Astro ImagePowermate

Powermate Solar Imaging from Kent, UK!

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.
 

Prominence time lapse of 20 minutes (cloud limited). “It is amazing the amount of motion within the prominence in such a short period of time.” Taken 31st August 2014.
 
 
AR2738 by flickr user Paul Andrew. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Some interesting activity on the Sun at the moment – a nice active region and sunspot (AR2738). Lunt LS152 Solar Telescope (obj: 152mm / fl: 900mm) with Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate and imaged with ZWO ASI290MM monochrome camera (1936px x 1096px). Captured on 10th April 2019 in blustery conditions from Kent, UK. A dark filament snakes its way among fibrils and bright plages in an area surrounding a sunspot.
Paul’s dedicated roll-off-roof observatory houses a Lunt LS152THA on a Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro mount. Photography is carried out with either a ZWO ASI290MM or an Altair Hypercam 174M camera, with the  Tele Vue 2.5X Powermate.
 
AR2738 pano by flickr user Paul Andrew. All rights reserved. Used by permission. A multiple-pane composite of Active Region 2738. Lunt LS152 Solar Telescope (obj: 152mm / fl: 900mm) with Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate and imaged with ZWO ASI290MM monochrome camera (1936px x 1096px). Captured on 10th April 2019 from Kent, UK. A panoramic view of solar prominences and the same Active Region as in the prior photo.
Paul told us why he chose the Powermate for his Solar imaging work.
 
With the Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate being telecentric and of a high optical performance it was my first and main choice for solar imaging. In addition, coupled with my two mono cameras (a ZWO ASI290MM and a Hypercam 174M) the Powermate gives me my ideal image scale for high-resolution solar work. All in all, a no brainer!
 
We wish Paul clear skies and continued success with his solar imaging.
 
Powermates Give Your Scope Greater Magnification
Powermates come in 1¼” (2.5x & 5x) and 2″ (2x, & 4x).

Tele Vue Powermate™ photo / visual amplifiers increase the focal length of your scope with reduced aberrations, greater magnification potential, and compact size compared to typical Barlow lenses. Also, Powermates™ can be stacked with no adverse impact. Tele Vue Powermates™ are available in 2″ barrels (2x & 4x) with 1¼” adapters and 1¼” barrels (2.5x & 5x). They Can be used with diagonal or without using a short extension. 

Powermate T-Ring Adapters (left-to-right): PTR-2200 for 2x, PTR-4201 for 4x, and PTR-1250 for 2.5x & 5x Powermates.

Imaging with Powermates™ is easy: the visual tops all unscrew to accept a specific Tele Vue Powermate™ T-Ring Adapter for use with standard camera T-rings. Otherwise, a camera just needs a slip-in 1¼” or 2” nosepiece to slide into the visual top. 

 
Did you observe, sketch, or image with Tele Vue gear? We’ll like your social media post on that if you tag it #televue and the gear used. Example:
#televue #tv85 #powermate #solareclipse

 
Instagram users! Do you want your Tele Vue images re-posted on Tele Vue Optics’ Instagram account? Use this hashtag for consideration:
#RPTVO

 

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse (July 5th)
People in the Americas, western Europe, and Africa will see the third of four Lunar Eclipses this year. All are “penumbral” which means the Moon will pass through the dim outer shadow cast by the Earth. This slow-moving event will peak at 04:29:51 UT as the Moon passes through the edges of Earth’s shadow causing its northern hemisphere to darken slightly. 
Lunar Eclipse maps and data courtesy of Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus, “Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000” (NASA/TP-2009-214173). Dark areas see nothing, and shaded areas will see part of the event. “TD” differs from “UT” by slightly over a minute. See Key to Lunar Eclipse Figures.
The best way to prove to your friends an eclipse took place at all is with a time-lapse video showing the Moon “dipping its toes” in the Earth’s shadow. A smartphone with a time-lapse app makes it easy to do this. To reasonably enlarge the size of the Moon, you’ll need to image through your telescope with the smartphone. We recommend using the sturdy clamp-arms of Tele Vue’s FoneMate connected to a compatible low-power Tele Vue eyepiece. A tracking mount for your scope will help keep the Moon in view during the time-lapse.

 

 
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