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CCooppyyrriigghhtt IInnffoorrmmaattiioonn
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AA BBrriieeff HHiissttoorryy ooff TTeelleessccooppee
IInn FFooccuuss:: DDeessiiggnniinngg aanndd MMaakkiinngg LLuurriiee--HHoouugghhttoonn TTeelleessccooppee
JJaannuuaarryy//FFeebbrruuaarryy IIssssuuee,, 22000066
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Making Lurie-Houghton Newtonian Telescope Building’s Report of 5-inch telescope by Aki Lötjönen.
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Designing Lurie-Houghton Telescope Detailed calculations and design recommendations.
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MODAS 4.2xx New release with valuable changeover under development
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LHTCALC Java Script Lurie-Houghton Calculator
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���� History
A Brief History of Telescopes
The telescope is undoubtedly one of the world's most far-
reaching inventions. For the past four centuries the telescope
has stood at the forefront of human discovery. From its humble
beginnings in seventeenth-century Holland, when a simple
spectacle-maker first presented his invention to his country's
military leaders, to today's colossal structures housed in space-
age cathedrals, the telescope has unlocked nature's secrets.
The history of the telescope is a rich story of human ingenuity
and perseverance involving some of the most colorful figures of
the scientific world - Galileo, Johann Kepler, Isaac Newton,
William Herschel, George Ellery Hale, and Edwin Hubble.
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Robotic Telescopes Advanced telescope techniques.
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Fortune: This picture was made by the Bulgarian amateur astronomer and telescope maker Pencho Markishki (e-mail: markishky@yahoo.com).
Hi is also advanced astro photograph, that reached great success with his very simple optics. More innovative photos can be seen on his home page at following url.:
http://www.geocities.com/markishky/
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Image Credit: Pencho Markishki
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JJuullyy//AAuugguusstt IIssssuuee,, 22000055
HHuubbbbllee –– 1155 YYeeaarrss ooff DDiissccoovveerryy
MMaarrcchh//AApprriill IIssssuuee,, 22000066
BBiibblliiooggrraapphhyy:: JJaammeess SShhoorrtt,, EEuurrooppee’’ss ffoorreemmoosstt mmaakkeerr ooff RReefflleeccttiinngg TTeelleessccooppeess
IInn FFooccuuss:: TTrriiggoonnoommeettrriicc aanndd CCooddddiinnggttoonn RRaayyttrraaccee
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Cleaning Optics If it's not dirty, don't clean it.
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Trigonometric and Coddington Raytrace Aberrations and Raytracing.
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DiffCalc Simulation of diffraction limited star and CCD images.
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TRIGON.BAS, CODDING.BAS Trigonometric and Coddington raytrace.
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���� History
James Short: Europe’s foremost maker of Reflecting Telescopes
James Short was born in Edinburgh in 1710 and received a good
education, progressing to Edinburgh University in 1726. He
attended lectures by Colin Maclaurin, Professor of Mathematics,
and became interested in science. He mastered the craft of making
mirrors for reflecting telescopes and had a good understanding of
optical theory. During his working life of over 35 years, Short made
about 1,360 instruments - not only for customers in Britain but also
for export: one is still preserved in Leningrad, another at Uppsala
and several in America. Short was principal British collator and
computer of the Transit of Venus observations made throughout
the world on 6th June 1761. His instruments traveled on Endeavour
with Captain Cook to observe the next Transit of Venus on 3rd
June 1769, but Short died before this event took place.
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Hubble – 15 Years of Discovery Advanced telescope techniques.
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VLT and Hubble Collage of the Hubble Space Telescope above the world’s largest optical/infrared telescope, the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).
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Image Credit: ESO/ST-ECF
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JJuullyy//AAuugguusstt IIssssuuee,, 22000055
SSUUBBAARRUU JJaappaann’’ss EEyyee ooff tthhee UUnniivveerrssee
MMaayy//JJuunnee IIssssuuee,, 22000066
BBiibblliiooggrraapphhyy:: VVaassccoo RRoonncchhii
IInn FFooccuuss:: MMeerriitt FFuunnccttiioonn OOppttiimmiizzaattiioonn
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Grinding, Polishing, Materials Glossary.
