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ATM Section Monthly Meetings
29°39' N,  82°21' W
Altitude: 50 Meters (more or less)		   Updated Mar. 5, 2008
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Monthly Amateur Telescope Making Meetings

A Subdivision of the Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc.
Third Tuesday of Month at 7:00 p.m.)

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

« Subscribe to the ATM & Observers Announcement/Discussion Group »

Location

Usual Meeting Location

(Note: Always check schedule for possible changes in meeting location)
2240 N.W. 14 Ave.:
Off NW 22 St. (3 streets N. of NW 8 Ave or 2 streets S. of NW 16 Ave)
Look for the mailbox
Map 1    Map 2
Chuck, ATM, 352-214-3085; E-Mail atm "at" floridastars.org for more info Purpose

The ATM group is an informal group of AAC members who are interested in amateur telescope making.
Anyone with an interest in ATMing is welcome to join.

Objectives

  1. To encourage and facilitate amateur telescope making (ATM)
  2. To obtain guidance and support during their telescope-making endeavors or telescope maintenance
  3. To swap and share stuff, and hopefully, to have fun!

If you are interested in Telescope Making, please join us. We chat about gizmos and new toys as well as what may be of interest to all telescopeowners.

Upcoming Meetings / Events (Calendar)

2007

January 16 Chuck Broward Optics Cleaning / Planning for 2007
February 20 H. Cohen, J. Oliver
& F. Reyes		 Occultation of Iota Cancri
March 20 Bob O'Connell
Scott McCartney 		The Orion Atlas Mount
Planning a telescope
April 17 No Meeting We're Observing the Iota Can Occultation
May 15 Bob O'Connell
Scott McCartney		 Bob's Orion 7, LOG, Scott's New Scope & Review of Iota Can Occultation
  1. Bob O'Connell will show off his new Orion 7 inch MAK & it possible we will see how it compares to a C-8 and a nice 4 inch refractor.
  2. Bob will present the new lunar observing group (LOG)
  3. We will start planning Scott McCartney's telescope project
  4. We will take a look at the results of the recent Iota Cancrii Occultation
NOTE LOCATION:
2240 N.W. 14 Ave.:
Off NW 22 St. (3 streets N. of NW 8 Ave or 2 streets S. of NW 16 Ave)
LOOK FOR THE STAR ON THE MAILBOX
Map 1    Map 2
Come and join in ... please respond if you are interested in pizza.
Chuck, ATM, 352-214-3085; E-Mail atm "at" floridastars.org for more info
June 19 Chuck Broward Hartmann Masks: What, Why, How to Make
(Bring your scope or lens cap, so you can make a mask; materials supplies);
Also Check Out/Clean a Club Member's Scope plus
Observe the Regulus Occultation With Us
July 17
Remi Trujillo et al. Greet Remi Trujillo, founder of our ATM group;
Look at several scopes that need some help; Plan activities for next few months.
August 21 Bob O'Connell et al. Adapters for taking astro snapshots (using point & shoot, DSLR or film cameras);
The Moon (Bob O'Connell); observe a perfectly placed Moon to try out some of what we learned
September 18 All Experiment with imaging; will assist a club member in setting up her Meade Light Bridge
October 16

NOTE DIFFERENT LOCATION FOR OCTOBER MEETING

(See address & directions on right)
 Mike Toomey Introduction to our new Howie Glatter Collimating Tool. Mike will bring an Orion StarBlast (Newtonian reflector) as demo but bring a telescope if you would like to try it.

Location for October Meeting

5230 SW 91st Dr., Suite A
New York Life Building
Haile Village Center

Directions: From Newberry Road, go south on Tower Road (just west of I-75); from Archer Road, go north on Tower Road. From Tower Road, take Haile Boulevard westward to the 4-way stop sign. Turn right onto SW 91st Street, then an immediate left into the Haile Village Center (SW 53rd Ave), then a quick right onto SW 91st Drive. As you make the turn, you should see the New York Life building in front of you.
Google Locater Map
November 20 Bob O'Connell First Observing Session of the Lunar Observing Group (LOG)
Featured Object: Mare Imbrium. (Observing Guide, Chp. 4, Wood's, "The Modern Moon: A Personal View." Handouts will be available at Oct. AAC meeting.
7.1" Mak-Cass w/binoviewers will also feed live video image to flat screen monitor from piggy-backed 2.4" Unitron refractor. Video image will allow general discussion as each observes. Everyone encouraged to bring their scopes.
December 18 None None (Holiday Party on December 8)


