Sky's Up Summer 2016 | Page 46

the art of astronomy A Whole New View Astrophotographer: Chuck Kimball “It’s the best eyepiece I’ve ever had. It showed me structure through my telescope that I have never seen before. I was just delighted!” - David H. Levy Eyepiece Specifications Field of view 92º 92º Effective Focal Length 12mm 17mm 20mm 22mm Eye Relief 19.60 27.46 Field Stop Dia.(mm) 8/6 8/6 Elements/Groups NGC 7000 & IC 5070 This tiled panoramic image by Kimball captures two worthy emission nebulae in the Cygnus Constellation. Located near the brilliant star Deneb, the North American Nebula (NGC 7000), left, and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) are separated by a dark lane. Equipment used to acquire this image includes an Explore Scientific ED80 f/6 with an ES field flattener, a Canon XT/350D DSLR modified by Hap Griffin and a custom saddle on a modified Meade LX200gpsR fork. Exposure times were 414 minutes for IC 5070 plus 132 minutes for NGC 7000. Long Eye Relief, Hyper-Wide The 92° LE Series Waterproof eyepieces provide a hyper-wide apparent field of view with long eye relief for comfortable viewing that immerses you in vast expanses of the star-studded sky. NGC 6791 Kimball took this photo of open cluster NGC 6791 in the Lyra constellation using an Explore Scientific 208mm Newtonian with an ES coma corrector, a Canon XSi/450dH DSLR modified by Hutech and a custom saddle on a modified Meade LX200gps fork. The final image is a stack of 37 five-minute exposures. Kimball said, “This cluster reminds me of Trumpler 5, but seems to be older, at least part of it is. It is another oddball, having stars of three different age groups: one group of white dwarfs at 4 billion, another group at 6 billion, and the ‘normal’ stars at 8 billion years. Most open clusters contain only similarly aged stars. I will watch this since it really challenges some core methods of aging stars. I like the possibility that the younger set may actually be doubles which would naturally appear brighter, and skew the results.” 46 Optics and Coatings Each eyepiece features superior light transmission using highrefractive, edge-blackened optics with EMD multi-layer coatings on all optical surfaces. The New 92° LE Series Waterproof Eyepieces The Longest Eye Relief In Their Class 49999 $ Explore STAR Unlimited Lifetime Warranty All Explore Scien F