Attendees: TomT, JerryW, David/MadelineH
Jerry brought in collimator devices: Orion lasermate deluxe and a Pro-Optic Holographic, plus a Orion 2” centering device to make sure the collimator is centered in the focuser. https://www.astronomics.com/glatter-1-25-inch-grid-hologram-single-beam-635nm-laser-collimator_p10849.aspx .
Jerry discussed Fourier Transforms and how the brain/eyes work when TomT asked the question of why watching the CNN news line caused him to see a distortion on his computer screen when looking away from the TV. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourier_series
David, a new member of the SBAU, brought in a German Equatorial mount that his dad had used with a C8 telescope. (Something like this: http://www.vixenoptics.com/mounts/gp2mount.htm .) He wanted to know how to use it, so Jerry wrote a list of steps to setup the mount. TomT suggested watching YouTube videos on telescope setup (like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YtUGCnGLXo ). Jerry says this GEM most likely has steppers motors inside. David’s father had attached plastic gearing and position encoders, which now had broken pins, to determine position. The mount was purchased in the late 1980’s. It seems to be an old Vixen Japanese mount. He will bring in the complete telescope assembly for the next TW meeting.
David is working on a Phd at UCSB in childhood education spatial reasoning (also see www.hallowelltutoring.com). His 5 year old daughter was with him tonight, Madeline, and she said she has pictures of planets in her room at home (plus a 18 month old brother)!
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