Comet NEOWISE is probably the most beautiful comet since 25 years on the northern hemisphere of the earth.
Comets are messengers from the time of origin of the solar system, frozen remnants of the primeval cloud from which the planets were formed. When they come to us from the cold depths of the outer solar system and thaw when they approach the sun, they spread gas and dust and create a unique celestial phenomenon.
Most astrophotographers are understandably excited about the very beautiful tail of the comet NEOWISE and try to capture it in front of a beautiful backdrop. Others focus only on the inner core and the shell structure that is created when the dust leaves the spinning comet nucleus. But so far there are few high resolution photos of the interesting transition region between coma and tail, where the two tails of gas and dust fan out. A team from Baader Planetarium and Planewave Instruments, together with the professional photographer Christoph Kaltseis, has now succeeded in taking such a photo under the best conditions on La Palma at ATHOS - Centro Astronomico.
What can you see on the picture of Comet NEOWISE?
Gas and dust is constantly being ejected from the comet nucleus inside the coma when it has become warm near the sun. This nucleus is only a few kilometers in size, but produces a luminous phenomenon that travels millions of kilometers through the solar system. It is located in the middle of the green bow shock so-called "coma". The greenish glow occurs when gas is stimulated to glow by the electrically charged solar wind. This works similar to a neon tube in which gas glows as soon as voltage is applied. The light gas ions are blown away by the solar wind. Because this wind is variable, it causes turbulence in the bluish self-luminous gas plumes. The dust particles, on the other hand, are much heavier than the gas atoms and cannot be blown away so easily by the solar wind. They enter an orbit around the sun, so the dust tail is curved. And because dust does not glow itself, but reflects sunlight, the color is white/yellowish. The "stripes" in the dust are caused by the fact that nucleus of the comet does not emit dust evenly but there are changing fountains, similar to geysers on Earth. These are distributed over the whole comet nucleus. While the core rotates, other surface areas are warmed up again and again by the sunlight, fountains develop, forming dust rays which disappear after some time.
"The effort that Christoph Kaltseis and Michael Risch have put into capturing comet Neowise through its journey within our solar system helps us understand its characteristics even further;” said Ruben Nunez, European Managing Director for PlaneWave Instruments Inc.
The different images published worldwide have inspired many and we are here to support, experiment with, and guide astronomers. It has been a great experience to view our galaxy and other objects within our universe from La Palma, thanks to our host, Kai von Schauroth, owner of the ATHOS Centro Astronómico.
Converts an M48 (Zeiss) female thread in an M48 male thread
Made of hardened, stainless steel
This adapter is included in the scope of delivery of the [product sku="2458055"] [br]
PlaneWave's 57-acre campus in Adrian, Michigan
PlaneWave Instruments is focused on vertical integration – from the very beginning.
Design, optical production, fabrication, assembly, and quality control are all performed in-house by their expert team. PlaneWave even designs and builds their own robotic optics machines. PlaneWave's approach and innovation allows them to create superior products and value for their customers.
Over the last few years there was just one little issue: PlaneWave had outgrown their facilities in California and in Michigan. It was time to reoptimize.
New Location: 2020 marks the first full year on PlaneWave’s new 57-acre campus in Adrian, Michigan. PlaneWave has joined their MI and CA operations reducing overhead gaining a larger campus, and providing countless opportunities to expand.
New Facilities: PlaneWave is evolving and growing. With new buildings, machines, and test equipment being added, they’ve been busily investing in the future for the last 12 months. The future is now!
New Pricing: The increased capacity, reduced overhead, and manufacturing innovations allowed PlaneWave to take a fresh look at pricing.
Baader Planetarium as PlaneWave's official EU-distributor thus made a brandnew calculation of all PlaneWave prices. You can find the latest EU Price List on www.planewave.eu.
Discover all PlaneWave telescopes and much more information:
Take a look at PlaneWave Instruments production area
Since we now receive new pictures of NEOWISE daily (from our employees as well as our customers), we have decided to only maintain the following picture gallery. Information about the comet as well as search maps can be found at various other places on the net. Here you see only new beautiful pictures and videos, which we will be permanently extended. Some of the pictures we already showed in our original NEOWISE article (with an update).
If you have any further questions about image data, please contact us - we only mention the copyright holders and the date of recording of the respective images here.
During the night of 7-8 July, the whole of Central Europe had the special opportunity to see two rare celestial phenomena simultaneously. Around 3 o'clock comet NEOWISE climbed over the horizon. Not much later, the sky behind the dark cloud bank just below the comet suddenly became much brighter.
