Fred Ley

A weight drive can be used on other telescopes provided the neccessary modifications are made to accommodate the weight drive. There are individuals who have also made their own drives. It is rare these days when everyone uses electric drives. I always have had a strong nostalgic leaning towards this type of drive. This link will take you to a page on Cloudy Nights where you will see an old photo that I took of a home made weight drive. Just scroll down the page. http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3707895/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/4/vc/1 -Fred

This weight drive belongs to the GOTO 6-inch refractor that I have the three images of. -Fred

Very nice image. When I first looked at it, the location of Crete first came to mind. Then I realized that it was elsewhere. -Fred

Astrophotography is always interesting as one can take images of the same object many times and get different pleasant reults every time. This came out real nice. -Fred

Spyros, The PARKS 12.5-inch reflector shown here has a PARKS fiberglass tube that is 15-7/8-inches ID. That is 15.875-inches inside diameter. The mirror is 12.5-inches in diameter. So, naturally, there is a 3.375-inches (3-3/8-inch difference. The clearance around the mirror comes out to be 1.6875-inches or 1-3/16-inches clearance between the mirror and the tube. As to issues with thermal currents, the embraces a few diferent things. One of course is the thickness of the mirror, another is the cooldown time bwtween the mirror and the outside atmosphere and how quickly the temperature changes. I am certain that you are aware that many people have placed fans behind their mirror mount in order to help with the image quality. I have an article that states that all of the turbulence is relegated to the few inches directly above the face of the mirror and that a fan should be placed perpendicular to the actual surface of the mirror. Therefore drawing the warm curents across and away from the surface of the mirror in a more direct fashion. Placing a fan behind the mirror will of course draw air around the sides o fthe mirror, but it will move the air less as one moves away form the edge of the mirror towards the center of the mirror. Naturally for planetary and lunar observing one wants the best seeing possible. For those really extended objects like clusters, nebula and galaxies, practically any seeing condition is ok-as far as I am concerned. Angelos, You are correct, the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference is a great place for the amateur telescope maker to show the fruit of his or her labor. There are awards given out for workmanship. At nightfall the telescopes are all trained on objects in the night sky. A few people will actually do some cdd, comet searching or whatever else interests them. Years ago a member from the San Jose Astronomical association, Dom Machholz, discovered a comet at the event and a marker was placed at the spot where his telescope was set up. There is also the talks that take place from themornig up to the evening with breaks for lunch and dinner. During the day it is a "feeding frenzy". On Saturday morning there is the swap meet where people bring all the things that they want to sell and it gets real crazy. Picture 500 pounds of steak being thrown overboard into shark infested waters.

Very nice image of the galaxy. You have captured quite a bit of dtail. I have always enjoyed monochrome images of celestial objects. Fred

I must assume that you have already visited Stellafane's web site, if not, it warrants a visit. It is at http://stellafane.org/ You will find a plethora of inofrmation on making telescopes, suppliers, lot of images of ATM telescopes and toms of additional inofrmation. Be prepared to spend some time going through the site. I have the biography of Russell W. Porter by Berton C. Willard and it makes very interesting reading. The history of astronomy is one of my main interest too. Do try to find time to go through the Stellafane site, if you have not already done so, it is very interesting. Fred

I gather that the winners of the competition submitted a paper dealing with astronomy, space exploration or space technology. They should be in store for a great time and to be exposed to a lot of new and interesting things. Hope that you may get to go one day too. Fred

Real nice image there. The dust lanes came out looking nice. NGC4565 is one of my favorites in the night sky. Fred

This is the thrid phase of a competion concerning something to do with astronomy-I guess? Fred

I am quite certain that the owners of this telescope take very good care of it. It is a beauty optically and mechanically.

This telescope now belongs to the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, Utah. Everything that one sees on the telescope that is "gold" in color is actually gold plated. That takes care of any tarnishing which occurs with brass.

Hi Ourania, The telescopes shown here on Astrovox are from the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference, held every May at Big Bear Lake in Southern California at an altitude of about 7,500 feet. Some telescopes and a list of the talks given at past events, along with awards for home made telescopes can be found at the following web site http://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/ if interested. I have never made it to Stellafane in Vermont, which is clear on the other side of the country. California is a nice place to visit for such an event. Apart from the RTMC event there is JPL in Pasadena, Mt. Wilson Observatory (60-inch and 100-inch), Mt Palomar Observatory, Big Bear Solar Observatory, Griffith Observatory and planetarium in Los Angeles. Astronomy clubs in the Southern California area always have events going on on the weekends. So if one were to visit an RTMC event and wanted to some more astronomy oriented sightseeing, there is lots. There is also the telescope manufacturers in the area, but I do not think that they offer tours of their facilities. Apart from the world of astronomy, there is sports, the coast, and a whole host of other things to see and do. There is always Disneyland. -Fred