“You have to know the past to understand the present.” - Carl Sagan

Thursday March 25, 2010:

Today we cleaned up the telescope considerably and it all started with the Rocker Box. We discovered after only a short cleaning period that the plywood was actually yellow and of good quality. We used water, soap and rags to remove the dirt and debris that had accumulated on the scope from living in the bottom storage space of the BSU Observatory for, I believe, 15 or more years (I need to check this).

This is the Rocker Box (named this way because that is pretty much what the telescope does... it rocks up and down on this box) after cleaning it in the room down the hall from the shop.



Using a rag to clean off the Rocker Box.

 

This picture shows the yellow coloring of the clean Rocker Box.



We had to remove the black metal pieces on the outside of the the Lower Assembly next. Then we assembled it for one last time.



Joe using a screwdriver to take off the metal corner piece.
I tried but they proved to stuck for me to un screw them.

Me next to the Assembled Dob.



Joe pionting to the focuser above his head on the assembled Dob.

Joe then removed the Spider holding the old Secondary Mirror.

 

Uncrewing the old tube from the Lower Assembly.

"The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition." - Carl Sagan

Tuesday March 23, 2010:
  Jim Munise and Joe Doyle showed me the shop and the places that I will be working on the Dob. But first we took a little closer look at the tailgate that opened to the mirror cell on the bottom of the Lower Assembly.

Here the mirror would sit on this circular cut of wood and be held in place by adjusting the three metal holders around the circle. This is an inconvienent platform for the mirror because it does not allow for the proper air flow that is needed to "cool down" the mirror, allowing it to adapt to the outside temperature and produce greater images.

The new design will incorporate felt circles that will lift the mirror off the flat wooden platform. This method is called "floating" the mirror, which allows for air flow to get under the mirror aiding in the ability to "cool down" quickly and efficiently.

There is a spring clamp mechanism that was put in by Jim {he estimates} about 15 years or so ago. The springs clamps still work well and will stay in the design to make sure the mirror does not slip to a side.

A fun fact about the circular piece of wood currently acting as the mirror platform:
"The table on which I drew the doodle was actually Jim's. It was as I recall a makeshift table made from a large piece of plywood used as a workbench. It was used in a class called "Lab in Astronomy" or something similar, taught by William H. Pinson." -Joe Doyle.
When we found this Joe admitted to drawing the doodle a long time ago. This is that doodle. It might not be a very clear photo but the point is that it greatly amused me.

This next picture features the Lower Assembly and the tube laying(or leaning rather) horizontally. In the picture you can see the two sets of black metal loops, a metal stick with what looks like a clamp on top and then a very long and black corner piece that extends past the Lower Assembly.

The two dark metal loops, I believe, were where the finder scope for the Dob used to be. The finder scope is a small scope with crosshairs that indicate North, South, East and West. This allows the user to locate an object or a portion of the sky in the view finder and then use the telescope to observe the area marked by the crosshairs. It is extremely convienent for this craft.

The next obscure object in the picture is the black metal corner piece that extends beyond the Lower Assembly's box. Joe thinks that someone at one point in time had a laser pointer attached to this contraption in order to help aim the scope at a particular part of the sky.
Now as for the metal stick with the clamp on its end, that was used to add weights to the bottom of the telescope in order to keep it balanced.

Now, onto the Shop photos!

This is the shop in the basement of the ConantSci building that houses most of the tools I will be utilizing in order to re-create the 17.5 inch Dobsonian truss telescope.

I took a picture of this machine because it seems like something I will be using in the near future most likely to drill holes into the hard wood truss pole holders.

 There is also a room across from the shop room that is being used to store the Dob between the times that I work on it and a different room down the hall from this tool shop will be used to clean up the Dob because it has running water. But alas, that is Thursday's work.

“We are star-stuff” - Carl Sagan

Aloha!
             The other day I was finally introduced to the old hull of the Dobsonian telescope. It was stored underneath the Observatory dome for many, many years. And poor me, it turns out, had not been prepared for the reality of this project. I had been assuming that "rotting" had meant just that, and "parts" meant big chunky pieces no longer resembling the form of a telescope. I also realized that the meaning of "big" really hadn't registered in my mind yet, nevermind the word "heavy."

Boy, was I mistaken.

 I took this picture upon seeing it for the first time whilst walking down the basement hallway of the Conant Science building (ConantSci).This is the old hull of the Dobsonian Telescope that I will be rebuilding.

These three "parts" make up a semi-functioning telescope. First, there is the original and "heavy" ground board base. It is seen here leaning up against the wall next to the Shop door with three white rectangles visible on it. Next, is the Rocker Box {pictured bellow} with random metal legs sticking out of the opening. The third and by far the largest piece is the Lower Assembly with the attached mirror box/cell on the underside{not viewable} and with the enclosed tube (blue cylinder) connected to the top of the Lower Assembly.

           Bellow is a picture of the Rocker Box. To scale it I used my messanger/laptop bag.

 

For those of you who know the size of my messanger bag you can fully appreciate how large this "part" actually is.

Please ignore the metal contraption, this was also salvaged from the storage space under the Observatory dome but has no relation to the Dob I will be working on. For now it is here for a lack of another place to put it.

Bellow is a picture of the Lower Assembly and the tube. This "big" "part" is HUGE. Again, I used my messanger bag to scale the size. I stand at 5' 2" which is not that big but it was even taller than my Professor and we already discussed that we will be getting a ladder for me and most of the public to climb in order to look through the eyepiece.{Eyepiece hole is pictured below as the black cylinder sticking out of the silver rectangular plate.} I might mention that this telescope is still in three parts and if they were all together it is at least 7 feet tall. 

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." - Carl Sagan

 What my Directed Study entitles:

*Building a Dobsonian Truss Telescope with a 17.5 inch Mirror
*Blog the process of the scope's development
*Take lots of pictures of the process
*Write up a Manual about Care and Maintenance of the Dobsonian telescope
*Use the current 12 inch Cassegrain telescope in the BSC Observatory to find objects in the sky and sketch them
*Compile a list of at least 10 objects that I will research and retain the knowledge of, in order to pass this knowledge onto anyone who asks
*Use the Dob in at least 10 viewing sessions (weather permitting)
*Use the pictures taken by former BSC students to compare what is seen through the 12in Cassegrain and the Dobsonian
*Create a portfolio of sketches
*Present my findings at a Symposium either at the end of my academic year or at next year's Mid-year Symposium

This is a 1 credit Directed Study which enables me to have future Directed Studies in the same or other subjects. Each Undergraduate student has four credits that can be assigned to Directed Studies throughout their time at BSU.

This is the Book that I and the other BSU staff members involved had to read in order to learn what was needed for this build.