NP101is – Tele Vue Optics

TELE VUE SCIENTIFIC PART 2
Doing Science with Tele Vue Optics

Tele Vue Optics has been the key to unlocking the limits of magnification.

In the last installment, our scientific path went from “polar to solar.” (If you missed it, please go back and read Tele Vue Scientific Part 1.) In Part 2 of this multi-part blog post on the use of Tele Vue gear in science, we reveal Sneakey research with Tele Vue Powermates and how a compact Tele Vue-NP101is telescope proved once again that lights are “all askew in the heavens.” All this research was done using our standard gear with products bought off-the-shelf — the same as you would receive from Tele Vue.

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Doing Science with Tele Vue Optics”

Tele Vue-NP101is: Imaging the Skies Over Southwest Florida

Rosette Nebula and NGC 2244 Cluster (Narrowband) by SmugMug user Linwood Ferguson. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Imaging details: the Tele Vue-NP101is APO (Nagler-Petzval) refractor (101mm, f/5.4), riding on an iOptron CEM70G mount, imaged with a ZWO ASI6200MM Pro camera, with ZWO Filter Wheel and Chroma 5nm narrowband filters. All subframes were 300s using these filters: Hα x 47, SII x 37, OIII x 31. (The OIII had a pretty strong gradient from the moon). Stacked and processed using PixInsight in roughly the Hubble Pallet with green shifted into blue and gold (star color shifted off magenta a bit). Finished off in Photoshop Lightroom Classic 10.0 (Windows).

The lead-off image of this post is certainly an eye-grabber! It is one of the most unique interpretations of the Rosette Nebula (NGC-2237 or Caldwell 49) in Hubble Palette filters we’ve seen. Most striking, the usual Hubble Palette aquamarine color surrounding the central cluster is cobalt blue! The typical outer ring of yellows and burnt ochre now has a deep-orange hue. This color manipulation was done while maintaining the filamentary wisps and dark protostar Bok Globules in the nebula, along with a jet-black sky background. The resulting dimensional quality of this image draws the viewer from the ruddy edges of the nebula into the blue-colored center and then out the “back” aperture of the structure.

In the middle of the Covid pandemic, stuck at home, I decided to resurrect an interest in astronomy, and in particular astrophotography.

This image is from a great collection of Tele Vue NP101is images posted by Linwood Ferguson on SmugMug. At the top of this SmugMug page is stated the motivation for his astro imaging: “In the middle of the Covid pandemic, stuck at home, I decided to resurrect an interest in astronomy, and in particular astrophotography”. In this blog, we present a gallery of Linwood’s NP101is images.

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NP101is: Imaging the Skies Over Northern California!

Flaming Star Nebula (Hubble Pallet) by Instagram user Michael Stark. All Rights Reserved. The bright star AE Aurigae, in the center of the image, is surrounded by flame-like nebulosity. Though there is no actual flame, the UV light from this star is responsible for ionizing the gas in the nebula and causing it to glow. The nebula is about 1,500 light years away in the constellation Auriga (the Charioteer). Tele Vue-NP101is photo/visual APO telescope with ZWO ASI1600MM monochrome camera and Starlight Xpress 2″ Filter Wheel carried on Losmandy GM8 mount. 4-hours of exposures through Hubble Pallet Baader filters: OIII, Hydrogen-α and SII.

We noticed a new and very active imager using a Tele Vue NP101is pop up on Instagram this year. We asked Michael Stark to tell us about his journey into astro-imaging.

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Tele Vue APO Design and Build “Secrets”

Over the years, we’ve seen conversational topics in online amateur circles that repeatedly crop up concerning the definition of apochromatic refractor, triplet vs. doublet design, and how glass designation might define performance. We expect these questions to continue to appear as new amateurs discover the hobby. So bookmark this blog post because here you’ll find notes on Tele Vue’s philosophy and build practices concerning our telescope line of 100% APO refractors.

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“Lights All Askew in the Heavens”

Eclipse image from May 1919. Newspapers from the end of that year.