As it turned out, the sun began to illuminate noctilucent clouds at a height of 80km (four times as high as normal clouds), which consist of frozen meteor dust. These rare clouds became more and more dominant and finally covered the comet until it was hardly visible around 4 o'clock.
NEOWISE with NLC over Mammendorf:
The NLCs moved towards the zenith, while the dark cloud bank moved to the south and the comet followed its path. Therefore it was difficult to get a photo on which everything is sharp. You need fast optics and short exposure times for this. In the wide angle photo you can see the train station of Mammendorf at the bottom right, above it shines Venus. This gives a good impression of the extreme brightness of the NLCs.
After the last two promising comets "crumbled" near the sun (among others Comet ATLAS C/2019 Y4, we reported), we did not dare to advertise for Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE in advance. But this comet now keeps what the others promised: finally there is a comet again, which can be seen with the naked eye!
NEOWISE had its closest approach to the sun (perihel) over the weekend. The core was heated up considerably, the ice on the surface evaporated and carried dust with it. Therefore NEOWISE has at the moment a beautiful tail of about one moon diameter in the sky, which is wonderfully visible in binoculars. Astrophotographers can capture details inside the coma and tail already with telelenses but even more with telescopes.
Our customer Dr. Sebastian Voltmer took a particularly beautiful photo of NEOWISE at dawn over the village of Spicheren on the morning of July 6th (see left). The comet is framed by so-called NLC's (Noctilucent Luminous Clouds), which are not different from ice crystals formed by meteor dust in the high atmosphere. And this meteor dust is partly from comets!
At the moment NEOWISE is still visible only in the morning sky, which means you have to get up early to observe it. From about 4 o'clock on it can be seen just above the sky which is brightened by the approaching sunrise. Finding it is very easy: Capella as one of the brightest stars of the northern sky shows the way. It is visible in the northeast, if you have found it you only have to look down towards the horizon, turn a little bit to the left, that's where NEOWISE is located. If you want to know more about it, you can find a search map on TheSkyLive.com.
During the next days the comet climbs higher in the morning sky and from the middle of the month on it can be seen in the evening sky. As it moves away from the sun and approaches the earth, it becomes bigger, but probably fainter. Nevertheless it should be a nice object for some weeks at least for the observation with binoculars.
UPDATE 02.03.2018: We have underestimated the increased demand for the [product sku="1931026"]. The camera is now available in sufficient quantities.
The new QHY5III 462C - a RGB single shot color camera with high quantum efficiency and high sensitivity in the near infrared spectral range at an attractive price
The [product sku="1931026"] is actually two CMOS-cameras in one camera body. With it you can take normal single shot color images of the planets of the solar system, as well as of sun and moon. Due to the extremely low readout noise, RGB images of brighter DeepSky objects can be captured with the Lucky Imaging technique at shorter exposure times, too.
Due to the high quantum efficiency of the sensor (see also curve of spectral sensitivity in near infrared (NIR)), monochrome images of astronomical objects in this spectral range can also be acquired. This also includes images in the methane band at 880 nanometers.
[product sku="2458295"]
By using a UV/IR blocking filter, infrared light is blocked and the camera operates in the normal RGB spectral range. If the UV/IR blocking filter is removed and an IR bandpass filter is placed in the light path, pure, monochrome images in the near infrared spectral range are obtained. This is possible because the RGB color filter matrix in front of the sensor becomes completely transparent at infrared wavelengths. The two filters are included in the scope of delivery.
This makes the [product sku="1931026"] very interesting, because the infrared spectral range includes the methane band at a wavelength of 880 nanometers. Due to the high quantum efficiency of the sensor, together with the [product sku="2458295"], spectacular images of the outer gaseous planets can now be taken even with moderat
The picture shows the planet Jupiter in different spectral ranges (all images taken in the primary focus of a Celestron C14, stacking 300/3,000 images)
The central region of the Orion nebula in the near infrared (filtered with Schott RG 780 from 800 nm to 1000nm)
Another field of infrared photography covers DeepSky Lucky Imaging of brighter, very young open star clusters with short exposure times. Their young stars often still "hide" in the surrounding H-II hydrogen nebulae, because the light of the H-II emission often overshines these stars, which glow mainly in near infrared light. The IR band-pass filter blocks the light of the H-alpha emission at 656.28 nanometers and makes the young stars stand out more clearly.
