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Posts Made By: Bob Hess

July 26, 2008 08:37 PM Forum: Star Parties

Rain at Stellafane?

Posted By Bob Hess

Can anyone tell me how they deal with the rain at Stellafane? Do they hold the competitions indoors, and just skip the optical awards? Will all hotels and motels in the area be full? Thanks!

December 20, 2009 05:26 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Very Old Lasers

Posted By Bob Hess

I'm looking for the oldest lasers I can find, and thought those reading here might have come across one or two when looking for old astronomy related equipment. Please contact me if you have! Names that would be associated with them would be Trion, Hughes, Raytheon, Optics Technology, Maser Optics, Perkin Elmer, Spectra-Physics or Lear Siegler. Thanks!

December 20, 2009 05:32 PM Forum: Antique/Classic/Vintage Optical Instruments

Vintage Lasers

Posted By Bob Hess

I'm looking for the oldest lasers I can find, and thought those reading here might have come across one or two when looking for old astronomy related equipment. Please contact me if you have! Names that would be associated with them would be Trion, Hughes, Raytheon, Optics Technology, Maser Optics, Perkin Elmer, Spectra-Physics or Lear Siegler. Thanks!

January 31, 2010 03:33 AM Forum: Antique/Classic/Vintage Optical Instruments

Vintage Lasers

Posted By Bob Hess

Thanks for the replies guys! Sorry for my absence. I'm a collector of lasers from the '60s, which are very hard to find anymore. Most from then are still small, usually small rubys or He-Ne. An exception is the '69 Hughes Argon Ion laser I just found, shown below. The head is only 28" long but the power supply is comically heavy. An enormous transformer hiding behind that 5" knob!

This is easily one of the top few inventions of the last century, and the earliest examples (from the Kennedy years) are quickly slipping into the trash.