Snow Day at the Observatory

Snow Day at the Observatory
During the Mars Event Jan. 2010, Prof. Joe Doyle, Jeffrey Venancio, David Spalding, Lea Fuchs, and Justin Clark.

"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the Universe." - Carl Sagan


Aloha!

My name is Lea Fuchs, but I am also known to many as "Leia"(as in 'Princess Leia' from Star Wars). I am a student at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, MA. I was a 2nd semester Freshman when I started this Directed Study and now I am a Sophomore. I am an Anthropology major going on to become an Archaeologist and I want to side-specialize in Archaeoastronomy. Despite the topic of this blog, I DO NOT intend on switching my major (...Mom >_>).

I work at the BSU Observatory, managing the telescopes and informing our visiting guests of the wonders of our Universe. I was one of four budding freshmen that after meeting in Professor Joseph Doyle's 1st year Seminar class Message in the Light in the fall of 2009, started working as Observatory Staff at the small Ash Dome on the outskirts of the Campus.

This blog exists to document the process of the Directed Study. Though I was only a freshman, I got a directed study to not only build a large telescope for my school but to also participate in acts of visual astronomy which I will be presenting at a Symposium. Which Symposium? Well, that depends on the completion of the telescope and how long it takes me to complete my visual observing, along with the sketches, photographs and things of that likeness.


"If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, they'd live a lot differently." - Anonymous

Components of my Directed Study

  • 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 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope in the BSC Observatory to find objects in the sky and sketch them for comparison and practice
  • 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

Thursday, March 25, 2010

“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. 



Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)