ATM Report
Previous events > ScopeX 2019
ScopeX 2019 ATM Awards Report
This year, although the number of new telescopes was modest, there were nonetheless several notable items on display.
The following (in no particular order) received recognition for their Amateur Telescope Making projects:
1. The West Rand Astronomy Club put in a communal effort to rebuild Gerard Koekemoer's 13.5" Newtonian, transforming it from its original heavy metal structure designed for a fixed site, to a portable truss-tube instrument. Particular attention was paid to many small details which make the telescope more user friendly, such as the positioning of the finderscope and end-stop “bumpers” on the altitude axis. WRAC were awarded a GSO Plossl eyepiece courtesy of Eridanus Optics, which will be dedicated to the scope for use in group viewing sessions.
2. Chris Curry continues work on refining his lightweight, compact 10" f/3.5 Newtonian, which is not only supremely portable for the aperture, but delights in low-power wide-field views. Among the refinements are further figuring of the mirror following successful initial use, and simple but effective modifications to the focuser enabling the much finer control necessary critically position the eyepiece according to the shallow depth of focus afforded by such fast optics.
3. Gerhard Bloemhof beautifully executed a 10" f/6.5 Serrurier truss telescope, again with much attention to detail. The striking anodised struts and fittings have great visual appeal, whilst the internal “sock’ to control the ingress of extraneous light that would reduce contrast, incorporates knife-edge baffle rings as spreaders. The front end of the tube can be configured for various focuser positions, and the whole disassembled tube can fit within the mount for storage and transport – with the 2-vane spider being stowed at right angles within the top end for protection. A particularly interesting feature is the very compact contactless electronic setting circle system, which couples to the axes magnetically, and communicates wirelessly to a cellphone app for "push-to" object location.
4. Dave Jolly implemented simple yet elegant and effective analogue setting circles on the altitude and azimuth axes on his modified commercial Dobsonian. Since modern cellphone applications for astronomy can perform coordinate translation, finding objects according to their alt-az coordinates becomes a relatively simple matter.
Chris, Gerhard and Dave were awarded gift vouchers from ScopeX.
Chris Stewart
1. The West Rand Astronomy Club put in a communal effort to rebuild Gerard Koekemoer's 13.5" Newtonian, transforming it from its original heavy metal structure designed for a fixed site, to a portable truss-tube instrument. Particular attention was paid to many small details which make the telescope more user friendly, such as the positioning of the finderscope and end-stop “bumpers” on the altitude axis. WRAC were awarded a GSO Plossl eyepiece courtesy of Eridanus Optics, which will be dedicated to the scope for use in group viewing sessions.
2. Chris Curry continues work on refining his lightweight, compact 10" f/3.5 Newtonian, which is not only supremely portable for the aperture, but delights in low-power wide-field views. Among the refinements are further figuring of the mirror following successful initial use, and simple but effective modifications to the focuser enabling the much finer control necessary critically position the eyepiece according to the shallow depth of focus afforded by such fast optics.
3. Gerhard Bloemhof beautifully executed a 10" f/6.5 Serrurier truss telescope, again with much attention to detail. The striking anodised struts and fittings have great visual appeal, whilst the internal “sock’ to control the ingress of extraneous light that would reduce contrast, incorporates knife-edge baffle rings as spreaders. The front end of the tube can be configured for various focuser positions, and the whole disassembled tube can fit within the mount for storage and transport – with the 2-vane spider being stowed at right angles within the top end for protection. A particularly interesting feature is the very compact contactless electronic setting circle system, which couples to the axes magnetically, and communicates wirelessly to a cellphone app for "push-to" object location.
4. Dave Jolly implemented simple yet elegant and effective analogue setting circles on the altitude and azimuth axes on his modified commercial Dobsonian. Since modern cellphone applications for astronomy can perform coordinate translation, finding objects according to their alt-az coordinates becomes a relatively simple matter.
Chris, Gerhard and Dave were awarded gift vouchers from ScopeX.
Chris Stewart