (1983 RL4)

Hi Al,

We first met at the Wildacres Retreat, North Carolina mountains, this past April. Despite our lengthy conversation that I will always remember, you never mentioned that you were honored with asteroid 10715 Nagler (1983 RL4).

As luck would have it, my primary effort in amateur astronomy the past 40+ years has been visually identifying asteroids by their position, magnitude, and motion against the background star field.

My observing session for August 16, 2017 happened to include 10715. I saw it at 3:54, 4:32, and 6:28 UT retrograding southwestward in Aquarius at magnitude 16.3. This was ~0.5 magnitude fainter than advertised…not uncommon with higher numbered asteroids. In doing so it was my 5900th asteroid.

My scope is a Lockwood 32” f/4 which (of course!) I couple with your Paracorr Type 1. The 5.5 mm eyepiece yields 676X which is my usual choice. Several times I’ve had to go to 1352X for very faint targets requiring a darker field. Obviously such an effort would be impossible without the excellent optical train above.

Again, it was great speaking with you on the phone today! I am so glad you got a kick out of your asteroid actually being seen by a human (read eyeball, not CCD) (:>). Your joy made my day as well.

Roger Harvey

Continue reading “Subject: 10715 NAGLER (1983 RL4)”

Tele Vue TV-60 is Not Just for the Birds

We are proud of the SmartMoney Award the TV-60- received upon its introduction.

This is the counterpoint to our Tele Vue is for the Birds blog post this past spring. Yes, you’ll find that the TV-60 is a great grab’n go astro scope too! 

Our award winning, high performance, super-compact Tele Vue-60 is worth considering for those looking for a super-portable APO refractor. It fills many niches including travel, super-finder, day/night scope, and is a great telephoto.

It accomplishes all this APO-goodness in a very small 60mm, f/6 form-factor: just 10″ long without diagonal!

Tele Vue TV-60 is a 60mm, f/6 APO with 4.3° field of view (32mm Plössl).

Continue reading “Tele Vue TV-60 is Not Just for the Birds”