BREAKING NEWS: Apollo 11mm and Sky Events!

Last year, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and in recognition of Al Nagler’s contribution to the greater effort that made the mission possible, we “launched” a limited run of 300 commemorative Apollo 11mm eyepieces.

The following note is from Al Nagler.

Dear Tele Vue Aficionado,

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm for our products. We’re sorry for some product delays due to an unexpected increase in demand during this pandemic time.

Here’s an announcement I’m making today that’s unique in my lifetime, leaving me conflicted between happy and sad:

We’ve sold out of our limited edition special production run of the Apollo 11 eyepiece celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing.

Yes, I’m sad they are gone, but happy to have spread more joy among our astronomical community. Little did I know in the 1960s that my design for the LEM Simulator optics, showing a 110° star field to the astronauts would change my life, inspiring me to eventually share wide-field views with fellow amateur astronomers by founding Tele Vue Optics, Inc.

I’d appreciate your taking a few minutes to see my PowerPoint presentation, I Thank My Lucky Stars on the Tele Vue blog to share my life path with you.

Stay well,

Al Nagler

The maximum eclipse will be at 16:13:28 UTC and visible through a narrow strip of Chile and Argentina in southern South America and in the ocean on either side. A partial eclipse will be visible to a large swath of South America for thousands of miles on either side of the line. See our Late-2020 Sky Events! blog for details.

While northern hemisphere observers won’t enjoy the solar eclipse, they do have the best viewing for the Geminid meteor shower. The American Meteor Society notes the Geminids “climax the year with the strongest dependable and observable display.” They expect typical maximum rates exceeding 60-70/hour.

This year the new Moon on December 14th guarantees that luna will be out of the sky for the shower’s peak on the night of December 13/14. But there is no need to wait for the peak: the shower is currently building and you can check it out on any clear night. Early evening offers the chance to see long trailing earthgrazers rising over the north-eastern horizon. You’ll see the maximum number of meteors after midnight when the star Castor in Gemini is high in the sky and reaches the zenith at 2 a.m. Just look anywhere in the sky away from light pollution.

The meteor particles are shed by the Near Earth Asteroid 3200 Phaethon as it travels from within the orbit of Mercury to past the orbit of Mars. Earth crosses this debris path every year at this time and the particles burning up in our atmosphere are what we see as meteors.