About a year ago, a fellow amateur astronomer and telescope maker signed on to Astromart for the first time. I was immediately struck with his enthusiasm for the hobby and interest in spreading his love for astronomy to others. I decided I wanted to meet this guy—named Joe.
Sometimes we forget how easy it is to bounce ideas about astronomy with our local clubs, star parties, and shows. Just show up at Stellafane and RTMC, or NEAF and PATS, and there are lots of people to share ideas with. Imagine living in faraway Nairobi. Joe did not have access to those sharing experiences. And his resources were not available at the local Home Depot or Ace Hardware. So, he did what ATM people have always done—he improvised.
When I realized that I was going to nearby Tanzania this fall, I decided to add Nairobi to my itinerary, just to meet Joe and share a bit of enthusiasm. We met up at his work, where he is chaplain to some 600 students at a beautiful private school. We spent some time looking over his scope and sharing ideas. Just like in Springfield or Big Bear, it was just ATM people getting together.
Unfortunately I had scheduled my visit to East Africa to coincide with the little rainy season…..and there was no way we could use his ten inch F 4.35 scope under the solid cloud cover, but we did have time to play with it out in the yard, and it moved smoothly in both axis. He has shown a lot of imagination in his project, including making a version of a reflex finder out of a flat mirror and red light, a finder scope out of half a binocular, and a fine adjust on the altitude elevator.
All in all a great visit.
Just thought you might like to see what can come out of these Astromart postings.
Alex
Sometimes we forget how easy it is to bounce ideas about astronomy with our local clubs, star parties, and shows. Just show up at Stellafane and RTMC, or NEAF and PATS, and there are lots of people to share ideas with. Imagine living in faraway Nairobi. Joe did not have access to those sharing experiences. And his resources were not available at the local Home Depot or Ace Hardware. So, he did what ATM people have always done—he improvised.
When I realized that I was going to nearby Tanzania this fall, I decided to add Nairobi to my itinerary, just to meet Joe and share a bit of enthusiasm. We met up at his work, where he is chaplain to some 600 students at a beautiful private school. We spent some time looking over his scope and sharing ideas. Just like in Springfield or Big Bear, it was just ATM people getting together.
Unfortunately I had scheduled my visit to East Africa to coincide with the little rainy season…..and there was no way we could use his ten inch F 4.35 scope under the solid cloud cover, but we did have time to play with it out in the yard, and it moved smoothly in both axis. He has shown a lot of imagination in his project, including making a version of a reflex finder out of a flat mirror and red light, a finder scope out of half a binocular, and a fine adjust on the altitude elevator.
All in all a great visit.
Just thought you might like to see what can come out of these Astromart postings.
Alex
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