2006
January 17 Remigio Trujillo Intermittent Wiper Control Circuit
February 21 TBA Observing tools (hardware, chest, table, chairs, etc..)
March 21 TBA LPI, CCD, Electronic eyepieces
April 18 TBA Collimation
May 16 Howard Cohen &
Don Loftus		 Introduction to Coordinates Systems & Setting Circles
(Replaces original program on SkyCommander, ArgoNavis, etc ...)
June 20 TBA Binoviewers
July 18 TBA MEETING CANCELLED
August 15 TBA Poncet & Equatorial platforms
September 19 TBA ATM software; Rediscussion of Poncet & Equatorial Platforms
October 17 TBA Finders (1x power)
November 21 TBA Mirror grinding & polishing (MEETING CANCELLED)
December 19 None None (Holiday Party on December 9)


2005
January 18 TBA Star testing telescopes
February 17 TBA Non-traditional telescopes
March 16 TBA Testing Mirror flats
April 20 TBA Astrophotography
May 18th TBA TBA
June 15th TBA TBA
July 20th
 TBA
 TBA
August 17th TBA TBA
September 21 TBA TBA
October 19 TBAs
 TBA
November 16 TBA TBA
December 21 Christmas and Winter Time!


2004
January 20th, 2004 ATM-SIG members Accesory Box
February 17th, 2004 Joel Centeno Anti Dew; how to fit your telescope
March 16th, 2004 Meeting Canceled
April 20th, 2004 Don Loftus Homemade Mirror Grinding Machine
May 18th, 2004 Don Loftus Binocular mount and tripod
June 15th, 2004 Remi Trujillo Collimation tools
July 20th, 2004
 Remi Trujillo
 Spiders
August 17th, 2004 Fred Heinrich Observatories
September 21st, 2004 Remi Trujillo Travel Scope
October 19th, 2004 ATM-SIG members
 AAC Telescopes manteinance
November 16th, 2004 TBA Collimating Newt. Smidth-Cass, Refractors.
December 21th, 2004 Christmas and Winter Time!


2003 
January 21st, 2003 Don Loftus Foucault mirror test
February 15th, 2003 (Note: It is Saturday!) ATM SIG members A Survey and Discussion of the Clark 10" Refractor Restoration
At: Back in Time
Stargazing to follow
March 18th, 2003 Joel Centeno Homemade Dew Controler
April 15th, 2003 ATM-SIG Members medley Homemade Finderscopes
May 20th, 2003 TBA Homemade Accesory case
June 16th, 2003 Mike Toomey Homemade Observer's chair/stool (pre-StarBQ)
July 15th, 2003 ATM-SIG General Meeting
August 19th, 2003 Don Loftus LED light
September 16th, 2003 Joel Centeno Focuser
October 21th, 2003 Remi Trujillo Observing Chair
November 18th, 2003 Vic Menard (Chiefland) Collimating Tools
December 23th, 2003 Christmas Time!

 
2002
June 18th, 2002 Remigio Trujillo A Barn door tracking mount
July 16th, 2002 Remigio Trujillo Homemade eyepieces: Theory and Practice
August 20th, 2002 Don Loftus Cleaning optical surfaces with collodion
September 17th, 2002 Chuck Broward Homemade solar filter
Octuber 15th, 2002 ATM SIG members Maintenance of Club's telescopes
November 19th, 2002 Chuck Broward Homemade Laser Collimator

Members and Their ATM Activities
Chuck Broward 10" Homemade Dobsonian Telescope
Joel Centeno 14" Homemade dobsonian
Remi Trujillo 16" Homemade dobsonian

Useful Internet Resources

The best way to find resource is to use a search engine such as Google and type the particular keyword you might be interested in learning ATM.



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