Assistant Editor Todd Carlson chronicles his trip to the world’s largest trade show for amateur astronomers
Some people take vacations to relax and get away from the pace of everyday life. Amateur astronomers are a different breed. We go on astronomy vacations. Unlike the time a few years ago when my wife and I were in France and I informed her that I was going to visit a nearby observatory (“! You’re going where?!”), this time I was traveling alone and would be filling the two days with as much astronomy-related activities as possible.
Sunday, April 27: NEAF
Last weekend (April 26/27) was the 17th annual Northeast Astronomy Forum and Telescope Show (NEAF) in Suffern, New York. Located about 30 minutes north of Manhattan, this was the third consecutive year that I have attended NEAF.
Though the show runs on both Saturday and Sunday, with an astronomical imaging conference taking place for the two days prior, I could only attend on Sunday. However, to make up for the missed day at NEAF, I was able to arrange an equally exciting visit the following day to the nearby Tele Vue production facility.
NEAF was larger this year, with one retailer mentioning to me that there were 108 vendors, slightly more than the previous year. As with past shows, the floor is arranged with wide aisles and essentially all the major telescope and astronomy product manufacturers in the world represented, along with a number of retailers enticing visitors with potential bargains.
Five vendors represented
Canada: SkyShed POD was present with three models of backyard observatories and attracted a continuous flow of interested visitors. Normand Fullum’s hand-made wooden telescopes are simply works of art and literally leave your jaw agape upon seeing them up close. Jim Kendrick introduced his Firelite dew heaters, which he developed for smaller telescopes and camera lenses. His cover for protecting
SLR cameras from dew caught my eye. Peter Ceravolo of Ceravolo Optical displayed his impressive new 12-inch f/4.9 astrograph. And Doug George, president of Diffraction Limited, greeted the many users of his Maxim DL software.
One of last year’s major announcements at NEAF was the introduction of Tele Vue’s 13mm Ethos, the first eyepiece with a 100-degree apparent field of view. This year they debuted an 8mm model. Due to hit stores in July, the 8mm Ethos was slightly smaller and weighed a bit less than its big brother. Tele Vue will be pricing it slightly less than the 13mm Ethos with some U.S. retailers already listing it at $585 U.S.
William Optics was proud to show me their new refractor, a 98mm apo with an attractive carbon fibre tube that should be available next month for just under $2,000 U.S.
Many amateur astronomers were sad to hear of the death of refractor and eyepiece designer Thomas Back a few months ago. Fortunately for the astronomy community, his brother Charles pledges to keep the business running and was present with a TMB Optical booth.
Fans of Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes and Astro-Physics will be happy to hear that Roland brought a 303mm f/12.5 (29% central obstruction) instrument to NEAF. Sitting atop an Astro-Physics 3600 “El-Capitan” GTO mount, this combo was huge. A picture doesn’t do it justice. Pricing and availability are not yet determined.
Portaball telescope users (and those who would like to be) will be ecstatic to learn that the business has a new owner. With Portaball creator Peter Smitka announcing in 2007 that he would be retiring from the industry, many were lamenting the demise of the Portaball. Fortunately, new owner Dave Juckem will once again be producing models later this year.
Many of the dealers from across the U.S. had products for sale at their booths. I’ve been told that late Sunday afternoon is the best time to take advantage of retailers who won’t want to ship products back home. Though I can’t confirm that, I did see a number of smiling people leaving with telescopes on Sunday afternoon.
A quick glance of the parking lot showed that many Canadians make the annual trek to Suffern, New York. Whether you choose to drive or, like me, fly, NEAF is a candy store for amateur astronomers. There’s simply nothing close to it in size and comprehensiveness, especially in eastern North America. When you include the talks and demonstrations, this show is highly recommended for the astronomy buff.
Leaving show late Sunday afternoon and, having never visited Manhattan before, I opted to drive into NYC and visit Ground Zero, site of the World Trade Center. Memo to self for next time: Never drive in Manhattan again! Being quite relieved to exit the city and hungry to boot, I sought out Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionery in nearby Brookdale, New Jersey to have a burger where Tony was (or wasn’t?) killed in the final episode of The Sopranos.
After surviving any potential mob hits, I retired back to my hotel and met some fellow amateur astronomers and shared some camaraderie over dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Monday, April 28: A Tour of Tele Vue
Early Monday morning Al Nagler, founder and CEO of Tele Vue, met me at my hotel and I followed him along the thruway for a 20-minute drive to his production facility in Chester, New York.
An interesting display immediately captures the eye upon entering the shared office of Al and son David: a large glass case containing every version of eyepiece Tele Vue has ever made. It definitely is a collection that any astronomy aficionado would drool over.
After spending even a few minutes with the amiable Naglers, it becomes quite apparent that each are immensely proud of their operation and products. Considering that their eyepieces are regarded by many in the amateur astronomy community as the finest available, that came as no surprise to me.
In the telescope and eyepiece assembly areas, there was not a huge assembly line or dozens of workers. In this department, each person had his own bench and was quietly working away. Here it was explained that each worker is responsible for the specific telescope that he has been assigned to build. Throughout the production area were various parts all waiting to be assembled. I was also surprised at how quiet the workers were as they concentrated on their tasks.
Occasionally an employee would stop to talk to Al or David to ask a question as we walked between departments. At one point an impromptu meeting regarding adding a second locking screw began and the decision was made right there and then….add a second screw. Cost was never discussed. They deemed the suggestion to be an improvement and it was now being implemented. Al explained to me afterwards that when situations like that occur if they were all in agreement that the product would be improved, the decision would be made at that very moment to proceed.
A wall of tiny black boxes greeted me upon entering the eyepiece storage room. Shelves of every different size of eyepiece were boxed and waiting to be shipped. Cases of 13mm Ethos’ definitely made my eyes open!
Though I have read that Nagler tests each eyepiece at f/4 to ensure perfection, I was unaware of exactly how this took place. With David placing an eyepiece in a Tele Vue MPT telescope equipped with an iris diaphragm, he slowly rotated the eyepiece looking for any imperfections and then adjusted the scope and also tested it at f/4.
With a laugh David related how each of them have literally examined thousands of eyepieces with one nearby worker joking how he should be in the Guinness World Book of Records for “most eyepieces tested by a single person.”
Some may have heard of Nagler “blems”, eyepieces that have in the past been for sale at the Tele Vue booth at NEAF. This year there were not any NEAF blems available. With both David and Al explaining how their production techniques have greatly reduced the number of eyepieces that do not meet their strict criteria, there simply were not enough “blem” eyepieces available to have a sale.
Indeed, David pointed to the nearly empty boxes of “blem” eyepieces on their shelves. Those that were there each had a small note attached briefly explaining what the cause was for that particular eyepiece not meeting their criteria.
It became clear that along with Al and David, the employees take pride in their work. David remarked that anyone involved in production can take a product off of the line for even the slightest reason to return it back a step and emphasized strongly that it is never a problem if a worker does that very thing.
Though it was a brief trip, it certainly was an enjoyable 48-hour astronomy vacation.
Todd Carlson