The May 29, 1919 eclipse, that happened 100-years ago this past week, will always be remembered as a key “turning point” in the history of physics. “Lights All Askew in the Heavens” exclaimed a New York Times headline while The Pittsburgh Gazette Times declared that the “Elusive ‘Fourth Dimension’ Finally Proven to Exist == Newton Theory Refuted.” Newspaper editors in 1919 were grasping at straws to explain the result of an experiment that crazily proved that star light was bent by the gravity of the Sun. Their articles on the subject introduced the names of English astronomer, Arthur Eddington, and the German scientist Albert Einstein to the public. It was Eddington that announced to the world the results of an experiment he organized to test a theory put forth by the then obscure German physicist. What made Eddington’s announcement unusual was that he was an English scientist propping up a theory from a German scientist in the acrimonious aftermath of the First World War. This was just a few months after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

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NP101is: Imaging the Skies Over Louisiana

Lagoon (Ha,OIII,SII) emission nebula by flickr user Phil Wollenberg. All rights reserved. Tele Vue NP-101is APO refractor with SBIG STF-8300M camera using Baader filters and tracked with Losmandy G-11 using QHY 5L-IIM guider. Ha (8x300s & 1x600s), OIII (2x600s), and SII (2x600s). From White Horse Camp, Sandy Hook, MS.

The Lagoon Nebula (also M8, and NGC 6523) in the constellation Sagittarius is well-known to amateur astronomers. It is a giant star forming region with an open cluster of stars embedded within (visible on the right side of the image). A giant O-type star pumps out massive amounts of ultraviolet light that energizes the gasses in the nebula and cause them to emit light in their distinctive characteristic colors. By taking images through emission line filters, astronomers can see what elements are contained in the nebula. In this image made with Hydrogen-alpha, Sulfur II, and Oxygen III filters, the bluish glow of ionized Oxygen predominates in the center of the nebula.

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Tele Vue-NP101is Imaging the Skies of Rhode Island!

We found unique takes on familiar deep-sky objects on David Augros’ AstroBin account. They were taken with our Tele Vue-NP101is refractor (photo/visual, 101mm, f/5.4 APO) using our Large Field Corrector (LCL-1069) and modified Canon EOS 6D DSLR.

Rho Ophiuchi & Friends by AstroBin user David Augros. Copyright David Augros. Used by permission. NP101is APO refractor plus Large Field Corrector (LCL-1069) with Lumicon Deep Sky 2″ filter into modified Canon EOS 6D DSLR.

The first impression is of a dark canvas, sprinkled with white pinpoints and bright cloud-like strokes of gold, red, and blue. Brilliant jewels were seated in the colorful clouds and several dense clusters of diamond dust were scattered on this celestial painting. Dark clouds emerge from the canvas and contrast themselves among the dots and colored hues.

We asked David how he got involved in astro-imaging and why he choose this scope. He told us in his own words.

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Dr. Bruns at NEAF 2018

David Nagler, Dr. Bruns, the NP101is used for the experiment, and Al Nagler.

We were honored that Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) speaker Dr. Donald Bruns was able to visit in our booth over the two days of NEAF 2018.

Saturday, April 21, at noon, Dr. Bruns stepped onto main stage at NEAF in front of a standing room only audience. His talk was titled: Einstein was Right! Completing the 1919 Relativity Experiment at the 2017 Solar Eclipse. Over the better part of an hour he explained how Einstein’s General Theory of relativity predicted the bending of light in gravitational fields and how astronomers have attempted to photograph stars near the eclipsed sun to verify the theory.

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Tele Vue NEW for 2018: NP101is, NP127is OTA Accessory Packages, SCT Rich Field Kits, & Diagonal Packages

All Tele Vue telescopes now come standard as optical tube assemblies (OTA) that can be turned into “complete” units with optional, customized accessory packages. The package costs can be substantially less than pricing each component individually. In a prior installment we discussed the packages for the Tele Vue-60, Tele Vue-76, and Tele Vue-85 scopes. Here we’ll take up the multi-purpose Imaging System, or “is,” scopes and their associated accessory packages.

Tele Vue NP127is and NP101is scopes and accessories we’ve turned into packages for visual observing.

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Tele Vue Telescope Shows and Indoor Solar Viewing

If you’re in the New York metro area the third week in April, we’ve got a lot to show you at two back-to-back shows we’ll be at: the annual Northeast Astro-Imaging Conference (NEAIC: April 19 & 20) and Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF: April 21 & 22) — both in Suffern, NY — about an hours drive northwest of New York City.

We’ll exhibit an updated night vision demonstrator to show you the benefits of using our visual and smartphone accessories designed for the Tactical Night Vision Company (TNVC) night vision monocular. This is the system that just won a Sky & Telescope 2018 Hot Products Award. In the coming months, Sky & Telescope will be publishing their test review of the system. You can get a preview of this review on page 63 of the April 2018 issue and looking at the image below.

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