TMSP 2005 Speakers
This year
was by far one of the best years that I can remember. Maybe it had
something to do with a new 20" telescope and actually getting the
time to spend at the eyepiece. Maybe it was the opportunity to
take several showers without being too concerned with using all my fresh
water and filling my gray water tank. Thanks for the shower Sean
Ryan and Sky
& Telescope. Maybe it had to to with the nine clear sky
nights I spent on the mountain. But probably is was just being on
the mountain with all the great people and having an opportunity to be
part of a great show.
The
Speaker's Program was another fun filled experience and an opportunity
to learn about all aspects of amateur astronomy.
The presentations started off with Jim
Bielaga from Anacortes
Telescope and Wild Bird offering his "Off
the Beaten
Why
would someone want to make his or her own telescope mirror?
It must be a lot of hard work and a lot of development time.
Randy Johnson explained the process to grinding mirrors and how
little it can cost to complete. Randy
had a lot of good news and explained why you should start with a small
mirror and a high focal ratio. High
focal mirrors (>f/6) can be done with a lot of room for learning the
technique.
Returning
again this year was
Thursday
evening we started with Tippy D'Auria
and his "New Way To
Friday
afternoon began with Jonathan Fay and his demonstration of "Digital
SLR: Astrophotography on a Budget."
He started with a background of traditional CCD imaging and the
workflow of collecting images to processing.
With that basis, he moved to DSLR cameras and how they work right
out of the box. Since they
typically are designed for daylight applications they do not support
astrophotography well. "How
do we make these cameras work for us?"
Jonathan realized there was a missing link between these new
cameras and the processing software so he developed a software driver
for DSLR cameras, and it is now available to the public for general
distribution. If you would
like more information on this topic you can visit his web site at Bearcreek
Observatory.
Why
should we study comets? Do
we know how they form or where they come from?
Friday afternoon we continued the speakers program with Greg
Dohonue of Celestial
North. He
discussed the current mission Deep
Impact where a spacecraft made impact with comet Temple1
this past July. The topics
discussed covered the anatomy and different classes of comets, the
mechanics and results of the mission, and what NASA’s future plans and
missions are.
"Nature
shows us only the tail of the lion.
But I do not doubt that the lion belongs to it even though he
cannot at once reveal himself." (Einstein)
Next
up was Ted Vosk, also from Celestial
North. Ted's
focus was on the discussion of modern cosmology.
He began with a retrospect of the Dawn of Cosmology and the
Copernican Universe. He then
moved on to the advancements of Newton, Einstein, and the Early Unified
Field Theories such as those offered by Kaluza Klein.
The journey continued to the birth of modern cosmology, by
exploring the expanding universe, cosmic microwave background and the
Big Bang Theory. Then came
Quantum Mechanics, Dark Matter, and Neutrinos.
What could be next? Superstring
Theory? If Tippy's talk on
Thursday night was not enough to get you thinking about the size when
relating just to our solar system, Ted really brought to light the size
of the universe and our place in it.
"Observe
things as they are and don’t pay attention to other people."
(Haung
Po) Friday
evening Sky
& Telescope Contributing Editor and Observer
Extraordinaire Stephen James O'Meara
presented "Seeing Faint: It’s About Time" where he
enlightened us to the importance of taking the time to actually observe
what is around us. Too many
of us look beyond what is really there and only focus on what we see. There
is so much more, if we would just take the time to observe.
Steve presented us with his "ACDC" guide for observing.
Awareness, Concentration, Determination, and Confidence.
"The foolish
reject what they see, not what they think; the wise reject what they
think, not what they see."
(Haung Po)
Later
that night over 70 participants joined Tom Colwell on his "Planetarium
Under the Stars" tour. Tom
introduced the crowd to the skies and defined the sometimes-confusing
shapes we call constellations. This
tour is not just about the fuzzy objects we can see with binoculars or
telescopes, but also explores the myths behind these constellations.
Saturday
started with the much-misunderstood topic of Telescope Collimation.
"Is it really collimation or is it Alignment?"
Mel Bartels emphasized the need to first understand the
system before attempting to fix it.
Once you are aware of the two different optical axis of a
telescope you are a long way towards understanding optical alignment and
evaluation. Mel explained
the tolerances within the various focal ratio instruments and what
actual measurements that translates to in specific size optics.
It was also pointed out that "Flats do not matter."
What that means is that flat mirrors (or diagonals in Newtonians)
do not have an optical axis and exact placement is not critical.
If you would like to know more about this topic you are invited
to visit Mel's web site at www.bbastrodesigns.com.
"It
is what it is perceived to have been."
This year was the 25th Anniversary of the Table
Mountain Star Party. This
site has been used for an official event since Tom Colwell and
the Northwest Region of the Astronomical League came up here in August
of 1980. Astronomers before
had used the site, but never had there been any organized event.
Tom brought us this year a "Living History of Table Mountain
Star Party" in which he explored the years past and invited anyone
in attendance to share his or her experiences on this mountain.
If you are interested in learning more of some of the recent
year's events, you can check out the TMSP
History section of this web site.
After
taking a break for the much-anticipated Door Prize Drawings and a
well-deserved dinner, the programs started up with Mel Bartels returning
for "A New Approach to Telescope Design," which introduced us
to the latest in amateur telescopes.
Having built over 100 different telescopes himself, Mel explored
design patterns by going back to the first telescopes made and searched
for functionality. He
encouraged us to think outside the box, to take time, and to accept
failure. The audience was
presented with some new ideas such as string telescopes, wire spiders,
3-axis mounts, and binocular scopes.
All of these advancements have come about through numerous trials
and error. Mel provided
great motivation to go out and dream up the next big change in ATM.
Returning
for an encore performance of "How
to Find Those Faint Fuzzy Objects in the Sky" was Joe
Rottmann. He presented
this talk again for those that were not on the mountain Thursday
evening. This night's
crowd was treated to the same enthusiasm for teaching as Joe presented
earlier in the week. Again,
after a short lesson on reading star charts and some basics about
binoculars, Joe led the group outside to hunt down the amazing fuzzy
objects that are waiting to be discovered.
Tom
Colwell came back for a second tour of the night sky at
So
three days of speakers came and went again.
Sunday morning arrived all too early and I got up to watch the
enthusiastic crowd trickle off the mountaintop leaving behind a serine
field open for the viewing. Evening
approached again and the few of us left were treated to the most
beautiful site of the week. Just
after sunset the crescent moon made a brief appearance with the
celestial companionship of Venus just 1/2 a degree to the left.
No need for any observing aids to capture this stunning moment.
We stood, stared, and reflected on another year gone by.
Thank
you all for a wonderful time and like always, I am looking forward to
next year already.
Speaker
Program Chairman
(Page updated 05/01/2008 )