[CMAS] {Spam?} Re: [CMAS-Board] Stellafane

Dwight M. Lanpher groupcmas at lanpherassociates.com
Mon Aug 5 11:55:16 EDT 2019 

Congratulations Colin,

You won!  There were a lot of categories but I think the Schiefspeigler got
a blue ribbon in its category. They said that they would be sending it to
you in the mail and I believe that I heard that the winning entries would be
displayed on the Stellafane website... that will likely take a while.  But,
you were not the only CMAS member with an award. I received a 3rd place
special award for my eyepiece case (attached).  Since it was not a telescope
or a mount, I was pleased that they even accepted it into the competition.

Except for the heat, the weather was close to perfect. It was  little hazy
late Friday night when I got back to the Schupmann 13" folded refractor
telescope to look at Saturn. But earlier that evening, I had also viewed
Jupiter and I saw at least seven cloud bands and I finally saw, for the
first time, the giant red spot!

One of the most amazing things that I saw was the Cook Spectrohelioscope at
the Simoni Observatory on Breezy Hill. Using a diffraction grating, a slit
and two rotating square prisms, they were able to display an image of a
sun's prominences just like you would see in a hydrogen-alpha fabry-etalon
interference style telescope (Coronado or Lunt style) . I understand that
the Spectrohelioscope is a very old technique. I'm going to have to do some
research on that one since I still haven't figured out exactly what was
happening to the beam.

---Dwight

P.S. Re: several senses. I'll be playing in the Bar Harbor Town Band concert
tonight (our 11th concert of the season and I missed the 10th to go to
Stellafane).  However, if I lost my vision I'd still be in a bad spot since
I can't play my trombone by ear. The successive slide positions for a Bb
scale are 1, 6, 4, 3, 1, 4, 2, 1.  Positions determine the wavelength and
tension of the lip (embouchure) determine the harmonic in the series. In 1st
position I can play pedal Bb, low Bb, middle F, upper Bb, high D and high F.
This is my 51st season so without sight I'd have to try to play by memorybut
I'd be lucky to get two out of three notes, right. 😊



On 8/5/19, 8:06 AM, "CMAS on behalf of Colin Caissie"
<cmas-bounces at maineastro.com on behalf of cscmachinedesign at gmail.com> wrote:

