Telescope Making Class of ‘99

Time flies when you are having fun. It seems like just the other day when our first students of the year started in our 1999 telescope making class, but when one looks back, it was just after the schools started in January. Some of those first batch of pupils have finished their telescopes and 2 or 3 are still busy putting the final touches to their mirrors. In the interim others have joined the class, finished their mirrors and are now enjoying their telescopes, if and when they ever get to see through these clouds.

The attached photograph shows Mary McKinnon and John Scott with Mary’s 8-inch that she finished this year. She started making the mirror about 4 years ago and has gradually put all the other bits and pieces together. The finished item is a telescope that anyone would be proud of. John Scott, teacher at Parktown Boys high (where we have our telescope making classes) helped Mary with some of the finishing touches. Other people helped her along the way, but she did most of the hard work.

The father of one of the school boys who made a telescope in the class was telling me that he was watching Jupiter with it one evening when he noticed the shadow of Io on Jupiter’s disk. He decided to watch the shadow move right across the disk but before it had left the disk the shadow of one of the other moons appeared, so he decided to watch that one cross the disk too! He was bemoaning the fact that he only got to bed at 4 am in the morning. And this telescope just has an eyepiece from a broken binocular, no fancy megabucks optics. I’d say the telescope was pretty good to give you this kind of enjoyment.

Our youngest pupil this year was about 15 years old and the oldest was 75 during the year. And they all have had a lot of fun putting together their little telescopes. Next year we may be getting access to a kiln so that we can cast our own mirror blanks. At the moment we can only get blanks up to 200mm diameter but perhaps this will change in the new millennium.

Classes in 2000 will commence on Saturday afternoons once the schools go back, so if you want to come and join us, please give me a call.

Brian Fraser.

Tel 803-8291 evenings.