An example in the northern sky is the large open star cluster in the center of the Orion Nebula (see image above), whose stars in the near IR range are also visible to amateur astronomers.[br]
Another example of the possibilities offered by the QHY5III-462C is the image of Messier 17, the Omega Nebula. In this example a monochrome image taken in the continuum was combined with an image in the NIR range (800 - 1000nm). The continuum image was coded green and the NIR image was coded red.
All red image details mainly radiate in the infrared spectral range beyond 780 nanometers. Green image details mainly radiate in the continuum. The example clearly shows in which regions of M17 active star formation takes place.
Note on the NIR sample images "Center of the Orion Nebula" and "M17 - the Omega Nebula":
The image of the Orion Nebula and the NIR part of M17 were taken long time ago with a SBIG ST-8 CCD camera. The sensor used at that time was sensitive in the NIR up to about 1100nm, but only with a QE around 10%. They only give examples and suggestions what is "realizable" with the QHY 462C in the NIR range.
In the near IR spectral range it is also possible to "look into" the edges of dark clouds and young stars become visible which remain invisible in the RGB spectral range. Objects for such experiments would be, for example, the dark clouds in the constellation Aquila in the northern sky. In the southern sky there are dozens of interesting objects for both star clusters and dark clouds. The sensor size of 1920 x 1080 pixels at a medium focal lengths is large enough to photograph such objects.
To call the QHY5III-462C THE new ultimate CMOS camera might be a bit exaggerated. But with the possibility to capture images both in RGB mode or in near infrared - especially at its attractive price - makes this camera one of the most interesting products for amateur astronomy in 2020. Further highlights of the camera are its raw images with extremely low noise (<1e-) at high gain and the high frame rate in download. It should also be mentioned that the QHY5III-462C can of course also be used as a pure guiding camera for tracking with the international SBIG ST4 compatible 6-pin RJ11 interface.
We are aware that many of our customers are waiting for news about the MaxBright® II Binoviewer. Please be assured that we are indeed almost there. We still ask for a little patience – unfortunately the current situation has led to further delays. We are expecting deliveries in April.
Schmidt-Cassegrain telecompressor/reducer and flatfield-corrector
For Schmidt-Cassegrain-telescopes with 2" eyepiece clamp or for direct connection to SC-thread through [product sku="2408160"] or [product sku="2958500B"]
T-2 (M42x0.75) Locking ring with lever for direct attachment of the MaxBright® II onto all Baader T-2 star diagonals, be it prisms or mirrors (e.g. to directly couple the body of the Maxbright II with the [product sku="2456005"]
An [product sku="2458272"] is additionally required for adaptation of the MaxBright® II The Bino auxillary-ring is placed between the binocular and the T-2 locking ring.
If the lever of the locking ring comes to rest in an unfavourable position you can still adjust the position of the lever. The lever is only threaded into the ring at the outer circumference. This lever may be threaded into any of the three M4 threads each spaced 120° apart.
Maxbright II Bino rotation lock/auxillary-ring – for the shortest possible adaptation of the Maxbright® II Binos directly onto all Baader T-2 star diagonals, be it prisms or mirrors – without any part in between that would cause an increase in optical length.
The Maxbright® II Bino has a male M34 thread exposed, after both alternative adapters have been removed from the body of the Maxbright II. This M34 male thread directly threads into the female M34 thread present in every Baader T-2 prism or mirror.
TThis direct attachment does not leave room between bino and T-2 star diagonal to take up a Baader glasspath-corrector, but on the other hand - the shorter optical length of the combo may be just short enough to not needing a glasspath-corrector at all - so it is well worth a try (exemption: the [product sku="2456305"] ) can be fitted in front of any of the Baader T-2 star diagonals). Still the Bino may not bottom out in the right position when fully threaded in while using the described male/female M34 threads. For this reason a dedicated [product sku"=2458271"] is available. This T-locking-ring will be threaded "upward" against the body of the Maxbright II, to prevent the Bino from unintended rotation and most of all to prevent it to fall off. montieren.
Der [product sku="2458271"], dedicated for the Maxbright-II, is additionally required. This locking ring threads straight onto the male thread of any T-2 star diagonal and the above mentioned [product="2458272"] is loosely put between binocular and locking ring. The small elevation visible at the locking ring must point towards the binocular and the smooth side towards the star diagonal.
This auxillary-ring works as a cushion, to prevent scratching the paint at the bottom of the Maxbright II while the T-2 locking-ring is threaded upward against the bino.[br]
Baader 2" ClickLock M54i x 0,75 clamp – for all focusers from Bresser, Omegon and Explore Scientific with M54 x 0,75 male thread
A small rotation by 20° with gentle fingertip pressure to the knurled lever is enough to securely clamp every 2" accessory.