> Stellafane Report:
> 
> Arrived Friday mid-day to meet Wade and Donna Smith, Peter Serrada and Lenny
> camping near the MacGregor Schupmann telescope.  I had 4 mirrors tested, one
> was undercorrected, others were very good.  Planned to sell the Schiefspeigler
> (s) and was persuaded to enter the Norman Meyer unit in optical judging.  I
> had to fib that I made the mirrors to get it into competition...dunno if it
> won a ribbon, as I left to visit my father in Worcester before the judging was
> announced Saturday p.m.  It was the only TCT scope in the competition, so we
> may have a ribbon...dedicated to Norman Meyer.
> 
> Sold a lot of miscellaneous stuff at the swap, but NO big ticket club
> items...$80 in club proceeds from grit, glass and lens, polish.  So we still
> have a Schief (2), A 14" Meade LX200 OTA, 8"f/8 Treckerscope.  Bought a
> pristine old 6" f/8 Edmund Newtonian for $30, a beautiful 6" f/12 mirror for
> $10, and a 12.5" Pyrex mirror blank for $10.  Stuff was going cheap....I
> discovered 4 great swimming holes where I spent considerable time.
> 
> Normand Fullum exhibited one of his finely crafted sculpted Newtonians, but I
> was more enamored of his hand made 000-18 Martin copy parlor
> guitar...exquisite craftsmanship and I really enjoyed playing it.  Glad I have
> hobbies that include several senses.  If I go blind or deaf, I'm still good.
> 
> The view of Jupiter through the 13" Schupmann was the best I've ever
> seen...ever.
> 
> Need to meet with Lenny to xfer big stuff back to the dome...He did the heavy
> hauling.  I made the entire 550 mile RT on ~11 gallons of Biodiesel, a low
> carbon trip.
> 
> C
> 
> On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 10:23 PM Joshua Zukerman <hawk82 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I won't be attending Stellafane this year as much as I would like to go. Best
>> of luck selling the club equipment and clear skies. I hope Alan Stern's talk
>> about the New Horizons mission is inciteful. One of you better bring home
>> some Televue prizes ;)
>> 
>> On Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 3:45 PM Colin Caissie <cscmachinedesign at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> I'm not selling the Black C8, as I agree it could be a fine loaner or
>>> starparty unit.   I intend to correct and coat the secondary on the old
>>> Staiano LX3...more of an optical project, but it needed recoating.   Should
>>> excel, then sell it.The current LX90 in the Brower belongs to my friend
>>> Tony.
>>> 
>>> I am going to S'fane, Leaving Friday p.m. arriving to do some
>>> observing....the weather/seeing forecast looks EXCELLENT....should be tops
>>> for doing the ladders on the 30" scopes and the Schupmann should be superb.
>>> 
>>> We're hauling the:
>>> Trecker 8" Newtonian
>>> 14" Meade
>>> jaegers
>>> and as much as I can stuff in my car.
>>> 
>>> the 4.25 Schief, glass, polish, grit, the 6" Mak-Newt
>>> I'll bring a few mirrors for testing
>>> I expect to be back Saturday unless the weather again promises super
>>> viewing.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Jul 31, 2019 at 12:50 PM Jon Silverman <jonsilverman at me.com> wrote:
>>>> I’m thinking a Torrance-made PowerStar is a far better portable telescope
>>>> than its dollar value is worth. And (my pac-ratism aside), is it both
>>>> historically interesting and a bit better than the average bear, with its
>>>> Buyers drive, which was designed for portable astrophotography. I could
>>>> take it on loan and store it in my basement, or perhaps even buy it. My gut
>>>> is to keep it. Colin is right that we are buried in telescopes, but this
>>>> one is truly useable, fits easily in a car, and (like Chuck Ebert’s f/15
>>>> Mak) is a good, high-magnification foil to the faster Dobs so commonly in
>>>> use. 
>>>> 
>>>> If I recall, the LX90 is the one Mrs. Staiano donated from her husband’s
>>>> estate, that had badly tarnished mirrors. Could be fixed, but better to
>>>> sell, if it’s worth anything. Do we have two 20” SCTs, one mounted in the
>>>> small dome, and another in storage?
>>>> 
>>>> Jon Silverman
>>>> jonsilverman at me.com
>>>> 
>>>> <><><><><>
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> > On Jul 31, 2019, at 12:28 PM, Colin Caissie <cscmachinedesign at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > Well if you think members could use it, then we should keep it.  We'd
>>>>> never get much for it.
>>>>> > I offered it to Greg, but he chose the dob.
>>>>> > Now to store it.....
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > I have to fight the urge to hang onto stuff, myself.
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > On Tue, Jul 30, 2019 at 3:16 PM Brian Murphy
>>>>> <bmurphy.hallowell at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> > I would say to sell it. Possibly offer it to club members if we don't
>>>>> want to haul it out to Vermont. There are some new members that might be
>>>>> interested, as well as possibly 175 facebook group members that might be
>>>>> interested.
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > B
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > On Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 12:49 PM Colin Caissie
>>>>> <cscmachinedesign at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> > You got time for the shootout?  We have an 8" LX3 SCT (needs repairs)
>>>>> and a 12" LX200 (needs to be used).    If we decide to hang on to it for
>>>>> whatever reason, it contributes to clutter.
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > so,Will we build/buy a storage shed for all this stuff?
>>>>> > or, Will we sell the unused equipment?
>>>>> > Will we use the scopes/equipment we have?  A nice Skyshed with a 12"
>>>>> LX200 that I used once just to check its operation?
>>>>> > Stockpiling equipment is not productive.
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > I say we offer it at Stellafane.....what's a good price?  If not met, we
>>>>> can put it back in the pile at Brower.
>>>>> > 
>>>>> >  
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > On Tue, Jul 30, 2019 at 12:36 PM Jon Silverman <jonsilverman at me.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> >> Should we sell the recent 8" Celestron black tube scope we just
>>>>>> received?  We have enough SCT's right?
