All Tele Vue telescopes now come standard as optical tube assemblies (OTA) that can be turned into “complete” units with optional, customized accessory packages. The package costs can be substantially less than pricing each component individually. This blog takes you through the changes for the Tele Vue-60, Tele Vue-76, and Tele Vue-85 models. Accessory packages for the larger scopes will be covered in a future blog.
Galileo’s telescopic sketches of the moon from “Sidereus Nuncius” published in March 1610. Animation created from public domain images obtained from Wikimedia Commons.
The changing face of the moon has long been documented by artists. In the early 1600’s, the introduction of the telescope allowed for detailed sketching of lunar features at the eyepiece. The most celebrated early telescope sketcher was Galileo Galilei. His artistic training allowed him to understand that the jagged appearance of the lunar terminator (day/night line) seen in the eyepiece was due to the topography of craters, mountain, and ridges on the moon. These irregular shadows on the moon had puzzled earlier observers that considered the moon to be a flat disk with markings on it.
Copernicus Crater by AstroBin user Tanglebones. Copyright by the artist. Used by permission. Tele Vue Panoptic 35mm eyepice with Tele Vue 2x Powermate using Sky-Watcher Mak 180 Pro scope.
By the 1970s amateurs had noticed that all 110 Messier objects could be observed at low northern latitudes over the course of a night in mid-to-late March.
You’ve probably heard of Charles Messier’s catalog of celestial deep-sky objects for 18th century comet hunters. When they stumbled upon an unknown faint fuzzy object, they’d consult this list to see if it was a known object. It was first published in 1774 and expanded with help from fellow observers in that century. Astronomers and amateurs in the early 20th Century rediscovered it, added a few new objects, and made corrections. There are now 110 “M” objects in the modern catalog.
Every sky chart labels the location of these objects with the letter “M” and a number. For instance, the brightest Messier is M45 — the famous naked-eye Pleiades open star cluster. A third of the way around the sky you’ll find the dimmest: M95 — a galaxy of magnitude 10 or 11 (depending on the source) in Leo.
NGC 1333 reflection nebula in Perseus from Brorfelde Observatory (Luminance) 7/8 January 2018 and Drøsselbjerg (RGB) 14 February 2018. (Cropped, click for full-image.) Equipment: TeleVue-NP127is, ZWO ASI 1600MM cooled mono camera, and Baader filters, on Track The Stars TTS 160 Panther mount. Luminance: 39×300” by Niels Haagh & Niels V. Christensen at Brorfelde. RGB each: 20×120” by Niels Haagh at Drøsselbjerg. NGC 1333 … by AstroBin user Niels V. Christensen. Copyright Niels V. Christensen. Used by permission.
We spotted some great Tele Vue-NP127is images on Instagram and AstroBin recently. They are the work of a collaboration between Niels Christensen and other amateurs from Denmark. We contacted Niels to learn more.
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