Tele Vue Nagler Type-7 series eyepieces

These premium optics were inspired by Apollo - and deliver a giant leap to your views

- MARY MCINTYRE

These four Nagler Type-7 eyepieces are based on Tele Vue’s much-loved limited-edition Apollo 11 eyepiece created for the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings (indeed, Tele Vue’s founder Al Nagler designed the optical system for the Apollo landing simulator).

They aim to provide full-field sharpness across an expansive 82° field of view. With the promise of comfortable eye relief for spectacle wearers and parfocality across the series, we were excited to try them on some seasonal targets.

We tested all four on two scopes: a William Optics 70mm triplet refractor and an Orion 10-inch Dobsonian. Starting with the refractor, we spent a clear, moonless night observing several open clusters in Auriga. We immediately noticed that each increase in magnification more than doubled the number of resolved stars. Later, the Double Cluster in Perseus looked gorgeous at all magnifications.

Although we had to slightly adjust the focus between eyepieces, the change required was minor and we enjoyed switching between the different options with minimal fuss. The amount of detail visible on the Moon as we worked through each eyepiece was also impressive and we couldn’t resist taking a few photos. Equally impressive were the views of Saturn: despite the rings being near edge-on, they were clearly visible with all eyepieces on both telescopes, as were the planet’s brighter moons.

Moving to our 10-inch Dobsonian, we started with the 19mm eyepiece and Orion’s Sword, which just fitted across the field of view if we tilted our head to see the edges. The ‘wings’ of the Orion Nebula, M42, extended across the whole field of view and the Trapezium at the centre was well resolved. With averted vision, it was also possible to see De Mairan’s Nebula, M43. The Ring Nebula, M57, was an impressive sight at all magnifications, as was the globular cluster M13.