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > How about a shoot-out with star testing first? We may well have too many
>>>>> classic SCTs, but as an aficionado of their history, the recent black tube
>>>>> is likely to be the best one we have: old enough to be from the advanced
>>>>> stages of American manufacture, just before the Halley's Comet craze
>>>>> trashed quality, and everything moved to China. Since no old SCTs are
>>>>> especially valuable on the used market, but some are actually quite
>>>>> excellent, it would make sense to keep the best.
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > The trends in quality from various periods can be overwhelmed by the
>>>>> particular quality of a specific SCT. I could be interested in the black
>>>>> tube, if it proved to be as good or better than the orange tubes I already
>>>>> have. It certainly has a better drive, with worms by Ed Byers, instead of
>>>>> spur gears. 
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > <><><><><>
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > Jon Silverman
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > <><><><><>
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > 
>>>>> > On Jul 30, 2019, at 8:11 AM, Colin Caissie <cscmachinedesign at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> > 
>>>>>> >> Let me work up a list of stuff today.  So far Friday/Saturday looks
>>>>>> ok.     If it's a big list/weather ok, I might personally go.  Should
>>>>>> know by end of day today, Tuesday.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> Lenny, are you willing to do the swap if you're the only one going? Is
>>>>>> Wednesday mid-day ok if you pick up stuff here?
>>>>>> >>  
>>>>>> >> I'm thinking the 6/5"Jaegers ota, the 8f8 Trecker Newtonian, the 14"
>>>>>> Meade.  That's a load for just Lenny.  If there's much more I'd have to
>>>>>> take my truck and include more stuff.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> If I go, I'd be hauling some of the club stuff, my 4.25" Edmund, the
>>>>>> 6" Mak-Newt, some glass and atm stuff, grit, polish, misc.
>>>>>> >> Should we sell the recent 8" Celestron black tube scope we just
>>>>>> received?  We have enough SCT's right?
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> I'll present a list of club stuff tonight so we can weigh in on it.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> On Mon, Jul 29, 2019 at 1:36 PM satillite1965
>>>>>> <satillite1965 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> >> I have some room so I should be able to take something. When is it a
>>>>>> good time to come over this aftetnoon, tonight, or maybe tomorrow let me
>>>>>> know.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Smartphone
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> -------- Original message --------
>>>>>> >> From: Colin Caissie <cscmachinedesign at gmail.com>
>>>>>> >> Date: 7/29/19 11:31 AM (GMT-05:00)
>>>>>> >> To: Joshua Zukerman <hawk82 at gmail.com>, Lenny Arsenault
>>>>>> <satillite1965 at gmail.com>, Jon Silverman <jonsilverman at me.com>
>>>>>> >> Subject: Re: [CMAS] Stellafane
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> But HEY!  NOAA forecasts 25% cloud cover on Friday!     Right.
>>>>>> Forecasts resolve to a statistic, and statistically you could say there's
>>>>>> a 25% chance of cloud cover on any night.
>>>>>> >> My hesitation is financial...it would cost me $100 to do the
>>>>>> trip...$45 to register at the gate & gas, chow, for even my one chosen
>>>>>> day...the swap.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> Worth it to sell my old gear?  Probably not.  To help sell the club's
>>>>>> gear, now that's better....to include a visit to St. Gauden's National
>>>>>> historic Park in Cornish, NH...getting better....tour the Whites, now
>>>>>> we're talkin' ....Do a climb in the Presidentials...Bingo.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> but we'll see.   I'm also in need of home time...paint house, fix
>>>>>> stuff...
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> On Sun, Jul 28, 2019 at 12:27 PM Joshua Zukerman <hawk82 at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> >> I haven't yet decided if I am going. I'm looking at weather forecasts
>>>>>> and my schedule.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> -- Josh Z.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> On Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 11:20 AM Colin Caissie
>>>>>> <cscmachinedesign at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> >> I personally am not planning to attend, but I wonder who is planning
>>>>>> it, and whether this another opportunity to sell club gear.
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> Let me know if attendees would consider doing the swap meet and
>>>>>> flogging stuff for the club?
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> We have: 8" f/8 Trekerscope Newtonian...worth 5-600
>>>>>> >> 14" Meade LX200...we asked $1800 no takers on CN/Astromart
>>>>>> >> 8" Celestron complete...must be worth $300
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> Lots more if interested.
>>>>>> >> Anyone else from the membership going?
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> Colin
>>>>>> >> 
>>>>>> >> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> >> CMAS mailing list
>>>>>> >> CMAS at maineastro.com
>>>>>> >> http://maineastro.com/mailman/listinfo/cmas_maineastro.com
>>>>> > _______________________________________________
>>>>> > Board mailing list
>>>>> > Board at maineastro.com
>>>>> > http://maineastro.com/mailman/listinfo/board_maineastro.com
>>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Board mailing list
>>> Board at maineastro.com
>>> http://maineastro.com/mailman/listinfo/board_maineastro.com
> _______________________________________________ CMAS mailing list
> CMAS at maineastro.com http://maineastro.com/mailman/listinfo/cmas_maineastro.com


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://maineastro.com/pipermail/cmas_maineastro.com/attachments/20190805/88afce7c/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Case Award.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 157780 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://maineastro.com/pipermail/cmas_maineastro.com/attachments/20190805/88afce7c/attachment-0001.jpe>

More information about the CMAS mailing list