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website.
Read my report on the event.
Peter Chen's (far right) research project utilizing light-weight carbon fiber mirrors. This mirror weighs in at 2 pounds. |
The pink clubhouse on Breezy Hill. |
A small Dob |
Al Francis' 12 1/2" Split-ring with drop & drive tracking system & encoders. |
A small dob with a mirror that this young man made in a mirror workshop |
The Schupmann Telescope at Stellafane, home of the Springfield Telescope Makers |
Shane LaPierre's 20" home-made dob |
Shane LaPierre's 8" split-ring
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The view from the main observing field at Stellafane East. We had a great night here on Friday! |
A young mirror maker |
Solar viewing through a 6" AP refractor & H-Alpha filter |
John Vogt's 32" driven alt-az |
x
Next stop Stellafane! |
The Friday night tent talks.
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A very wide field refractor in brass. |
An all wooden refractor. |
A miniature solar system. |
The telescope judging competition. |
Breezy Hill. |
A very nice 12 1/2" on a home made wooden G.E.M. |
A very nice looking scope. No more info. |
Here's Al Francis' standing next to his 12 1/2" Split-ring. |
An Astrosystems Telekit. It looks like an 18". |
This is the same scope as above. Notice the internal baffling. |
A 1 1/2" truss tube dob. It really works!
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All the telescopes upon Breezy Hill. The pink clubhouse is on the left, the porter turret telescope is on the right.
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The telescope field on Saturday.
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Composite mirror telescope.
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This scope took 1st place for crafstmanship. |
A home-made crayford focuser. |
Another shot of the 14 1/2" split-ring. |
A slick looking table top dob. |
A 14 1/2" split-ring done in nice dark stain & brass trim. |
A 12 1/2" split-ring with encoders & electronic focus. |
Another shot of Al Franci's 12 1/2". |
A 16" dob built around a Meade mirror. |
A very nicely machine scope. |
A unique lookig dob. |
Another shot of Shane LaPierre's 8" split-ring. |
Dave Aucoin's 13" low-profile Dob. Photo courtesy of Dave. |
Another shot of Dave Aucoin's 13" low-profile Dob. Photo courtesy of Dave. |
This was the second year that I visited Stellafane. Once again as the weekend approached I listened to and viewed every weather report, and once again I was not happy with the prediction. It was going to be a big bust once again. I decided, however, to load up the 20" & my newly completed 8". The 20" is just too much fun in the dark skies (if we were going to see any), and at least I could show the 8" upon Breezy Hill. As I drove North on I-91, the clouds started to break. Could it be that the meteorologists were incorrect? Upon arriving, I found a camp site. I guess it turns out you need to get there pretty early, or the pickings get kind of slim on camp sites. I set up near the swap tables, and then decided to look around. The skies were looking more promising every minute. I found a gentleman, who I later learned is John Vogt, with his 32" driven alt-az Newt & a nice 6" Astro-physics refractor with a prominence filter installed. The viewing was good. I was even more excited thinking we may get some night-time viewing after all.
I met with friends, and browsed around the premises for a while. Having decided that the weather may prove favorable, I set up my scopes on the hill near the McGregor Observatory. It turned out that several people set up larger scopes on that hill compared to Breezy Hill this year. It's nice to have a 20" telescope near people with a 32" and a couple of 25" telescopes, because you don't get swamped with too many visitors! After making my rounds I then found myself listening to the Friday night talks. There were some interesting talks, but I found myself drawn to observe once it was dark and finally retreated to my observing spot. I met with a few friends, and we were fortunate enough to observe until around 1:30 that morning. We observed comet Linear which was apparently breaking up even as we observed it. We also observed plenty of DSO's including a lot of planetaries & globulars that night. It turned out to be a great night after all. My new 8" showed lots of detail at this dark site. I especially enjoyed M31 & M33 with such a rich-field scope.
The next morning I slept only long enough to get up and go to the swap meet. I sold a few items... junk to me, but somebody else wanted them. I made around $40. I think bought a 10" Pyrex mirror blank for $15, and a plossl eyepieces for $15. I netted $15, and liked what I was going home with better than what I can with. That's Stellafane!
The weather was very bad Saturday night. It poured all night. The talks were great. David Levy gave the Shadowgram, and the keynote speaker was excellent. All in all, a great time.
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