Andreas Kaufer has been appointed the new Director General of ESO (European Southern Observatory), replacing Xavier Barcons, who had served for ~8 years. Kaufer first joined ESO as the VLT (Very Large Telescope) was in preparation. Now he oversees final assembly and testing of the ELT (Extremely Large Telescope); the generations come and go with progress. He will also witness the formulation and selection of some next-gen project at ESO.
And speaking of instruments, it is with sadness that I must post the loss of Al Nagler, of TeleVue Optics. Albert H. Nagler (1935-2025) passed Monday, October 27. Besides founding and leading the abovementioned company, he was a force in instruments before he struck out on his own.
If you somehow hadn’t heard, TeleVue eyepieces (as well as the telescopes, ancillary optics, and other accessories) are highly regarded among the celestial-conscious. I, personally, own multiple TeleVue products… after I finally got a solid job that let me afford them. While admittedly not the steepest prices you’ll see out there (Questron and Astro-Physics, I’m looking at you), TeleVues are not cheap, and it shows in the results. People speak lovingly about TV sharpness, as well as quality control (not necessarily the same- small refractors, I’m looking through you).
After an initial line of Plossl eyepieces (first designed by Georg Plossl, over a century before), the company released the Nagler line of eyepieces, of their own (innovative and patented) design. Aside from those Plossls- maybe an entry-level offering?- the company made its name and reputation on wide fields of view, without compromising edge sharpness. Compared to other, conventional designs, ultra-wide apparent-field eyepieces are immersive, sometimes described as looking through a porthole, not a small instrument. At the very least, wide fields of view (without sacrificing magnification) means finding and tracking targets is that much easier. Of course, marquee sights like the Orion Nebula and Jupiter, sometimes Mars, just beg for wide, sharp eyepieces, and the high mag is just a bonus.
Whichever way you call it, Al Nagler and the TeleVue products he brought into the world set a new bar for the astronomy world.