[2014-Dec-20]
Stellafane is saddened by the loss of Harry Vandermeer,
a life long optical professional. Several club members
worked with or for Harry during his long career in the
optical industry.
In 1990, he arranged for the donation of high quality
optical glass to the Springfield Telescope Makers for
the making of the largest Schupmann Telescope in the
Western Hemisphere. It's unique optical properties allow
very high contrast images of the Moon, stars, and
planets. Members also use the telescope to do research
on the orbits of double stars. Several of his employees
have been members of the Amateur Telescope Makers of
Boston, which meets at Harvard Observatory.
He worked at Diffraction Limited, Inc managing
optical programs related to Aerial Reconnaissance. He
helped develop Hycon lenses for the SR-71 Blackbird and
Laser Altimeters that were flown on Apollo 15, 16, and
17 lunar missions.
Harry worked as an optical physicist for most of his
career and formed Optical Systems & Technology,
Inc.,at Bedford, MA in 1972. His company
specialized in the design and fabrication of large
precision telescope systems for NASA and several other
government agencies, including the US Navy for
submarine optics. Many systems have been flown aboard
the Space Shuttle and an ultraviolet spectrometer is
approaching the minor planet, Pluto, aboard the New
Horizons spacecraft. Arrival is expected in the summer
of 2015.
Stellafane Elects Officers and Board
[2014-Nov-15] The Springfield
telescope Makers held their annual business meeting
this evening. A few bylaw changes were voted on and the
officers and board were all reelected to one year terms.
The current officers and board members are listed
here.
Cavendish Fifth Grade Visits Stellafane
Cavendish Fifth Grade and host Ken Slater at the Porter Turret Telescope.
Cavendish Fifth Grade and host Ken Slater in the clubhouse. Ken is talking about the Stellafane meteorite.
[2014-Oct-09] The
Cavendish Elementary School fifth grade class made a
visit to Stellafane. VP Ken Slater, who hosted the
visit, was in the classroom on Monday October 6 to
present a short history of Stellafane, lead some solar
observing, and talk about constellations which the
students are currently studying. Then on Thursday the
students came to visit Stellafane. They spent time
examining the Porter Sundial on the back of the
clubhouse, as they are learning about the movements and
lengths of shadows this year. They also got a tour of
the Porter Turret Telescope, and they spent time in the
clubhouse learning about some of the many artifacts
inside - particularly interesting to the students was
the Stellafane meteorite. This is the fifth year the Cavendish
fifth grade has visited Stellafane.
Stellafane Site Network now on Fiber
[2014-Sep-13] The internet connections to Stellafane have been upgraded to fiber optic cable by our Internet and Telephone Service Provider,
VermonTel. We have three connections: at the Clubhouse, the McGregor Observatory, and the Bunkhouse (a
power line Ethernet connection from the Bunkhouse feeds the Pavilion).
Measured speeds for both uploads and downloads have
increased from 0.3 and 1 megabytes/second to ~85-100 megabytes/second for both.
Wi-Fi users at convention should see much better service next summer.
Fall Star Parties
[2014-Aug-08] Stellafane will be offering two
free public star parties this fall - come join us for one or both!
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site September 13 8:00 PM
Route 12A, Cornish, NH
Saint-Gaudens Star Party Postponed to Sunday, 9/14
In partnership with the National Park Service, the
Springfield Telescope Makers will hold the fifth annual
Star Party at Saint-Gaudens national Historic Site. From
the expansive lawn that overlooks the Connecticut River
with beautiful views of Mount Ascutney to the west, we
will have many telescopes set up for your viewing
enjoyment, and skilled members of the club will answer
you questions and point out celestial wonders. The
evening will start at 8:00 PM with a talk about the
history of astronomy in the Upper Connecticut River
Valley. When darkness falls, we will begin telescopic
viewing. More details in the press release.
Star Party & Open House at Stellafane September 20 7:00 PM
to ???
Jordan Road, Springfield, VT - Follow the signs from
VT-11 and Breezy Hill Road.
The 22nd Annual Stellafane Open House and Star Party
will offer tours of the National Historic Landmark, our
observatories will be open for viewing, and we will be
happy to answer your questions about Stellafane, Amatuer
Astronomy and the Night Sky.
STM member Dave Kelly presents Dr. Dan Fabricant of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics a highly polished Zerodur mirror blank. Dave created the blank from Zerodur slugs Dr. Fabricant donated to the club several years ago.
Dave Kelly presents 10" blank to Dr. Dan Fabricant of CfA
Stellafane returns the Favor
[2014-Feb-06] Several
years ago Dr. Dan Fabricant of the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics donated some Zerodur slugs to
Stellafane. The slugs were scrap left over from coring
out material for use in Masers (club member Dave Prowten
facilitated this donation). The donor asked that if we
made mirror blanks out of the material, he would
appreciate having one of them.
Club member Dave Kelly took on the job of slicing the
slugs and grinding their two surfaces parallel. For the
blank he planned to return to Dr. Fabricant, he took the
further step of polishing all surfaces, including the
edges, to a fine polish. On Friday, February 6, Dave,
Deb Clogston and Paul Valleli visited CfA to present the
mirror blank to Dr. Fabricant (see photo).
The Springfield Telescope Makers appreciate this
donation, and look forward to using these fine Zerodur
blanks in future projects.
Susan Duncan, Manager at Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, with the 1965 Boller & Chivens 95cm telescope.
[2014-Jan-23] Father
and son Alan & Aaron Sliski, Ken Launie, and John
Briggs, all veterans of the annual Stellafane
Convention, teamed to disassemble a 37¼-inch
clear-aperture Boller & Chivens reflector built in 1965
for Princeton University. The effort will facilitate a
new life of education and research for the telescope,
now in the stewardship of the Michele and
David Mittelman Family Foundation. Disassembly began
immediately after the 2013 Convention, when the optics,
mirror cells, a spare primary mirror, and lighter parts
were removed by Briggs and Launie with the help of
Princeton staff and a rental truck. The process
continued in late September, when Briggs and the Sliskis
returned to prepare the instrument for heavy disassembly
by riggers. The excellent telescope, built by the famed
Boller & Chivens firm and second-to-none in quality,
will allow expanded activities similar to those already
underway at HUT Observatory in Colorado, operated by the
Michele and David Mittelman Family Foundation.
Many more details and photos of this effort are reported
here.
John Dobson at Stellafane (Photo by Al Rifkin)
John Dobson at Stellafane
John Dobson, 1915-2014
[2014-Jan-15]
All of us at Stellafane are saddened to learn of John Dobson's passing on
January 15. John was an honorary member of the
Springfield Telescope Makers and attended many
conventions in past.
Kelly Beatty has a nice
article about John over at Sky & Telescope with many
links if you wish to learn about this legend of
telescope making. And here is a link to
Dobson's obituary in the New York Times.
