2013 Convention Photos
Page 2 of 2: Photos Contributed by Attendees

Here are photos of the 2013 Convention by the Convention Attendees. We appreciate receiving photos and reports from attendees and will publish them on these web pages; please e-mail them to us (and any suggestions you may have for improving the convention, or topics you would like to see covered in next year's convention).

Whether you attended and want to try to find yourself in photo, or you couldn't attend and want to see what went on, you can spend some time browsing our gallery of general photos. Go to Page 1: Photos by the Springfield Telescope Makers.

Claudio Veliz of Chester, VT & SoVerA

Skywriting with a red laser pointer
Friday evening informal talks	Collapsible carbon-fiber truss Dobsonian	Collapsible carbon-fiber truss Dobsonian	Collapsible carbon-fiber truss Dobsonian	Collapsible carbon-fiber truss Dobsonian	Collapsible carbon-fiber truss Dobsonian

Olivier Martin of Quebec City, Canada

The Food Tent entrance.	The floating rock at Stellafane East.	Al Monkowski by the Schupmann Optical Layout Diagram	Looking up at the 13" f/10 Schupmann	Ray Morits works the 27" mirror	The Porter Sundial in the south side of the Clubhouse.
John Vogt's Big and Little Dobs and awards.	John Vogt's 32" Cellular Mirror Dob	A Big Red Dob setup on Stellafane East	A nice astro-imaging rig set up on Stellafane East.	Bongo the Goat by the bunkhouse.	Does Bongo ride the bus? I think not!
The New Hampshire Astronomical Society's shelter, set up on Stellafane East.	A rotating eyepiece system on the carbon-fiber Dob.	The collapsed carbon-fiber Dob is ready to roll into the mini-van.	Beautiful 7" Questar got a lot of looks.	Al Nagler, in the Tele Vue cap, holds court on the observing field.	The yellow solar shade keeps the glare off the observer.
Astroimage from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Astroimage from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Astroimage from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Astroimage from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Astroimage from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Astroimage from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East

Peter Barvoets of Schenectady, NY

Wide field view, McGregor Observing Field, Saturday, August 10 at 11:34 AM
Geologic Survey Marker to the north of the Clubhouse	Large Fresnel Solar Marshmallow Cooker	Bongo tours the Fern Forest area (east of the Pavilion)	Painting of pouring the 200-inch mirror over the clubhouse mantel.	Matt Considine minds the Porter Turret during solar projection viewing.	The Porter Turret tracking the sun late in the afternoon.

Trent Hagerty of Jericho, VT

Al Rifkin behind his 'canned' telescope.

Jeff Parenteau (blue shirt) and his solar dob being used by a conventioneer.

Very nice portable scope on the north point in front of the clubhouse.

A classic scene of the clubhouse with an old brass refractor.

Fresnel Foolishness - skip the explanation, please, and just toast me a marshmallow!

John Vogt on the ladder of his 32-inch Dobsonian.

Adrian Hlynka of Groton, MA

Conventioneers, Telescopes, the Porter Turret and nice weather on Saturday Morning.	This award winning scope used a bicycle wheel for an upper cage and spider.	Al Rifkin recycled cans and bottles into this compact scope and finder.	The clubhouse wall is a great spot to observe the action on the judging field.	The big red Dob towers over the little white Tele Vue.	Bongo is clearly an intelligent goat with great taste in astronomy conventions!
Rusty Bolts on the big fork for the 24-inch Alan Clark Reflector.	Camper's on Sue's Field clustered around the Tower of Babel.	Looking north from Sue's Field, distance appears to be compressed.	Chicken on the grill for the Saturday Evening barbeque.	As dusk falls, the food tent goes to red lighting, and side panels will be put up.	Looking down from Sue's Field at the Saturday Evening Program.
Nighttime Image from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Nighttime Image from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Nighttime Image from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Nighttime Image from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Nighttime Image from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East	Nighttime Image from the McGregor Observing Field, Stellafane East

Jim Shedlowsky

Friday sunset from near the Porter Turret Telescope on Breezy Hill.

Crescent Moon and Venus on Friday evening.

Al Lamperti

Aimed at the sun and a marshmallow is at prime focus.

It's an Interplanetary Photonic Concentrator!

The focused sun creates quite a lot of glare as the marshmallow is cooked (burned?) in a very small spot, about 1/8-inch in diameter.

