Those who have not been around SLAS a pretty long time may not have heard that early on the very first scope planned for SPOC was to have been a 1 meter (ok, some called it a 40 *inch* but I try not to use such four letter words <g>). Or that the primary mirror was to have been made of several smaller mirrors glued to a slab of granite and ground and polished as a single piece of glass. I have not been able to find any pictures from back then. But a few hours ago the son of Jerry Montgomery (Jerry supplied the SPOC dome) emailed several scans of pictures from back then. They should eventually end up on the SLAS website but in the mean time here's a sampling, one showing Jerry standing inside the mirror cell and another showing the prototype setup for grinding the big mirror. Pictures were taken probably in 1975. http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/PRESPOC.JPG patrick p.s. In case you are wondering the optics never materialized and the project was scrapped.
Interesting pictures. Interesting piece of information. I never knew that there were plans for a 1 meter scope back in the early 1970s. We should have some pictures included, like the linked ones in this message, in the SLAS History project that Ann Blanchard is putting together. --- On Wed, 2/11/09, Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote: From: Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] SPOC 1 meter To: "utah astronomy listserve utah astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 4:40 AM Those who have not been around SLAS a pretty long time may not have heard that early on the very first scope planned for SPOC was to have been a 1 meter (ok, some called it a 40 *inch* but I try not to use such four letter words <g>). Or that the primary mirror was to have been made of several smaller mirrors glued to a slab of granite and ground and polished as a single piece of glass. I have not been able to find any pictures from back then. But a few hours ago the son of Jerry Montgomery (Jerry supplied the SPOC dome) emailed several scans of pictures from back then. They should eventually end up on the SLAS website but in the mean time here's a sampling, one showing Jerry standing inside the mirror cell and another showing the prototype setup for grinding the big mirror. Pictures were taken probably in 1975. http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/PRESPOC.JPG patrick p.s. In case you are wondering the optics never materialized and the project was scrapped. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
On 11 Feb 2009, at 08:08, M Wilson wrote:
We should have some pictures included, like the linked ones in this message, in the SLAS History project that Ann Blanchard is putting together.
Thanks for the suggestion. My plan at the moment is to first get them posted to the section on the SLAS site about the early years of SPOC since that site already exists. Interest in (and therefore work on) the history project has slowed recently but I suspect the pictures will also end up as part of the history project too. patrick
Patrick, whatever happened to that HUGE yoke that was built for the 40-inch scope (40 inches > 1 meter, lol). It sat in Bruce's carport for a while with a coat of red primer on it, but I can't recall what we did with it.
Bruce eventually gave it to Vaughn Parsons (something about his wife wanting the garage back). I think Vaughn scrapped it. Ah, what could have been... patrick On 11 Feb 2009, at 10:50, Chuck Hards wrote:
Patrick, whatever happened to that HUGE yoke that was built for the 40-inch scope (40 inches > 1 meter, lol). It sat in Bruce's carport for a while with a coat of red primer on it, but I can't recall what we did with it.
Patrick, I think it is cool that you guys had enough knowledge amongst yourselves to have designed and partially built such a cool scope back in 75. No doubt you guys could have finished it if things would have come together. On the other hand, the one you (plural, as in you, Bruce, Chuck and others) did finish is way cool. Jim
Jim, Bruce has always been the center of gravity of SLAS telescope making efforts. I was just happy to be there and do as I was told! On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 4:03 PM, Jim Gibson <jimgibson00@yahoo.com> wrote:
Patrick, I think it is cool that you guys had enough knowledge amongst yourselves to have designed and partially built such a cool scope back in 75. No doubt you guys could have finished it if things would have come together.
On the other hand, the one you (plural, as in you, Bruce, Chuck and others) did finish is way cool.
Chuck, You are too modest. Although I agree that there were others who played a significant roll I doubt that I would get any disagreement from anyone that if Chuck Hards had been taken out of the equation there wouldn’t have been such a hi-tech, beautiful tube and mirror assembly as what exists today. --- On Wed, 2/11/09, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote: From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] SPOC 1 meter To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 10:46 PM Jim, Bruce has always been the center of gravity of SLAS telescope making efforts. I was just happy to be there and do as I was told! On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 4:03 PM, Jim Gibson <jimgibson00@yahoo.com> wrote:
Patrick, I think it is cool that you guys had enough knowledge amongst yourselves to have designed and partially built such a cool scope back in 75. No doubt you guys could have finished it if things would have come together.
On the other hand, the one you (plural, as in you, Bruce, Chuck and others) did finish is way cool.
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
Jim, I hate to disappoint you, but all I did was a little bodywork on the 16" Ealing. My only contribution to the 32" is the tertiary mirror. I'm just a face in the crowd and wasn't a necessary contributor at all. 2009/2/12 Jim Gibson <jimgibson00@yahoo.com>
Chuck, You are too modest. Although I agree that there were others who played a significant roll I doubt that I would get any disagreement from anyone that if Chuck Hards had been taken out of the equation there wouldn't have been such a hi-tech, beautiful tube and mirror assembly as what exists today.
participants (4)
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Chuck Hards -
Jim Gibson -
M Wilson -
Patrick Wiggins