Attempting first approach to night vision astronomy

[Leo Colombo]

Hello, first of all, greetings to everyone from Argentina!. My name is Leonardo Colombo, I am a 55 years old amateur astronomer and a EAA lover, actually using CCTV video cameras (CCD and CMOS), and always experimenting with various brands and models among what is available in my country, and using different telescopes, cctv or "C"/ "CS" lenses, guiding tubes, telephoto lenses, etc.. I am very interested in astronomy with night vision, but in my country it is really very, very expensive and difficult to obtain this devices. In this area, as I do with the EAA, my only possibility today is to evaluate what exists in the market and what I can acquire according to my short budget. Specifically I wanted to consult because I have the possibility of acquiring a Russian NV device, a T3c-3 (Gen 1?) And I wanted to know if I am really going to be able to obtain interesting results with it. The information I have been able to obtain about this device is very scarce, even on Russian sites. It should be noted that I would pay for it an approximate price lower than the local price of cheap ccd sensor devices of the eastern market, (wg-50 from aliexpress style devices) ... About 5 times less than a Pard NV007 or an ATN Gen 2 + second hand (the only one I found posted) in my country. I know that another option is to buy abroad, but we have to add a 65% tax to the total value plus shipping and risks. I will greatly appreciate your opinions and suggestions!

Edited November 29, 2021 by Leo Colombo

[Highburymark]

Hi Leo, and welcome to the forum. I’m afraid I can’t answer your questions - there are only a few night vision users on this site, mostly using Gen 2 and 3 technology available in Europe. and that’s not a device I’ve heard of before. Others may have more of an informed view, but your best bet would be to post the question on Cloudy Nights, the main forum for night vision astronomy. Best of luck.

[PeterW]

The general rule is that if it’s not Gen3 then you’ll be disappointed. Camera based EEA and tracking mounts will be your best bet. The higher the Gen3 spec the narrow the filters and the better the result. That tax rate is painful, more so as NV is not cheap to start with and many countries face export restrictions.

Peter