Ratchet function – features acoustic and haptic display of the clamp-position. This way you can hear and feel in darkness without looking if the clamp is opened or closed.
Compression tension-ring of thick-walled hard bronze, keeps its shape even after many years of use and holds expensive accessories securely - without causing scratches or pressure points on your accessories.
Inverter ring with continuous M54 x 0,75 male thread
Converts an M54 x 0.75 female thread into an M54 x 0.75 male thread
Optical length equals to zero, disappears completely between two M54 x 0.75 internal threads and therefore cannot become jammed. As soon as the connection is opened, the external thread ring is also loose
Inside non-reflecting grooved and painted dead flat black
UPDATE 08.04.2020: Comet ATLAS's core is breaking up
Unfortunately comet Atlas seems to meet the same fate as many other promising comets did before: The images since April 6th show that the nucleus is breaking up. This can be seen from the fact that the once very concentrated, almost star-shaped inner region has become elongated – in the process it is becoming more and more diffuse and the brightness is decreasing instead of continuing to increase.
Thus the large spectacle on the sky, which many amateur astronomers had hoped for, probably wont happen. But if you're quick enough to now take a glance at the comet, you could see it still halfway intact in a binocular or in a telescope – even with tail. So you can witness how a formerly promising comet turns into an ever fainter cloud of debris. In many places the sky is currently extremely clear, which makes observation easier.
UPDATE March 20th, 2020: New images, maps and information.
Finally there is an interesting comet again, which is well visible for most amateurs: Comet C/2019 Y4 was discovered by the ATLAS project in Hawaii at the end of last year, which is why it got its name.
The comet Atlas is currently still a little further away from the Sun than Mars, but is on an orbit that will bring it very close to our central star. Actually the brightness should only be about 15mag at the moment, which is not visually accessible for most amateur telescopes. But it does not follow this prediction, with about 9mag it is ideally positioned for the northern hemisphere close to the big dipper (near the star Dubhe) and has even been sighted with 10x50 binoculars. Michael Jäger has just sent us the image to the right on which was taken on March 11th with a Celestron RASA 8" Astrograph, exposure time 7x2min with green filter.
In the meantime (as of March 20th) we have received more pictures from Mr. Jäger and also from Mr. Kaltseis.
What is the next step with comet Atlas? If its current brightness is not only due to a short term eruption, but continues to increase steadily, it could become so bright in mid-May with about 3-4m that it can easily be found with binoculars close above the horizon shortly after sunset. After that it will become invisible for us while passing the point closest to the sun within Mercury's orbit. Many comets do not "survive" such a close passage to the sun and burn up. But if C/2019 Y4 should reappear afterwards on the "other side" of the sun, it is enormously warmed up and emits massive amounts of gas and dust, so comet Atlas could still become an impressive appearance in the morning sky at the beginning of June. Let's hope that a small celestial spectacle awaits us!
In March the comet is still in the area of the Big Dipper. So it is practically the whole night in an ideal position for observation. During the next two months it approaches the sun and wanders in the sky towards Perseus and Taurus. As a result, its visibility shifts more and more into the morning hours until it rises at dawn at the end of May just before the sun rises - but then it is also closest to the sun and could appear particularly large and bright. However, comets are known for their unpredictable appearance.
To observe the comet, you should seek out a location that is as dark as possible, where the lights of the city do not disturb. A free view to the north is recommended. Look for the stars of the Big Dipper as orientation. The free app Celestron SkyPortal helps you to orientate yourself in the sky. Our search map shows you where to look for the comet. As long as it is far away from the sun, it does not show a pronounced tail. Look rather for a washed out, larger star or nebula. How large and bright Atlas appears can change almost daily. Don't forget that you are observing a lump of ice and rock several million kilometres away, only a few kilometres in size, surrounded by a gas cloud of about 300,000 km (mid-March) - twice as large as Jupiter, but still far away.
Photographically the comet is still a challenge for which the RASA 8" Astrograph is the perfect solution. The Celestron AVX mount with RASA 8" Astrograph is an easily transportable and easy-to-master instrument combination, ideal also for beginners in astrophotography - and for comets: Michael Jäger took the photo from March 11th shown above right with such an optical system. Thanks to the fast aperture ratio of f/2, the exposure times are short, and if the mount is well set up, there is no need to even guide.
