TV85: Galaxy Season from Palm Springs, CA
Northern hemisphere Galaxy Season runs from early March to mid-May. This is the time to view and image the “Realm of Galaxies” that runs through the constellations Virgo and Coma Berenices before the longer nights of summer steal away the evening sky. Jeff Fishman, imaging with his Tele Vue-85 and one-shot-color camera from the Bortle 7 skies of Palm Springs, CA, shared with us these images from the just passed Galaxy Season.
First up is a classic image of M51: the Whirlpool galaxy and dwarf companion. Jeff tells us that this was “captured under a very moonlit sky. Despite the glow and light pollution, the Tele Vue-85 and an OptoLong L-Pro filter held their own and delivered some beautiful detail on this classic face-on spiral. Even in tough conditions, this scope continues to impress.” For the shooting conditions this image (close-up crop shown) was able to capture many features. The yellow glow of the central core, populated by smaller, long-lived, yellow stars, is evident. Dust material, shed in the stellar winds of giant stars and supernova explosions, is found along the spiral arms. At the tip of M51’s long arm on the left side of the image is NGC 5195 (aka M51b) – a dwarf galaxy passing behind M51. Gravitational tidal forces between them are contributing to the star formation in those magnificent spiral arms.
I decided I wanted refractors for pinpoint stars and Tele Vue was my choice.
Jeff told us how he got into amateur astronomy and why he prefers the Tele Vue-85 for imaging.
“I am early retired and needed a hobby. This is something i really enjoy and can physically do. I started with visual astronomy ― Celestron 8SE and Tele Vue eyepieces. I own almost every eyepiece Tele Vue’s made ― even Night Vision (was using that last night and love it). I decided I wanted refractors for pinpoint stars and Tele Vue was my choice. (I had the Tele Vue Pronto, but gave it to my son.) I purchased the Tele Vue-85 new from Farah at Woodland Hills. Then, I bridged to imaging ― as my eyes are the weak part of the optical train. I bought an older Tele Vue Genesis visual scope and converted the Tele Vue 85 to an imaging rig. Love the scope. With all my telescopes, the Tele Vue-85, ZWO ASI2600MC and ZWO AM5 mount gives me the least issues. Well build products.”
In this next image of M63, the Sunflower galaxy, the Tele Vue-85 reveals the iridescent glow of the older population of stars in the core and the telltale color of young, blue giant stars, in the arms.
The Leo Triplet consists of three spiral galaxies visible in the same field of view. This is a great illustration of how spiral galaxies appear when their “faces” are tilted at different angles from our earthly viewpoint. At the top of the image, NGC 3628 appears as an edge-on spiral that is bisected by a prominent dust lane. The impression it makes gives rise to the nickname “Hamburger Galaxy.” The diffuse spiral arms of M66 (lower left) extend into space due to gravitational interaction with the other two galaxies. It is closest to “face on” than the other two. Finally, M65 is inclined just enough to reveal its spiral structure.
The Tele Vue-85 captured enough detail that it is worth looking at a tighter crop of the above image to get a better view of M65 and M66. M66 (left) gives a great view of the intertwine of dust and various populations of stars in the core and spiral arms. You can also see a central bar structure in the core. It is the largest member of the Leo Triplet group. In contrast, M65 (right) has tightly round spiral arms and is about the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. It is 20-arc-minutes away from its neighbor M66 — this is less than the diameter of the Moon.
Meet the Tele Vue-85
With an 85-mm APO (Doublet) objective and 600-mm focal length, this f/7 refractor offers a combination of optical performance and airline portability that delights amateur astronomers, birders, and reviewers alike. Sky & Telescope reported resolving close double-stars, viewing lunar detail, viewing deep-sky, and imaging when they reviewed the scope. “Truly awesome! …Incredible!…the view almost blew me off my chair!…” The conclusion: “…an extremely powerful, compact instrument capable of delivering stunning images of the universe.” Maximum visual field-of-view is 4.4° (with our 41mm Panoptic [mobile site] at 14.6x or 55mm Plössl [mobile site] at 10.8x) allows use as a self-finder. Optional Nagler 3-6mm Planetary Zoom [mobile site] yields 100x – 200x in this scope for obtaining optimal planetary observing power to match the seeing conditions.
Features include 2″, 10:1 dual speed, rack-and-pinion focuser with dual tension adjustment screws on the drawtube, and dual lock screws on the end-ring. The OTA includes a sliding metal dew shield and screw-on metal lens cap. Available tube colors are ivory or evergreen using a tough, durable, baked powder coat instead of paint. A custom-fitted padded case with room for accessories is included.
The addition of the TRF-2008 0.8x Reducer/Flattener (mobile site) converts the Tele Vue-85 to 480mm f/5.6 for flat-field, fast astro-photography with any APS-C camera that accepts a T-Ring.
The bright string of items in this next image, captured by the Tele Vue-85, are not stars – they’re galaxies! The two brightest on the right were cataloged by Charles Messier as M84 (topmost) and M86. Next in line is a pair of interacting galaxies known as “the eyes.” (These and all the other members of the “Chain” were found by William Herschel.) Benjamin Markarian was first to note that many members of this curving string of galaxies had a common motion. That is the origin of the moniker “Markarian’s Chain.” Also in this image is the relatively bright galaxies M87 on the right just at the edge of the bottom of the frame.
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 #ethos #jupiter
Do you want your Tele Vue images re-posted on Tele Vue Optics’ Social Media accounts? Use this hashtag for consideration:
#RPTVO
More Info
- Learn more about Galaxy Season on our blog.
- Jeff’s AstroBin page.
