2001
2001 History
Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird - Herb and Paula York
Meade Instruments
Captains Nautical
ET Platforms-Terry Hubbert
Equatorial Platforms - Tom Osypowski
Hulan Fleming, Artist
George Vlahakis, Astro-Photography
Juneberry Pottery - Michael Eastep
Espresso By The Road
Mugger's Espresso- Mona Williams
StarMaster - Rick Singmaster
Bill's Mobile Service - Bill Burvee
ATM - Mirror-making demo- Randy Johnson
Sun River Nature Center - Bob Grossfeld
International Dark Sky Association - Informational display
Roy Motram - E-Books
NOVA - PBS
The Discovery Store
Sky and Telescope Magazine
Astronomy Magazine
David Chandler Company
Learning Technologies
Just-Cheney Enterprises
Dinotransfers
The Boeing Employee's Astronomy Club
Thank you again for helping make TMSP 2001 a huge success.
TABLE MOUNTAIN 2001
First
before anything else is said about this year’s event there is a big thanks
to be given to the following people:
John
Pike and John
Schroeder stopped a fire that would have destroyed Table Mountain.
These two people were the first two on the fire-line and stay there
until the Forest Service relieved them.
They truly saved Table for our enjoyment.
Ken
Slavens
for saving our student program at the last minute.
Now matter what we say here nothing can express our gratitude for
what your time and effort did to help.
No one does this program as well as you. Your success with these
students is what made this program what it is.
Barbara
and Niki Gilliland, their
efforts were greatly appreciated by the entire staff for coming to our aid as
needed while Frank is on his quest of the P.C.T.
What you have done for us this year is ten times more than we were
hoping for.
Russell
Vodder, Dave Sebring, and John Pike, your teamwork made Table look good.
Your help with the setup and takedown plus everything else you did was
unbelievable.
To
all Volunteers,
without you all of us Gold Hats would be insane by the end of the week.
Table
2001 saw more change than in most years.
We had an unexpected shortage of vendor's for unseen reasons at the
time. We improved our event
tent by replacing the two old army tents with a 54' X 27' tensile
structure. We knew it would be
large, but this thing was huge. Our
door prizes went over well, even though our P. A. system person got ill and
could not attend this year. Over
$11,000 in prizes was given to students and adults combined.
There
were fewer prizes but higher quality prizes, which increased their value.
Everyone seemed quite happy. Our
judging system was reworked to cut down on time involved.
Because of the clouds there was no optical excellence judging on
Friday night. Our changes
allowed the judges to be completely finished including a food break, in less
than three hours. I want to
thank our judges Fred Phillips, Brad Hitzel, and Chuck Jacobson for their
time and expertise in judging our event.
The
first look of the night’s sky was with locals from Ellensburg on Saturday
before Table. There was nothing
to compare to last year’s Northern Lights show.
Mars and Antares took center stage in the early evening.
The start of the Delta Aquarids was very apparent.
The only problem was that it was 34 degrees with15-mph wind gusts on
Saturday and Sunday nights. During
the wind gusts on Sunday, a smoldering lightning strike broke out into
flames at Lion’s Rock. John
Pike and John Schroeder along with some of the Table Mountain staff kept the
fire contained until the Forest Service arrived.
The rest of the week mostly offered viewing portals in the light
cloud cover during early evening. Yet, there was an interesting sight of
meteors streaking across the sky above the thin clouds.
Almost like clockwork the clouds would give way between 11:45 PM and
1:00 AM allowing for some good viewing.
Just before dawn Jupiter was like a giant landing light in the sky.
The atmosphere bands were more distinctive than usual.
The moons were very crisp and clearly defined.
Wednesday turned out to be a great summer day with a pristine night.
The air was extremely dry and the temperature was in the 50’s.
Guide stars that are normally seen with binoculars were visible to
the eye. As people
started to arrive on Thursday with a cloud-covered sky, you could hear the
skepticism about the weather. As
evening skies cleared and temperatures warmed everyone got at lest a few
good hours of viewing. Saturday
was the most forgiving; we had good viewing all night.
2001 TABLE MOUNTAIN
TELESCOPE &
ACCESSORIES
MAKING CONTEST
BEST FIRST
BY A STUDENT: This year we created this new category to
encompass all that attend Table Mountain Star Party.
Erin Flood - #5 Tacoma, WA
BIO: Erin
is 14 years of age and a four-year member of TAS student program.
She spent about a year making her 7.25" f/6.3 Dobsonian
telescope, including grinding her own mirror. Way to go Erin!
BEST FIRST
SCOPE:
Mike Gabe - #13 Silverton, OR
BIO: Mike
is a member of the Rose City Astronomers and has created a very nice,
ultra-light, airline ready, 16" f/4.5, low profile Dobsonian.
The telescope collapses into a suitcase and the mirror box becomes a
17" x 17" carry-on.
BEST
DOBSONIAN:
Matthew Vartanian - #12 Portland, OR
BIO: Matt's
also is a member of the Rose City Group.
He has made a 16" f/4.5 Dobsonian that uniquely uses hunting
bowstrings to stiffen the trusses. This
is a very clever idea that would qualify in several categories.
BEST USE OF
COMMON MATERIALS:
Larry O'Bryant -
#14
Lopez, WA
BIO: Everything on this instrument, except the eyepiece and the finder scope, was homemade, and an excellent job. First light, for this unique 6" f/8 Dobsonian telescope, was on July 19, 2001 at the Table Mountain Star Party.
INNOVATIVE
DESIGN:
Sonny Tremoulet -
#4 Edmonds, WA
BIO: Sonny's
entry was a 10" f/6 Dobsonian. He ground his own mirror and developed a great idea for scope
builders when he gave his scope a big plus by incorporating a swiveling
secondary cage to prevent problems with truss alignment.
BEST
WORKMANSHIP - AMATEUR
Scott Berfield -
#6 Woodinville, WA
BIO: Scott's
telescope is a beautiful 4" refractor made from walnut, maple and
mahogany. This scope is a
definite winner, hands down!
BEST
WORKMANSHIP - PROFESSIONAL
Ed Stevens - #7
Portland, OR
BIO: Ed
is another inspired telescope maker from the Rose City Astronomers.
He has made a 10" f/5 that fits into an airline carry-on space
(9" x 14" x 22"). There
is even space for a few eyepieces and a finder scope.
As said before, an inspired instrument!
JUDGES
CHOICE:
John Pike - #3
Marysville, WA
BIO: Last year's Table Mountain Star Party was John's first astronomical event. He went home and built himself a 14" f/5.1 Dobsonian that easily won the hearts of the judges. The woodwork immediately drew you to this beautiful instrument.
2001 PHOTO GALLERY
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Page updated 04/29/2008