imaging – Tele Vue Optics

NP127is: Imaging the Skies Over Upstate New York!

We noticed some great Tele Vue-NP127is images on Instagram tagged with our #RPTVO (repost hashtag). They were all taken by Greg Thompson in Tele Vue’s home region of the Hudson Valley, NY. Due to the weather, one has to be persistent to be an astro-imager in these parts. So, we contacted him and that resulted in this guest blog post in two parts. The first part describes his journey into astrophotography and experience imaging with the Tele Vue-NP127is and the second part is a step-by-step guide for image acquisition and processing.

Reprocess of The Pillars of Creation by Instagram user Gregory Thompson. All rights reserved. Used by permission. The Eagle Nebula (Messier 16 or NGC-6611) is a diffuse emission nebula and open cluster that is home to the finger-like “Pillars of Creation” star-forming region. Ultraviolet light emitted by the young, giant blue stars in the nebula causes the gasses in the nebula to glow. The “Pillars” are actually cold accumulations of dust and gas that are silhouetted by the background glow.
Exposures at ISO 800 and 1600, 174 x 60″/45″ because of wind and low elevation.
Tele Vue-NP127is APO refractor with Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR riding on iOptron CEM60EC mount. Software: BackyardEOS, DeepSkyStacker, StarTools, and Corel Photo-Paint X5.

When I saw the first image of the Orion Nebula on the camera’s LED screen ─ WOW, I was hooked!

As a child, I would always look up at the night sky in hopes of seeing a “shooting star.” I loved the night sky but was never interested in astronomy or cosmology as a young man. I began a photography business in 2011 and had to take early retirement from my day job of 25+ years. My photography led me down many roads, from portraiture and landscapes, birds and wildlife, and many other genres. I had heard of astrophotography but was not interested as I thought it was beyond my reach. Then the television series “How the Universe Works” came to my television in 2016 and could not get enough of it. Soon after, I was browsing a photography forum that I was a member of, and saw some photographs (Deep Sky Objects’s) that a well-known scientist and photometrist had posted using a camera that I already had, and a lens very similar to one of my lenses. That opened my eyes wide and I then began to research everything about astrophotography. Three months later I bought my first camera tracker (Fornax LighTrack II) and accessories to begin my new hobby. That was in the fall of 2016. When I saw the first image of the Orion Nebula on the camera’s LED screen ─ WOW, I was hooked!

Continue reading “NP127is: Imaging the Skies Over Upstate New York!”

Imaging the Skies with the TV-85: Mike Broussard

“Comet Lovejoy (clockwise from top left: 1/19/15, 1/25/15, 2/7/15, & 2/20/15) with link to animation.” by flickr.com user Mike Broussard licensed by All rights reserved.

Aquamarine “cotton balls” and “tadpoles” with sinewy tails cross a star-filled night-sky. That can be your initial impression of Mike Broussard’s comet-loaded flickr photostream. His recent images include the passage of comet Johnson, 41P/TGK, PanSTARRS, & Lovejoy. (The greenish comet color is provided by the glow of ionized cyanogen and diatomic carbon shed by the comet.) Continue reading “Imaging the Skies with the TV-85: Mike Broussard”

BIG Paracorr User Profile:
Jay Butler

“NGC7000 Cygnus Wall” by flickr.com user Jay W Butler. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Paracorr logo is trademark of Tele Vue Optics, Inc.

From his backyard observatory in Bountiful, Utah, in the western foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, Jay Butler images the heavens with his 10″ f/4 fast Newtonian – equipped with a Tele Vue BIG Paracorr Type-2. Despite the poor seeing – from suburban light pollution and strong updrafts from the valley floor – he’s been able to score a medley of celestial clusters, galaxies, and nebulae that cross his sky. Continue reading “BIG Paracorr User Profile:
Jay Butler”

Tele Vue is for the Birds

Perusing through all the #televue images on flicker, you’ll find the usual images of planets, the jagged lunar surface, pinwheel galaxies, and diaphanous nebulae suspended against the backdrop of the void. But nestled among these are images of birds. Birds of diverse species in various poses: suspended in mid-air with wings high and legs outstretched for landing, casually hanging below a branch and peering into the camera, or displaying their plumage on the ground. Yes, our telescopes don’t just come out at night — our smaller scopes have “day jobs” as birding scopes. Continue reading “Tele Vue is for the Birds”