Sal LaRiccia

The Telescope Field on Breezy Hill, Saturday Morning
The Swap Tables on Saturday Morning	Paul Valleli (right) squints into the sun as he sells optical glass at the swap tables	John Briggs, Briggs' daughter and Ken Launie at the swap tables	Under the Sky & Telescope shelter: Roger Sinnott, Kelly Beatty, John Briggs and Dennis di Cicco	Ken Launie, Dick Parker and John Brings study something on a laptop	Conventioneers and Telescopes on Breezy Hill Saturday morning
The Mechanical Judges at work: Jeff Lowe, Tom Spirock, George East, Dave Kelly, Chris Houghton and Wayne Hilliard	Dennis Cassia and John Bortle (Shadowgram speaker), long time friends on Breezy Hill	Telescopes on display on Breezy Hill	Bert Willard smiles as he talks with Jim Beatty inside the Porter Turret Telescope	Jim Daley lifts the cover on his Solar Coronascope as Dave Prowten (straw hat) looks inside	A beautiful day on Breezy Hill on Saturday
Kelly Beatty and Guy Consolmagno talk by the Porter Turret Telescope	Mike Costanzo and Kim Cassia	Bongo the Goat near the pavilion	Eileen Myers and Mike Mattei near the food tent	Mike Mattei and Sal LaRiccia near Pine Island	A big group around Ken Launie's spectroscope (Ken at far left)
Conventioneers assemble for the Saturday Evening Program in the Amphitheatre
	Keynote speaker Guy Consolmagno with Kermit the Frog	Children line up for free raffle tickets before the program begins	President Dave Tabor welcomes the conventioneers as all the Springfield Telescope Makers and their guests are assembled near the stage	View of The Amphitheater and Saturday Evening Program from the back row.

Richard Sanderson of Feeding Hills, MA

Bert Willard and Jim Daley before the Hartness House Workshop began	STM President Dave Tabor welcomes the group to the Hartness House Workshop	Ken Launie and David DeVorkin check the manual for Ken's historic spectroscope at the Hartness House	David DeVorkin gives a talk at the Hartness House Workshop	Bert Willard at the eyepiece of the Hartness Turret Telescope (Solar Observing)	John Briggs and Dan Loraine, organizers of the wonderful Hartness House Workshop
A rainbow outside the Hartness House on Thursday	Al Takeda delivers a talk on wide-field astroimaging	The Stellafane Little Man against a pretty blue sky	A beautiful sunset on Friday evening	The swap tables on Saturday morning	John Bortle, this years Shadowgram speaker, at his fiftieth convention
Phil Harrington delivers a talk in the pavilion	Al Rifkin's colorful scope uses recycled cans	Jim Daley (with envelope) and his coronagraph; Rick Hunter takes a photo of it	Dave Kelly and his award-winning (in previous years) telescope	Keynote speaker Brother Guy Consolmagno	The amphitheater before the Saturday Evening Program

Dick Koolish, ATMoB

These photos were taken on Sunday at the Hartness House of the
Hartness Turret Telescope and The Hartness-Porter Museum of Amateur Telescope Making.

The Hartness House, James Hartness mansion, now a lodging establishment.	The Hartness Turret Telescope from the east.	The Hartness Turret Telescope from the north.	The ground level entry door on the west side.	Inside the Hartness Turret Telescope, observing platform, click drive, and eyepiece on the right.	Unlike the Porter Turret, the Hartness Turret has portholes in it. Has the feel of a Jules Verne submarine.
The Right Ascension Setting Circle inside the turret.	The Declination drive (center hand crank not on shaft), Eyepiece (wire is for a low wattage bulb for storage) and Dec Circle.	The shafts and gears are the RA drive, motor is below the observing platform.	The spiral staircase down to the underground tunnel and museum are behind the opened door.	In the tunnel, the bottom of the spiral stairs up the turret telescope.	This long underground tunnel leads to the basement of the Hartness House. To our right is the museum entrance and behind us are the stairs to the turret telescope
This sign greets visitors to the museum.	The entry room of the museum, with the Porter Garden Telescope and three scopes of original members.	The Hartness Sundial - note fine scale along front edge.	Our Porter Garden Telescope - note photo of Porter working on these at J&L.	A close-up showing some of the details of the Porter Garden Telescope	From the entry room, we see a second and third room of the museum.
An overall view of the second museum room, looking back towards the entry room (door to left of cabinets)	Russell Porter learned the basics of glass working from this book, sent to him by James Hartness.	Porter made this model of the 200-inch Palomar Telescope.	Oscar Marshall made this telescope, and it was the forerunner of the Porter Springfield Mount. In this early version, the eyepiece is not in the declination axis.	In this view, you can see a photo of Oscar Marshall using us scope on the pier.	Oscar Fullham's Telescope. Fullham was a wooden pattern maker, so his scope was made mostly of wood.
	Dino Argentini's Synchronome Clock. These clocks could hold an accuracy of 1 second per year.	The Escapement Mechanism of the Synchronome Clock.	Dino E. Argentini, ATMoB, Telescope Maker and Clock Maker.	Dr. B. L. Souther, a frequent Stellafane attendee, popularized the Synchronome Clock in the 1950's

