June 2020 – Tele Vue Optics

Powermate Solar Imaging from Kent, UK!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/plndrw/49925540586/ — Proms Mono by flickr user Paul Andrew. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Lunt LS152 Solar Telescope (obj: 152mm / fl: 900mm) with Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate and imaged with ZWO ASI290MM monochrome camera (1936px x 1096px, color added in post-processing). Taken 20th May 2020 from Kent, UK. Solar prominences dance along magnetic field lines on the limb of the active Sun while fibrils of super-heated plasma fill the foreground.

Paul Andrew has been an amateur astronomer since the age of 11. He is the founder and Honorable President of the South East Kent Astronomical Society in the UK. He’s had a number of his astrophotographs published — in particular, his solar images — in national newspapers and on websites as far afield as Russia. He’s been short-listed for the prestigious Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition four times now. We’ve noted his high-quality solar images and discovered that many were made with our Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate in the imaging train. So, we present a selection of his work in this week’s blog.

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New Product! 67mm Converter for 55mm Plössl Night Vision Enhancement

Until now we had recommended the Tele Vue 55mm Plössl for the largest field and brightest view when using the PVS-14 Night Vision monocular. The new field/brightness champ is STILL the 55mm Plössl but extended to a 67mm focal length using our Converter Lens (ECL-67.0). The lens is sold separately for those already owning a Tele Vue 55mm Plössl. For those who don’t yet own one, we’ve put together a package consisting of the eyepiece, the converter lens, and a 2” Extension Tube (ECP-5567 shown above).

This image of the North American and Pelican Nebulae approximates the naked-eye view seen through a PVS-14 night vision monocular when connected to a Tele Vue-85 with Tele Vue 55mm Plössl. Taken through FoneMate smartphone adapter with Huawei P20 Pro phone. Exposure notes: 4mm lens at f/1.6, 30-sec exposure at ISO 125. North American and Pelican Nebulae by Gavin Orpin. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Night Vision astronomy continues to expand with more and more amateurs buying military-grade night vision gear. As Gavin Orpin told us in a guest blog post last year, night vision “has given me a completely new aspect of the hobby to explore.” He’s able to observe Deep Sky Objects through his portable Tele Vue-85 that would have been impossible to see otherwise from his home near central London.

We’ve taken advantage of the full-field capability of our 55mm Plössl by introducing a night vision specific converter lens that extends its focal length to 67mm; thereby reducing the eyepiece’s apparent field of view from 50° to 40° to exactly match the field of view of the PVS-14 objective. That’s a 20% increase in true field-of-view seen with a simple screw-in accessory lens!

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New! Quick Release Tele Vue Starbeam!

SRT-2010 Starbeam, with a quick release base allowing easy removal from scope without the need to touch the Starbeam alignment.

Starbeam has long been the highest quality, unit-power finder companion for the amateur astronomer. Looking through its 40mm glass lens you see an unamplified, natural sky background with a 10 arc-minute (1/3 Moon diameter) collimated “red-star” superimposed over it. Alignment adjustment is built in to Starbeam so no tools are required to align it with your scope. For high-angle targets, the unique flip mirror feature saves your knees and neck by letting you look down into the mirror to see the reflection of the sky. This elegantly designed finder comes in three mounting versions for Tele Vue rings, Newtonian scopes, and Schmidt–Cassegrain scopes.

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Yes, We’re Open!

2020 June 1

TeleVue Optics, Inc.
32 Elkay Dr.
Chester, NY 10918

Dear Astronomy Friends,

On the first full day of spring, March 20, when Tele Vue’s COVID-19 pandemic closing notice was put on our blog, we wrote: “We are all living through a time of great uncertainty when we do not know exactly what will come in the weeks and months ahead.” It has been a long journey, and while this crisis is by no means over, today we are all healthy and ready to fully serve our customers!

Thanks to all who supported us over the past seventy-three days! We read your kind words on our Facebook page and even got letters through the mail! Our blog newsletter saw an increase in subscriptions and a multitude of amateurs continued to @televue on social media as they found more time for their favorite hobby and “sheltered in space.”

We’re starting the process of restocking the shelves at our dealers, answering your questions, building scopes, doing our famous eyepiece quality control checks, and becoming more active on social media. While the pandemic continues to curtail events and Tele Vue’s appearances, we’ll update our website Tour Schedule, social media, and announce on the blog when and where we’ll be showing products in person.

Please continue to Stay Safe and Clear Skies!

David Nagler

President, Tele Vue Optics, Inc.