2023 Convention Telescope Competition

All of the Telescopes Entered in the Competition

Winners of the Optical & Mechanical Competition

Convention attendees can enter their home-made telescopes in the Optical and/or Mechanical competition. Awards are given for best Optical Performance [Small Newtonian 12½-inches or smaller; Large Newtonian over 12½-inches; Compound Optical System] and for several Mechanical Categories [mechanical design, workmanship, innovative component, junior (under 16), special (for items that are not complete telescopes)].

In all categories, entrants who have previously won a first place in a category or are professionals in the field must be entered in the Master Class category. Entrants may also voluntarily enter in this category if they wish.

First homemade telescope recognition: If you brought your first homemade telescope and displayed it on Breezy Hill, you got a certificate and your name was shown on the screen at the Saturday Night Program. These scopes are identified as  First Scope  in the listings.

The optical competition was completed on Friday night; the mechanical judging was done on Saturday morning and awards were passed out at the Saturday evening program.

The Head Optical Judges for 2023 were Francis O'Reilly and Phil Rounseville. Junie Esslinger, Dave McGaw, Dick Parker, and Katie Shusdock were optical judges. Mark Polansky and John Holleran were the optical runners. Brad Vietje and Doug Arion where collimation helpers.

The Head Mechanical Judge for 2023 was Chris Houghton. Dave Tabor, Tom Spirock, Alan Hall, Jeff Lowe and Mike Costanza were mechanical judges. John Holleran and Brian Mentz were judges in training.

The telescope competition registrars was Katie Shusdock and John Holoran. Scope photos by Ken Slater abd Brad Vietje unless otherwise noted.

Below you will see up to four pictures of each telescope entered in the competition (fewer if we have less than four available, in some cases we received no photos of some entered telescopes, especially true of some optical only entries that were not available in daylight for photography) and basic information about the telescope and maker, including any awards won. Listed in order of entry.

Note: After you expand a photo by clicking or tapping on it, you can use the arrow keys to move forward and back, and the spacebar starts a slide show.

MC = Master Class;
Newt = Newtonian Reflector; Dob = Dobsonian Mount;
GEM = German Equatorial Mount; Ball = Ball or Hemispherical Mount

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