Mark Johnston’s Special Presentation on
Night Vision Astronomy
Saturday May 4, 2019 at Mike’s House
Mark Johnston, a Phoenix Astronomy Society member, is doing a presentation
explaining the pros/cons and logistics of night vision astronomy. It will
start with a short indoor presentation where Mark discusses the technology,
limitations, costs, use of filters, challenges etc. and then everyone goes
outside and looks at some objects with and without night vision so people
can see the pros (makes the invisible, visible) and the cons (reduced
resolution and scintillation). One Sunday night for example Mark was
surprised to get a great view of Markarian's Chain (a string of galaxies in
Virgo) that was basically a waste of time to try to see with a 5.5"
refractor in the city, but pops right out with night vision and the right
filter.
At two recent star parties, I looked through Mark Johnston's night vision
attachments on his telescope and I was amazed at the enhanced view of very
faint objects. At the Thursday April 25, 2019 Black Mountain Public Star
Party Mark attached the image enhancer to Eric’s 22 in. reflecting
telescope and pointed it at the Eskimo (also called Clownface) nebula. This
is a small, faint, double shelled planetary nebula. Without the image
enhancer it was visible but lacked detail through Eric’s scope because it
is so small and faint. With the night vision enhancer along with a 2.5x
Barlow and a hydrogen alpha filter, the object was dramatically larger and
brighter with the delicate hair-like detail clearly visible in the outer
ring. None of us had ever seen it look that good!
The image enhancer or night vision equipment is similar to the night vision
equipment developed and used by the military. It boosts the light collected
by the telescope so faint objects are easier to see.
Do not miss the opportunity to see this amazing technology. Go to the PAS
website on the private calendar for May 4, read about the event and
register for it.
Paul Facuna
Vice President, Phoenix Astronomical Society
