2012 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 under 12½-inches; Large Newtonian 12½-inches and over; Compound Optical System] and for several Mechanical Categories [mechanical design, workmanship, innovative component, junior (under 16), special (for items that are not complete telescopes)]. The optical competition was completed on Saturday night (optical awards will be sent to winners by mail); the mechanical judging was done on Saturday morning and awards were passed out at the Saturday evening program.

The Head Optical Judge for 2012 was Rick Hunter. Junie Esslinger, Phil Rounseville, Allen French, David McGaw, Dick Parker and Don Schwarzkopf were optical judges. Francis O'Reilly was the optical runner.

The Head Mechanical Judge for 2012 was Chris Houghton. Jeff Lowe, Dave Kelly, Mario Motta, Tom Spirock and George East were mechanical judges.

The judging administrative team for 2012: Jay Drew assisted by Samantha Tabor and Gabe De Luca.

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.

Photos by the Springfield Telescope Makers: Gabe De Luca and Ken Slater

Note: After you expand a photo, you can use the arrow keys to move forward and back, and the spacebar starts a slide show.

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

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