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Merit Function Optimization Aberrations and Raytracing.
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FRED Optical design and analysis package.
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AUTOFOCUS.BAS First steps in optimization.
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���� History
Vasco Rionchi
Vasco Ronchi was an Italian physicist known for his work
in optics. He was born on 19th December 1897 in
Florence, Italy. Along with Enrico Fermi, he was a
student of Luigi Puccianti. He studied from at the
Faculty of Physics of the University of Pisa 1915-1919. In
1922 he published work describing testing methods for
optics using simple equipment. The Ronchi Test is widely
used in amateur telescope making. He served numerous
terms as the President of the 'Union Internationale
d'Histoire des Sciences' within the UNESCO. He
authored 900 papers and 30 books.
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Subaru – Japan’s Eye of the Universe Earth’s greatest telescopes.
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Subaru Telescope is located on the summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the big island of Hawaii. The summit of Mauna Kea is one of the best astronomical observing sites in the world. With 13 telescopes form 11 countries now operating, Mauna Kea has more telescopes from more countries than any other observing site. In addition to Subaru, there are three other 8-10m class telescopes on Mauna Kea, the Gemini North telescope and the two Keck telescopes.
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Image credit: Subaru
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JJuullyy//AAuugguusstt IIssssuuee,, 22000055
LLeeoonn FFoouuccaauulltt:: TThhee DDaannccee ooff SShhaaddoowwss
JJuullyyAAuugguusstt IIssssuuee,, 22000066
SSppeeccttrruumm:: PPllaanneett HHuunntteerrss CCoouulldd FFiinndd LLiiffee
SSooffttwwaarree:: LLeennssFFoorrggee ffoorr MMaacc OOSS XX
IInn FFooccuuss:: CCaallccuullaattiinngg GGeeoommeettrriiccaall MMTTFF
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Glass Types Optical materials glossary.
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Calculating Geometrical MTF Image quality analysis.
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LensForge Optical design and analysis package for Max OS X.
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MTFPLOTTER.BAS Geometrical MTF plotter.
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���� History
Leon Foucault: The Dance of Shadows
One of Foucault's many accomplishments was the publication, in 1859,
of his development of the older pinhole technique into the Foucault
test. Viewing the reflected pinhole across a straight knife edge causes a pattern of shadows that clearly shows the figure of the mirror. This
simple improvement granted an enormous increase in the perfection of
telescope optics. Foucault went on to analyze the patterns made by
mirrors as they are polished from spherical to parabolic form. He also
experimented with moving the light towards the mirror and the
straight edge away from it, and with the various ellipsoidal mirror
forms that can be made in this way. In his fifty year lifetime, Foucault
also devised the famous Foucault pendulum, that was the first
experimental demonstration of the rotation of the earth. He was
also responsible for an accurate determination of the velocity of light, measured the distance to the sun with improved precision, and
pioneered the silver on glass telescope mirror.
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Planet Hunters Could Find Life Extrasolar Planets Searching.
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Jean Bernard Leon Foucault was a French physicist who is considered one of the most versatile experimentalists of the nineteenth century. He is well known for his experiments in optics and mechanics and was involved in the development of a method to measure the speed of light with extreme accuracy. Foucault is most often remembered for proving, with the use of a pendulum, that the Earth rotates on its axis.
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Image credit: OAMP
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HHeennrryy FFiittzz:: AAmmeerriiccaa’’ss FFiirrsstt CCoommmmeerrcciiaall
TTeelleessccooppee MMaakkeerr
SSeepptteemmbbeerr//OOccttoobbeerr IIssssuuee,, 22000066
IInn FFooccuuss:: AAnn aalltteerrnnaattiivvee FFllooaattiioonn CCeellll ffoorr ppaarraabboolllliiccaallyy sshhaappeedd MMiirrrroorrss bbyy uussiinngg aann
eellaassttiicc FFoouunnddaattiioonn
TThheeoorryy:: OOppttiiccaall AAppeerrttuurreess SSooffttwwaarree:: CCOODDEE VV
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Useful ATM Formulas ATM theoritical glossary.
