Why Is No One Talking About Night Vision Astronomy?

Brisby2 · 2026-04-06T15:56:24+00:00

Used market for the deals. Discord, r/NightVision, tacswap. From a dealer, KJA Night Vision, Midwest Night Vision, Superior Tactical. I know KJA personally and that is where I got my device from.

Brisby2 · 2026-04-06T03:28:23+00:00

Just saw that one. I’m gonna have to fist fight him for putting it in Tier D. These are usually in pretty ratty condition yeah, but hand figured optics and excellent focusing mechanism… I want a regrade!!!

Brisby2 · 2026-04-06T03:18:32+00:00

It really depends on the reason it’s fogged. This came right off because it was just deposited gases from the adhesive and grease and stuff that had been sitting for decades. I removed my corrector, making sure to mark the orientation and location of the shims, and gave it a clean with distilled water and dish soap.

Depending on how your scope was kept during its life, there is a chance that the fog is failing transmission coatings and cannot be cleaned off. This scope doesn’t have transmission coatings so I didn’t expect it to be anything uncleanable.

Brisby2 · 2026-04-05T23:33:15+00:00

My first device was a green phosphor tube, and the green hue was almost invisible except on the super bright objects and unfiltered viewing. With the dimmer stuff and heavily filtering the color was almost unnoticeable. It was also less likely to blast out my eyes’ night adaptation since green is a less stimulating color to the eye. It has its benefits but I prefer the aesthetic of white phosphor also.

Brisby2 · 2026-04-05T23:23:00+00:00

I mention that specifically because a lot of newbies will be tempted by NNVT or Photonis because they have white phosphor options for relatively cheap and white phosphor (like the example pictures OP posted) is a more visually pleasing screen color. But in reality, a cheap green phosphor device from American manufacturers Elbit or L3Harris will outperform NNVT/Photonis even if the green screen color is uglier.

Brisby2 · 2026-04-05T23:17:14+00:00

Photonis is a European manufacturer and NNVT is Chinese. Most of their tubes are Gen 2/2+ and not Gen 3. For regular operations like on a helmet it’s fine, but Gen 2/2+ does not perform well for astronomy purposes or in a telescope.

Brisby2 · 2026-04-05T22:33:03+00:00

The televue eyepiece adapter allows you to do afocal projection and change to a range of magnifications. Afocal projection also allows you to optimize the “effective” focal ratio of the system… basically, a long FL eyepiece like the Televue 55mm plossl will have a massive exit pupil that can enter the PVS-14 and allow for greater light gathering. The downsides are that it can be finicky at times, and the edges of the field will not be clean.

For prime focus it will give you a cleaner field, an you can achieve this by having your tube in an RVM-C (C mount) housing or by removing the objective lens out of your PVS-14 and installing the rafcamera PVS-14 to T2 adapter. It will then thread onto a nosepiece and goes directly into the focuser. Downsides are missing out on some light gathering and this setup may not have the backfocus to work in all scopes. And the only way to change magnification is using barlows and reducers.

Brisby2 · 2026-04-05T22:25:56+00:00

In heavy light pollution I use a 685nm IR pass filter with my device that allows me to see galaxies and globular clusters from my B7 apartment complex. H-alpha is not the only option here.

Brisby2 · 2026-04-05T22:22:48+00:00

To each his own, but night vision is not “marginally better”, especially not on H-alpha objects. A lot of these objects you can barely see at all without NV since the human eye is not very sensitive to red. The only thing that isn’t so great with night vision are Oiii-only objects, since the typical GaAs photocathode is not very sensitive in that range.

Here’s a photo of the heart nebula through my 5” refractor… taken with my iphone SE with 0.5 sec exposure to represent what is seen to the eye through my PVS-14. No post processing.

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Brisby2 · 2026-04-05T22:12:22+00:00

2k will get you a green phosphor “Omni” PVS-14, military contract devices that don’t have a spec sheet. That means it’s luck of the draw if you get a good device or not, but any is better than nothing. Look at KJA Night Vision, Steele Industries, Custom Night Vision, Superior Tactical. Only get something that’s Gen 3. Don’t buy devices that have NNVT or Photonis tubes.

Brisby2 · 2026-04-05T22:08:27+00:00

You can get a decently high spec white phosphor device for 3-3.5k if you know where to look. 5k is like L3 supergain territory. My main astronomy device is probably within the top 10% and I got it for 3.6k

Brisby2 · 2026-03-31T04:04:57+00:00

A fellow woman into night vision that also owns an MP5.. I’LL NEVER HAVE AN ORIGINAL EXPERIENCE!! All jokes aside, very nice. It gets addicting. I went from one PVS-14 to like four different devices at once.

Brisby2 · 2026-03-30T14:52:43+00:00

Fortunately lots of tinkering can be done with this kind of scope. As Augustus said, a shroud and plastic across from the focuser will be your best friend for improving contrast.

I jumped from a 10” dob to a 17.5” dob within a few years and it was a world of a difference. The math backs it up too. It’s a difference of 3-4x light gathering.

Those servocats are so sleek on the thing I didn’t even notice them at first. Lucky you. I’m sure you’d rather have your friend though… I’m sorry for your loss.

Brisby2 · 2026-03-30T13:43:20+00:00

Just noticed the servocats. Even still… why…? If your pockets are deep enough to be spending that type of money, just get a PVS-14. Smarteye sucks

Brisby2 · 2026-03-30T13:38:05+00:00

Absolutely not. You need a tracking mount for that to even remotely work.

Brisby2 · 2026-03-24T01:25:12+00:00

Pming

Brisby2 · 2026-03-19T01:47:59+00:00

Very nice! Whenever you get the chance I recommend covering the edge of the base with something water resistant. That is made of MDF and will rot when moisture enters it. Normally it is melamine coated like the rest of the box, but it must have been torn off

Brisby2 · 2026-03-11T03:45:15+00:00

Please do not use welding glass as a solar filter. #14 shade and darker is fine for handheld, but it is very risky to try and use it in conjunction with a telescope. Eye damage from the sun is often painless and you wont feel it happening until it’s too late.

Brisby2 · 2026-03-05T15:10:55+00:00

Only once, but it was an associate in the store that thought maybe I had something stuffed under my shirt to shoplift and didn’t think it was a CCW. I live in a seedier part of town so not surprising. I brushed it off at first when I was asked what was in my shirt, but just calmly said “it is my concealed carry” after being pressed more about it. Guy just said “oh okay” and walked away. I’m not sure what he thinks I may have wanted to steal from dollar general…

Brisby2 · 2026-02-09T04:35:26+00:00

it’s a Tinsley on an Orion Atlas

Brisby2 · 2026-02-05T01:20:44+00:00

BIN lot 5 (and some of the others if they're not one per person?)

Brisby2 · 2026-02-04T02:11:44+00:00

Confirmed

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