[Try Astronomy] Dobsonian Project Meeting Of 5-27-04

["Vic & Carolyn Vargo" <vargocj@xxxxxxxxxx>]

All;
At last night's regular Urban Stargazer's meeting, (Thursday May 27th), we 
primarily
discussed the Dobsonian telescope project. Here is a summary of our meeting:

    *  The telescope's mission or purpose would include;
            1)    Use by the Urban Ecology Center (ECU) for student learning 
and outreach
                    including daytime viewing of the moon and bright planets.
            2)    Use by the Urban Stargazers for regular meetings and 
additional dark sky
                    observations including travel to other sites (ex: 
Harrington Beach,.....)
            3)    Loaning out to qualified members( e.g. trained in setup and 
usage ) when not
                    being used by the ECU or Urban Stargazers.

    *    The consensus was that a mirror with a diameter between 15 and 18 
inches be
          considered with a focal ratio somewhere around 4.5 to 6.0.
 
    *    The mirror should be bought rather than try to grind it ourselves.
          In addition we should look at buying a complete telescope assembly.

    *    We need to start getting ballpark cost estimates for mirrors of 
various diameters
          from different suppliers. Some initial rough numbers discussed last 
night were in
          the $2000 t0 $4000 range.

    *    The key right now is how to fund the project. We will be asking the 
primary
          scope manufacturers, (Celestron,Meade,...) to donate a mirror as well 
as asking
          potential benefactors for contributions (see action list below). 
Perhaps fundraisers.

    *    Other items discussed included liability, storage, construction sites, 
available
          skills of members,..... 

    *    The next meeting will be before the June Urban Stargazers meeting 
(June 24th at 7:00PM)
          or before a possible field trip to Obsession Telescopes in Lake 
Mills. (see action list) 

                                        Dobsonian Project Action Items

            Member                Task    
            
            Jon Bales               Try to set up a field trip to Obsession 
Telescopes to look at big Dobs.

            Keith Parkansky     Write letters to the primary telescope 
manufacturers to ask for mirror donation.

            Rebeca Sher           Get prices for various mirror diameters and 
focal ratios from manufacturers.

            Tim Vargo                Talk to people at the ECU about possible 
funding options.  

            Vic Vargo                Talk to Steve Marshall and other teachers 
to see if we could get some high
                                          school shop class to help build the 
base and mount. 
                                          also, get Keith' "The Dobsonian 
Telescope" by Kriege & Berry to Sean Adams.

            Sean Adams           Review the book "The Dobsonian Telescope for a 
couple of weeks before
                                          passing it on to another member.

            Jeff Prindle              Check with Enterprize Optics on primary 
and secondary mirror prices. 

        Following is a list of people that up to now have expressed interest in 
being
        in the Dobsonian project committee: (* means they attended the May 27th 
meeting)

                                        Dobsonian Committee List    
                
                    Sean Adams  *
                    Jon Bales  *
                    DeeAnn Dorman                    
                    Sujatha Govindarajan  *            
                    Chris Limbach
                    Jenny Morgan
                    John Owens  *
                    Keith Parkansky  *
                    Jeff Prindle  *
                    Rebecca Sher  *
                    Tim Vargo  *
                    Vic Vargo  *

            Anyone who is interested in being added to this project committee 
please send me an e-mail with
            your name, telephone numbers (such as  home, cell,  work) and your 
e-mail address.
            Let me know if you do not want your phone numbers sent out on a 
general list.
        
            If anyone has any corrections or comments please let me know.


            In addition we did briefly discuss the Venus Transit get-together 
on June 8th. A separate e-mail
            concerning that activity will be sent.
            Anyone interested in your Bader material for telescopic viewing of 
the transit should contact 
            Rebecca Sher.

            Thanks, Vic Vargo        phone: 414-327-3861    cell:  414-331-3862


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[Try Astronomy] Dobsonian Project Meeting Of 5-27-04