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An alternative Floation Cell for parabollicaly shaped Mirrors by using an elastic Foundation.
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CODE V Optical design and analysis package review.
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ATMFORMULAS.XLS Graphical representation of the most commonly used ATM formulas.
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���� History
Henry Fitz: America’s First Commercial Telescope Maker
Henry Fitz was preceded by the earliest American
telescope makers, notably Amasa Holcomb, and followed
by Alvan Clark and John Brashear, the most important
makers from the United States. Fitz was the first
important American telescope maker because his
pioneering techniques of local correction of poor quality
glass allowed him to construct the largest American
made refractor. American made telescopes were much
less expensive, than those from Europe, and local
manufacture was an important factor in the proliferation
of observatories in Nineteenth Century America.
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It is a Question of Aperture
A Baker Street Reminiscence by Dr. John H. Watson
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The Dudly’s Observatory 13-inch Fitz refractor. Henry Fitz received commissions to build larger and larger telescopes for leading American universities and institutions. Among his larger telescopes were two 13" telescopes, one made for the Allegheny Observatory in 1861 that is still in service, and one for the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York. The Dudley telescope went into private hands around the turn of the century, and fell into obscurity until 1994…
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JJuullyy//AAuugguusstt IIssssuuee,, 22000055
AAllvvaann CCllaarrkk && SSoonnss:: WWoorrlldd’’ss GGrreeaatteesstt TTeelleessccooppee
MMaakkeerrss
NNoovveemmbbeerr//DDeecceemmbbeerr IIssssuuee,, 22000066
IInn FFooccuuss:: FFiieelldd CCoorrrreeccttoorrss ffoorr aa FFaasstt NNeewwttoonniiaann wwiitthh PPaarraabboolliicc PPrriimmaarryy
SSooffttwwaarree:: RRoossss NNuullll CCaallccuullaattoorr
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Objective Types A glossary
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Field Correctors for a Fast Newtonian with Parabolic Primary
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RossNullXP Ross Null Lens calculator
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VIGNETTING.XLS Vignetting in a Newtonian telescope
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Alvan Clark & Sons: World’s Greatest Telescope Makers
A renowned American maker of some of the world’s largest and best
lenses for refracting telescopes. Together with his sons, George
Bassett Clark (1827-1891) and Alvan Graham Clark (1832-1897), he
founded Alvan Clark & Sons at Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, in 1846,
and proceeded five times to make the objectives for the largest refracting telescopes in the world. These included the 26-inch lens at
the US Naval Observatory (the first fine achromatic lens produced in
the United States), the 32-inch lens at Pulkovo Observatory, the 36-
inch lens at Lick Observatory, and the 40-inch lens at Yerkes
Observatory, the largest ever built. The optical work of Clark & Sons
was recognized as unsurpassed anywhere and represented the first
significant American contribution to astronomical instrument-making;
prior to this, American telescopes had never compared with those of
European manufacture. Alvan Graham Clark is also remembered
particularly for his discovery of the (white dwarf) companion of Sirius in 1862.
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SuperWASP
Planetary transit telescope project
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The trial mounting for the great Russian telescope in Pulkovo, Russia constructed by Alvan Clark & Sons 1883. The refractor was destroyed in the Siege of Leningrad (today St. Petersburg) and only the lens survives. The 32-inch objective can be seen in the Pulkovo’s Museum.
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Image credit: SA
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AAddvveerr tt
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MMOODDAASS RRLLDD ((RReellooaaddeedd)) BBeettaa vveerrssiioonn nnooww aavvaaiillaabbllee
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