>From the start I will admit that I did not purchase this for visual
satellite observation. But after my first impressions, I have a feeling
it is going to become a regular at my sessions.
I got a Gen 1 night vision scope for $300. I bought it mostly to
view wildlife at night. At first I was thinking I would want the higher
quality images of a Gen 2 ($800 extra!), but after settling for the Gen
1, I can see that it far exceeds my expectations.
Then, I had a most pleasant surprise as I turned it towards the sky.
The view was unbelievable! I have some light pollution, plus the moon
was quite intense, but through the monocular fainter stars became
visible. The handle of the little dipper for instance, normally hard to
see here, became quite evident.
Unexpectedly, I spotted a satellite. I attempted again and again to
see the bird with just my eyes, but without success. The night vision
made viewing it very easy.
So why should you pull out a night vision scope when you have a nice
pair of binoculars? With the unit I have, the answer is the much
greater field of vision. Although the magnification is billed as 3.5X,
I believe it is much less, and the amount of sky visible in the view is
fantastic. A word of caution, however: the star images are not as crisp
and clear as through binoculars. And especially towards the edge of the
field, the image becomes quite blurry. But for purposes of acquisition
of a less-than-ideal prediction, a blurry moving point at the edge still
works. After centering, the image of the sat amongst the stars is
excellent.
I have not taken the time yet to perform more specific experiments
regarding the exact decrease in magnitude that can be obtained visually
nor to discern the actual field of view attained in the sky.
My particular unit is call the "Night Storm" made by "AMTc". I
believe there are several mail-order catalogs that sell their products;
mostly camping, boating, and hunting suppliers.
I did try a different unit that came from a company in Cleveland
called Newcon Optics. I returned that scope to the retailer after
finding the image intensifier tube to be of vastly inferior quality. By
the way, most Gen 1 night vision scopes are imported from Russia or
Ukraine.
Does anyone else have any experience using night vision for satellite
viewing?
--- Judy
_~O __O Judy May tandembike@worldnet.att.net
_-\<,_-\<,_
(*)/---|/-(*) Life is a journey ... Enjoy the ride!
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