From: "Tom Krajci" 
To: , 
Reply-To: "Tom Krajci" 


>From: georgea{at}cam.org [mailto:georgea{at}cam.org]

>As a person who has actually used this scope for viewing on several
>occasions
>including public star parties I can say the following.

Now that I try and wade through the vitriol of my initial post...my
greatest concern is with the organizers of Stellafane, not the individual
ATM's.

I repeat that I think Stellafane, and all other big star parties, should
seriously consider establishing testing criteria for telescope mechanical
and optical performance that can be performed on cloudy nights or in
daytime.  Accelerometers and artificial stars are not expensive or
difficult for large clubs/organizations to acquire.  They provide an
opportunity to standardize the testing process, and make it repeatable from
telescope to telescope...and from night to night.  The subjective aspect of
performance evaluation will be minimized to the maximum extent possible.

This will help increase understanding in the ATM community of what design
and fabrication features provide the best performance.

There will always be competitions and judging with some, or a great deal of
subjective evaluation...such as 'greatest innovation in design', etc....but
think of a top fuel dragster on the quarter mile track...no subjective
analysis required...just naked performance.

And another thought came to me.  Stellafane and others could test the
cooling performance of scopes.  Attach a temperature probe to the back of
the main mirror in the evening, and also monitor the ambient air
temperature.  The call of "Gentlemen...start your cooling fans"
will echo across the observing field. ;-)  Measure how fast the mirror
temp. approaches ambient temp.  Again, this helps take subjective judging
out of the loop, and shows interested ATM's what works, and what does not.

Tom Krajci
Tashkent, Uzbekistan


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