Date: May 27-29, 1994
Attendance: 1,675
The traditional line of 100+ cars had formed for the Friday morning opening of the 1994 Riverside Telescope Makers Conference. This annual ritual lets early arrivers catch up with old friends. By now, most everybody was familiar with the drill and spots in line were staked out the afternoon before.
For the first time ever, the RTMC had a theme - "Planetary Observing." Noted planetary observers Don Parker and Jeff Beish came from Florida to discuss planetary observing and modifications to telescopes that greatly improved them for planetary observing.
Dominating the telescope field was a 40" f/5 built by Steven Swayze of Portland Oregon. Its three legged ladder was equally as tall and very intimidating. Equally impressive was Grant Flint's wonderful astrograph. He planned an all sky survey using 14" x 14" film plates specially made by Kodak. Other wonderful telescopes abounded including a marvelous 12.5" f/7 wooded telescope made from oak, mahogany and birch. Its base tilted so it could either be used as an equatorial or alt-azimuth.
Other superb telescopes dotted the campground. Amongst them was Tom Osyposki's 22" f/4.2 Dobsonian which was mounted on an equatorial platform. Also, three time merit award winner Dave Pitou debuted his 12" f/5 which was mounted on a single arm fork mount.
The skies were dominated by a nearly full Moon so the participants got some much needed sleep this year. The talks in the dining hall were well attended, especially Don Parker's talk on his imaging techniques.
We had a first this year as Mr. Galaxy, Wayne Johnson, was wed to Arlene Johnson in the Chapel on Sunday afternoon.
This was also a sad year as it was our first without Cliff Holmes, who passed away the previous September. The evening talk was devoted to testimonials about Cliff from those who knew him best. When his wife Jackie spoke, I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.
Speakers
|
Ben Mayer, "Collaspsicom" |
|
Ajai Sehgul, "Image Processing of CCD's" |
|
Douglas George, "Optimizing Telescope CCD's" |
|
Wayne Johnson, "Timelapse Planetary Video and SN1994I in M51 Discovery" |
|
Chris Tenant, "CCD's" |
|
Don Parker, "CCD Imaging of Mars" |
|
Jeff Beish, "Visual Telescope Modifications" |
|
Bob Ashford, "Just of Kids - Building a Comet" |
|
Dennis Tye, "Hubble Amateur Observers Program" |
|
Graham Flint, "Full Sky Photographic Atlas" |
|
Gil Clark, "Flexible Remote Telescope and Remote Astronomy" |
|
Bob Ashford, "Project Astro - Turning Kids Onto Astronomy" |
|
Tim Robertson, "ALPO Training Program" |
|
Steven Overholt, "30 Inch Telescope Viewing" |
|
Planetary Workshop - SL-9 Jupiter Encounter |
|
Paul Campomenosi, "Observatory Techniques - Sties, Construction, Structure" |
|
Peter Ceravolo, "Maximizing Telescope Performance - Problems and Their Solutions" |
Merit Awards
|
Clyde Bone, Well Crafted Nasmyth - Mersenne Telescope |
|
Peter Hirtle, Outstanding System Design in a 6-inch Trischiefspiegler |
|
John Laborde, Excellent Wright Schmidt Photographic System |
|
Jim Hannum, Superb Craftsmanship |
|
David Pitou, Experimentation in a Novel Cable Drive |
|
Keith Lawson, Excellent and Simple Kinematic Mount |
|
Steven Swayze, Outstanding Large Telescope |
Honorable Mentions
|
Larry Bohne, Excellent Metal Craftsmanship in a First Telescope |
|
Philip Alotis, Magnetic Mounting and Finder |
|
Stephen Collett, Well Executed Dobsonian Using Simple Tools |
|
Paul Jones/Gene Purtick, Side by Side Comparison Between Unobstructed Reflector and Refractor |
|
Darren Bly, Excellent Wood Craftsmanship - First Telescope |
|
Jonathan Dietch, Integration of Performance - Enhancing Features in a Planetary Telescope |
|
Larry and Barb Wallace, Well Done First Telescope |
|
Joel North, First Telescope - Junior Division |
|
Don Parker |
|
Tom Johnson |