Al Takeda

Breezy Hill as the excitement and crowds fade in the afternoon.
The big trailer mounted charcoal grill cooking Saturday night dinner.	Pierre Lemay and his Newtonian-Ball Mount scope.	Rotating eyepiece turret on Pierre Lemay's scope.	This wooden mount uses a belt drive speed reduction pulley system.	The bicycle wheel nose piece on this scope frame the Stellafane Clubhouse.	A nicely made bowling ball mount.
This nicely made scope has a quick-and-dirty taped-on counter weight.	A daytime view of the Milky Way.	Bernie Kosicki presents a talk on Pan-STARRS Gigapixel Astronomy.	Eileen Myers says hello to Bongo the Goat.	Long-time and now retired Stellafane Emcee Bob Morse finally won a Tee-Shirt this year!	Club President Dave Tabor talks at the Saturday evening program.
Maryann Arien presents Dr. Kris Larsen the 2013 NERAL Walter Scott Houston Award.	AL President Carroll Iorg gives Ken Slater Astronomical League Webmaster award.	Keynote speaker Brother Guy Consolmagno.	Paul Valleli in the Domed Observatory.	McGregor and Domed Observatories and Observing Field under the Northern Milky Way.	The Southern Milky Way over the Stellafane Clubhouse.

Philip Levine

It's almost time to start the Hartness House Workshop on Solar Astronomy. Webmaster Ken is walking up the aisle with a cup of coffee in a blue thermal mug.	Ken Launie with a coffee cup and spectroscope. Jim Daly in blue STM shirt on the left.	Stellafane historian Bert Willard gives a talk about Porter's solar telescope.	Al Takeda sets up for his Wide Angle Astroimaging talk.	Al Takeda (center) presented a Wide Angle Astroimaging workshop.	Al Takeda shows off his camera on a tracking mount.
A big dob on the south observing field.	A child points to something on a display about solar observing.	Girls at Solar Observing Hour on the south observing field.	Sitting in comfort observing the sun.	Al Nagler (red) and Dave Kelly (blue) talk behind one of Al's refractors on the south observing field.	Conventioneers relaxing outside the McGregor.

Dan Lorraine - Hartness House Solar Workshop 

Dan Lorraine created the many fine posters hung around the workshop.	Dan Lorraine created the many fine posters hung around the workshop.	Dan Lorraine created the many fine posters hung around the workshop.	Club historian Bert Willard gives a talk about Porter's involvement with solar telescopes.	Jim Shedlowsky of the McMath-Hulbert Astronomical Society	Jim Shedlowsky serenades the workshop!
Dr. David DeVorkin of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air & Space Museum.	John Briggs (at left), workshop organizer, introduces Dr. John W. Harvey of National Solar Observatory in Tucson.	Dr. Jack Harvey talks about amateur helioseismology.	Professor Dale E. Gary of NJIT talks about Tuning-in to the Sun.	Dr. Tom Spirock, who got his PhD at Big Bear, presented for Phillip Goode who could not make it to the workshop.	Ken Launie brought Hal Robinson's fork mounted spectroscope.
Mid-day, the Porter 100-foot solar reflector was set up on the Hartness House lawn.
	The Hartness Turret Telescope seen through the massive greenery near the house.	Workshop participants do some field work.	Matt Considine and Jim Daley near the south mirror of the Porter solar reflector.	It's a long distance between the optics on the 100-foot scope.
	The solar image inside the plastic trash can sun-shade. Perry Remakulus, Bert Willard and Jim Daley are behind the scope.	Workshop participants view the solar image.	Ken Launie, Matt Considine, Perry Remakulus, Jim Daley and (Not identified) talk on the shaded lawn.	A rainbow outside the Hartness House after an afternoon shower.

