Date: May 22-24, 1981
Attendance: 1,012
The 1981 RTMC was the year of the wooden telescope with several works of art being brought that would grace anybody's living room.
First, Larry Stancil and friends of the San Diego Astronomical Association brought a beautiful 12-1/2" f/16 Cassegrain with a yoke/horseshoe mounting. It won a Merit Award for Best Wood Construction. Despite this telescope standing over 10 feet high, it disassembled into light pieces for transporting.
Then Wayman Lee Reams won a Merit Award for his 8" f/8 Newtonian which was made of laminated plywood with brass and aluminum fittings. It was of the English Yoke design and had graceful curves to the yoke and polar housing.
There were several other all wooden telescopes including Tim Parker's 8" f/6.3 Springfield telescope with a beautiful eight-sided wooden tube.
Perhaps what the 1981 RTMC will be best remembered for is the visit of our Keynote Speaker, Bart Bok. He was distressed because a thief in Los Angeles stole the slides he had prepared for his talk. Cliff told him not to worry, just get up there and he will wow them anyway. And he did! Using just his hands to describe faraway galaxies and Bok Globules, he delivered one of the best Keynote Speeches ever.
Speakers
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Dennis Gallagher, "Seeing the Corona Without An Eclipse" |
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Alan Gorsky, "Deep Sky Astrophotography with a 5-1/2" Celestron Schmidt Camera" |
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Rick Hill, "Kitt Peak Today and the Warner and Swasey Observatory" |
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Hal Jandorf, "Deep Sky Photography with a Small Telescope" |
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Art Leonard, "Modified Gaviola Test" |
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David Levy, "William Herschel: Thoughts and Memories" |
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Jack Marling, "Using Gas Hypered Kodak Pan 2415 Film" |
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Ben Mayer, "Video Astronomy" |
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Pat Michaud, "Something Old, Something New, Something Blue" |
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Joel Nelson, "The Visable Guider" |
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Rick Shaffer, "Advanced Dobsonian Style Telescopes" |
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Bill Schramm, "IAPPP" |
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George Scotten, "Telescopes of Stellafane" |
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Roger Silva, "The Finishing Touches" |
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Norm Sperling, "Local Polish, Thin Flint, and Glass Ring" |
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Thomas Venable, "The Visible Guider Off-Axis System" |
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Bart Bok, Keynote Speaker - "The Milky Way Revisited, Or a Star is Born" |
Merit Awards
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Dennis Gallagher - 4" f/31, Best Chronograph |
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Norman Butler - 6" f/15 Cassegrain binoculars, Engineering |
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Walter Clark - Original Design |
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Wayman L. Reams - 8" f/8, Best Wood Design |
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David Pitou - Workmanship |
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Larry Stancil - 12-1/2" f/16 Cassegrain, Best Wood Construction |
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Ray Coutchie - Excellence in Design and Construction |
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Tom Greska - 8" f/5.6, General Merit |
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Charles Bennett - Junior Award |
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Tim Parker - 8" f/6.3 Springfield, Design Application |
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Rick Shaffer - 18-1/2" Newtonian, Unusual Design |
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Perry Genis - Twin 10" telescopes, Best Stability |
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Richard Berry |
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Dick Housekeeper |
