I attended the Eleventh Annual Northeast Astronomy Forum and
Telescope Show
(http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf/index.htm#EVENTS)
yesterday. Held at the Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York, this event has grown tremendously over the years and now attracts astronomy enthusiasts from both near and far.
There were, of course, many vendors, over 70 in fact, and much in the way of new equipment. Particularly impressive were the new 26mm Tele Vue Nagler type 5
(http://www.astronomy-mall.com/regular/products/tele-vue-optics/), the Tele Vue-76 76mm f/6.3 apochromatic refractor
(http://www.astronomy-mall.com/regular/products/tele-vue-optics/tv76.html), the Sirius Optics VFS-1.25 Variable Filter System (http://www.siriusoptics.com/). I had the opportunity to see a variety of interesting oculars with which I was unfamiliar, such as the truly gigantic 40mm Rodenstock (http://www.cloudynights.com/eyepieces/rodenstock.htm) and the Vixen 30mm LV and 42mm LVW. The modular Borg refractor systems offered by Hutech (http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/) were very nice indeed
as was the Taurus Tracker III astrophotography system
(http://www.taurus-tech.com/).
The large display of NEAF speaker Robert Gendler's awe-inspiring CCD images was worth a very long look. There were also a fine display of ATM telescopes by the Sprinfield Telescope Makers. Al Francis and Ron Newman of Moonlite Telescope Accesories (http://www.focuser.com/)
had their large homemade Newtonians set up in front of their booth.
This year I only managed to catch two of the lectures. Richard Berry, a former editor of Astronomy, gave a truly excellent talk entitled "The Milky Way in 3-D Perspective”. Using a variety of different types of data and computer mapping Mr. Berry completely revamped my knowledge of morphology of the Milky Way and our location within it. Professional astronomer and author Dr. Alan Hirshfeld
related the fascinating history of the many attempts of astronomers to measure the distance to a star in his talk called "Parallax – Measuring the Universe”.
During the course of the day I ran into many fellow amateur
astronomers, both friends and aquaintances, who I had not seen from many months including John O'Hara, Kent Blackwell, Frank Bov, and Gary Honis.
Dave Mitsky
Telescope Show
(http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf/index.htm#EVENTS)
yesterday. Held at the Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York, this event has grown tremendously over the years and now attracts astronomy enthusiasts from both near and far.
There were, of course, many vendors, over 70 in fact, and much in the way of new equipment. Particularly impressive were the new 26mm Tele Vue Nagler type 5
(http://www.astronomy-mall.com/regular/products/tele-vue-optics/), the Tele Vue-76 76mm f/6.3 apochromatic refractor
(http://www.astronomy-mall.com/regular/products/tele-vue-optics/tv76.html), the Sirius Optics VFS-1.25 Variable Filter System (http://www.siriusoptics.com/). I had the opportunity to see a variety of interesting oculars with which I was unfamiliar, such as the truly gigantic 40mm Rodenstock (http://www.cloudynights.com/eyepieces/rodenstock.htm) and the Vixen 30mm LV and 42mm LVW. The modular Borg refractor systems offered by Hutech (http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/) were very nice indeed
as was the Taurus Tracker III astrophotography system
(http://www.taurus-tech.com/).
The large display of NEAF speaker Robert Gendler's awe-inspiring CCD images was worth a very long look. There were also a fine display of ATM telescopes by the Sprinfield Telescope Makers. Al Francis and Ron Newman of Moonlite Telescope Accesories (http://www.focuser.com/)
had their large homemade Newtonians set up in front of their booth.
This year I only managed to catch two of the lectures. Richard Berry, a former editor of Astronomy, gave a truly excellent talk entitled "The Milky Way in 3-D Perspective”. Using a variety of different types of data and computer mapping Mr. Berry completely revamped my knowledge of morphology of the Milky Way and our location within it. Professional astronomer and author Dr. Alan Hirshfeld
related the fascinating history of the many attempts of astronomers to measure the distance to a star in his talk called "Parallax – Measuring the Universe”.
During the course of the day I ran into many fellow amateur
astronomers, both friends and aquaintances, who I had not seen from many months including John O'Hara, Kent Blackwell, Frank Bov, and Gary Honis.
Dave Mitsky
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