Tom Kasner

Photos of the telescope competition on Breezy Hill

8:39 AM Setting Up	9:40 AM Setting Up	10:00 AM Still Early	10:22 AM Field of Scopes	10:37 AM Classics and New	10:39 AM The Crowd Builds
	10:54 AM Field of Scopes	11:55 AM Looking over the 6-inch f/13 refractor	12:30 PM Close look at a 14-inch f/4.6 Dob	12:38 PM Looking at Remote Control Green Laser Telescope Point System

Phil Harrington

The beloved Stellafane Little Man hanging over the clubhouse door.	The front of the clubhouse above the door.	Late in the day on Friday, looking west from Breezy Hill.	A very pink clubhouse, illuminated by a pink setting sun.	A pretty sunset on Friday.	A crescent moon visible in the sunset.
The Porter Turret Telescope and a crescent moon during the Friday sunset.	Swap Tables on Saturday morning.	Another look at the Saturday morning swap area.	Who could resist buying this (literally) Mickey Mouse telescope?	The collapsible carbon-fiber truss that caught many people's eye on Breezy Hill.	Conventioneers look over this off-axis ball mount on Breezy Hill.
	The solar image produced by the self-tracking scope in the next picture.	A self-tacking solar telescope.	Breezy Hill, looking eastward.	Bongo the goat, the most photographed thing at Stellafane this year.
Stars and a meteor over the Porter Turret Telescope.	A beautiful night on Breezy Hill.	A meteor streaks low near the horizon.	A meteor streaks between two trees.	A dark, star-filled sky over Breezy Hill.	A star-filled sky over the Saturday Evening Program.

Jim Hendrickson

The Flanders Pavilion on a foggy Friday afternoon.	Dennis di Cicco in the pavilion, with the weather forecast on the screen above his head.	Francis O'Reilly hosting the Friday afternoon talks. John Gallagher and Eileen Myers are seated.	Carl Malikowski smiles between talks.	The Stellafane repeater, W1STM, and a roster of club hams.	Jim Erickson demonstrates mirror grinding. And really, Jim, that yellow rain bib was more than you needed.
Al Takeda (back to camera) presents his Astro Imaging workshop.	Sign on the road just before emerging onto Breezy Hill.	Staffing the gate at a quiet time of day.	Mid-day on the south observing field, with most telescopes in their cocoons.	Phil Harrington photographing the Little Man (see the photo in the previous set).	Kris Larsen giving a talk in the pavilion.
Clubhouse at night from the south side.	Clubhouse at night from the north side.	Out of focus stars behind the Little Man	A few early clouds, but plenty of stars too.	The open star cluster M45, The Pleiades	A luminescent fungus near Breezy Hill.

Réal Manseau

Réal's 36th convention!

A nice binocular mount with an elevation guage.	The eyepiece end of wide-angle 20x70 binoculars.	Shrimp for diner tonight.	Camp for the Drummonville Astronomy Club (Quebec, Canada).	Preparing a good diner.	Talking after dinnr.
	Denis Verrier & André Tremblay	Good Friends: Denis Verrier, André Tremblay and Réal Manseau.	The clubhouse wall is always a gathering place.	The Stellafane clubhouse late in the afternoon.

Frank Tomaras

Almost There! Driving up Breezy Hill Road to convention.	Waiting for our turn at the gate late on Friday afternoon. VP & Webmaster Ken Slater checks in the jeep.	Setting up the tent is the first order of business upon arrival at Pine Island.	A view of the swap table area on Saturday morning.	Mario Antunucci and his grandson (red shirts) look over an item for sale.	Early Saturday morning, the shadows are still long at in the swap area
Paul & David enjoy breakfast at the food tent.	Saturday morning on Breezy Hill at the telescope Competition.	A large but light-weight Dobsonian is on display.	The Stellafane clubhouse overlooks the field of telescopes on Breezy Hill.	This large Dob needs some assembly on the south observing field.	Good friends at Stellafane: David Shuman, Bill Strople, Frank Tomaras, Paul Simard

Go to Page 1: Photos by the Springfield Telescope Makers or go back to the 2013 Convention Main Page