Tele Vue: We’ll Always Have Paris!
It’s almost time to board the plane for my biennial trip to the “Rencontres du Ciel et de l’Espace” (RCE). The show takes place from November 1st through 3rd at the Museum of Science and Industry in Paris and features over 150 lectures (in French of course) over the three days with vendors spread over two floors. Daily attendance is in the neighborhood of 2,500 people, so it’s a busy show!
I’ve enjoyed demonstrating Tele Vue eyepieces and telescopes at this show since 2006! I’ve met many wonderful amateur astronomers over the years and always look forward to returning. Though I still don’t speak a word of French, I’m always amazed at how easy it is to communicate in the language of the telescope.
Once again I’m being hosted by our longest standing European dealer, Optique Unterlinden. They have been tremendous Tele Vue supporters since the early 80’s! To put that in perspective, I started full-time at Tele Vue in 1988, so they’ve got me beat. The OU staff has also visited us at Tele Vue for factory training on repair of Tele Vue telescopes and eyepieces; such is their commitment to our company.
I want to thank Marc and Luc for inviting me again this year. You will find me in their booth with a bunch of our telescopes and mounts, all our eyepieces, and plenty of accessories to play with. Kermitis is already packed for the journey.
This year we’ll have an additional something special as my friend Alvaro Martinez of AstronSCIENTIFIC will join me to demonstrate a collaborative project fitting Tele Vue telescopes with the Rotarion Eyepiece Wheel and Imaging accessories. The Rotarion is a superbly engineered piece of equipment which beautifully complements our refractors. Just like our scopes and eyepieces, you really need to see it in person to understand how valuable it can be to your observing and imaging.
So if you happen to be in Paris this coming weekend (not as far-fetched as you might think. I’ve met vacationing amateur astronomers from America at the show!), stop-on by and say “bonjour.”