Professional top quality telescopes for space tech, research institutes and high end amateurs
Dear Customers,
since the company was founded in 2006, PlaneWave has specialised in producing professional astrographs. The range extends from the 30 cm telescopes to complete telescope with up to 1 m aperture. As an official EU distributor, we are pleased to present the PlaneWave product range to you within an appropriate web presence. At www.planewave.euyou will find an overview of telescopes, mounts and accessories from the US manufacturer.
Turnkey Observatories – The Sealed Solution
The combination of PlaneWave products with domes from Baader Planetarium results in complete solutions that are difficult to beat in terms of sustainability and performance.
Baader Planetarium specializes in erecting turnkey observatories utilizing mainly PlaneWave CDK-, IRDK- and RC- telescopes with professional CCD-camera equipment. With its telescopes and mounts, PlaneWave provides an optical and technical basis which, in conjunction with Baader dome technology, leads to turnkey solutions which ensure the quality of the optics and the entire technology for many years to come.
PlaneWave Highlights
Simple collimation and achievable centering tolerance
Free from off-axis coma, off-axis astigmatism, and curvature of field
Perfect flat field all the way out to the edge of the largest CCD sensors available today
A full line of CDK-, IRDK and Ritchey-Chrétien (RC) telescopes
Unprecedented price/performance ratio for a telescope of this quality and aperture
NEW: Your personal Shopping Cart
The products of PlaneWave Instruments are not available online, but you can use the newly designed "inquiry basket" to put together your desired products and send us an inquiry without obligation. We shall gladly to advice you!
[br]
NEW: PlaneWave Live
Images from renowned astrophotographers, videos from our dome and telescope installations, informative articles and interesting customer reviews at a glance. A wealth of information awaits you.
NOT NEW: mistakes will happen...
Even though we tried our best, at the beginning not everything may work as it should. Spelling mistakes and other bugs are of course possible as well, so unfortunately we have to reserve the right for errors. But we are happy if you report them to us! Help us improve the website.
We appreciate your comments and hope you enjoy exploring our new website.
Yuri Petrunin (183 cm tall) with a [product sku="1351030"]
The "Telescope Engeneering Company" has long earned a reputation as a top-class telescope manufacturer. The family business in the US state of Colorado has been manufacturing telescopes of the highest quality in small series since the 1990s.
Before TEC manufactured the first refractors in the year 2000 (regular production of APO140 started in 2002), TEC were offering Sitall mirror sets from LOMO (upto 1.4m) and MAKs from 150mm to 300mm. The distribution of these products is stopped.
The three Petrunins are based on class instead of mass, therefore the delivery times are long! But the quality is also outstanding: TEC is one of the few manufacturers in the world that still masters durable oil-spaced triplet lenses. This results in particularly robust and stable optics that cool down very quickly and effectively. During the 15 years that Baader Planetarium has been importing TEC telescopes to Europe, only one oil-spaced lenses had to be renewed. We can therefore vouch for the quality and long-term stability of this oil-spaced lenses. Read more about the advantages of oil-spaced lenses for apochromatic triplet objective.
In years of work, TEC has now succeeded in manufacturing all device classes with a genuine Fluorite as a middle element. In terms of transmission and colour purity, these optics are far superior to all "APOs" with ED lenses or similar, which are available today. If you haven't seen the difference with your own eyes, you can't imagine it. It is last bit of sharpness that literally gets you going when you focus on an oil-spaced triplet lens with Flurite as a middle element is an incomparable experience.
Also the [product sku="1351005"] - the most popular size of all TEC telescopes TEC is now available as fluorite apochromat. It is for everyone’s needs. The scope is light weight, portable, and can be used for visual or CCD imaging. With the suitable field flatteners and reducers a world of possibilities is open to you. Due to its optical design, even solar observation is possible, whether with H-alpha filters or whitish light using a Herschel Prism.
[product sku="1351005"]:
Apochromatic Triplet Objective
Clear aperture 5.5" (140 mm), focal length 980 mm
Excellent color correction thanks to glass combined with Fluorite as a middle element
The color correction is optimized for visual use with focus shift less than 0.02% from 436nm to 1000nm.
3.5" Feather Touch Focuser of Starlight Instruments
[product sku="1351005"]
[product sku="1351010"]
[product sku="1351080"]
[product sku="1351140"]
[br]
The currently available bino-telescopes of several manufacturers usually have apertures between 80 and 120 mm. TEC only starts at 140 mm.
As customers requested, TEC has started to offer astronomical binocular telescopes or "binoscopes". Such instruments offer an extrordinary usability and functionality for visual astronomy. The well-known advantages of binocular viewing can be found in perfection here.
