Category: Eyepiece Tip

The Art of Deepsky Sketching at the Eyepiece

At first-glance, our staff, mistook the image below to be a photograph of the Double Cluster. It turned out NOT to be a photograph, but the deft work of talented hands and a good eye at the eyepiece. 

Double Cluster (crop) by DeepskyLog user Tom Corstjens licensed by (CC BY-NC 4.0). Used by permission. Click image to see full-size uncropped image. “Beautifully varied, complex and colorful star cluster area in Perseus. In total more than 6 hours of observing time was spent on 3 nights to make the attached sketch.” Alkaid 16″ f/4.2 Dobsonian with Paracorr and 17.3mm Delos eyepiece.
Tom Corstjens, from Belgium, created this accurate, hand-drawn representation of the cluster. We’ve admired Tom’s sketches ever since, and started following his twitter feed to see his latest work. We’ve never been disappointed.
 

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Q&A with Tele Vue’s Al Nagler

This interview of Al Nagler by Brian Ventrudo was published in The Equinox newsletter of AstronomyConnect.com on October 31, 2017. Reprinted with permission

A Q&A with Al Nagler
Looking Back (and Ahead)
with Tele Vue’s Co-Founder

David and Al Nagler

Introduction

When Al Nagler talks, amateur astronomers listen.

Nagler, of course, is a legend in the amateur astronomy community, the founder of Tele Vue Optics along with wife Judi, and inventor of the Nagler eyepiece. For two generations he’s been a fixture at star parties and astronomy expos where he dispenses wisdom and demonstrates his latest optical creations, all while establishing bonds and friendships with hundreds of stargazers over the years with his combination of razor-sharp technical acumen and boundless enthusiasm.

Al was beguiled by astronomy and stargazing after a visit to Hayden Planetarium with his father in the late 1940s. He grew up in the Bronx and had the talent and good fortune to attend the famous Bronx High School of Science, the alma mater of thousands of renowned engineers and scientists, including eight Nobel Prize winners. As part of a class project, Nagler used the school’s facilities to design and build an 8-inch f/6.5 Newtonian reflector that weighed 350 lbs! In time, Al put his talents to work at the nearby Farrand Optical Company from 1957-1973, where he helped develop the large and complex optical systems for NASA’s Gemini docking and Apollo lunar landing simulators. Not a bad way to make a living!
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Tele Vue Product Spotting #1

From time-to-time we see Tele Vue products juxtaposed with other interesting brands. This is a roundup of what we’ve run across so-far this year.

Tele Vue Packed Turret

Matthew Hodgson’s Alpha Lyrae website had a review of the nPAE (Nottingham Precision Astro Engineering) 6061 Medium Turret eyepiece holder. The shot below from the review has all six turret slots filled with our eyepieces.

Credit Matthew Hodgson. Used by permission.

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Comet 2P/Encke’s Blaze of Glory

After being photographed at the end of February, showing off 3 green tails, comet 2P/Encke prepares for the final act of this apparition: a week-long plunge through the stars of Pisces toward the western horizon and perihelion. At the end of February the comet had brightened to almost 8th magnitude. Encke’s orbit this week takes it between the earth and sun — which will cause it to reach peak brightness and then disappear from sight . Use the horizon diagrams here to help you spot it. Continue reading “Comet 2P/Encke’s Blaze of Glory”