MWOA Board member Tim Thompson has been elected MWOA President. He is also a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and an avid amateur astronomer who for years was President of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. For more on Tim, see Tim Thompson.
MWOA member Dave Jurasevich has been appointed Observatory Superintendent on the Mountain at Mount Wilson Observatory. Although this is only a half-time position, it is a big job and will keep him plenty busy. Dave is also an accomplished astrophotographer. One of his best, a color photo of NGC 4631, appears on page 106 of the May 2006 issue of Sky and Telescope. For more on Dave and some of his great astrophotos, see Dave Jurasevich.
In 1998 after six years work, MWOA member Greg Smith completed his first book,
Practical Computer-Aided Lens Design. This text book describes how to design imaging optical systems made of lenses and mirrors using modern computer methods. The first half discusses concepts and techniques, and the second half gives design examples. The book is written in English, not Mathematics, so anyone with a basic knowledge of optics can read and understand it. The book is published by
Willmann-Bell.
In 2006, Greg finished his second book, Camera Lenses: From Box Camera to Digital. This book is written at a more popular level and is a combination optics and history book. It should be of interest to anyone who is curious and wants to know more about that thing made of glass on the front of his or her camera. The book is published by SPIE Press.
In addition, in year 2000, Greg designed all the camera lenses (four different types) for NASA-JPL's pair of Mars rovers, which were launched in mid-2003 and landed in January 2004. All the pictures you have recently been seeing from the surface of Mars were taken with these lenses. To find out more about these lenses, download the SPIE paper in PDF format that he gave in July 2001. Or from his new Camera Lenses book, download the complete Chapter 31 in PDF format, which also describes the Mars rover lenses.
Greg is a Ph.D. lens designer and optical consultant. He is also an MWOA Board member, the Treasurer, the webmaster, and a docent. He has been MWOA Treasurer since 1985 (and has never lost a penny). He has been an amateur astronomer since 1954, and he first observed at Mt. Wilson on the 60-inch telescope in 1961 (and later on the 100-inch telescope too).
MWOA member Gale Gant has built several display boards that are now located on the grounds of Mount Wilson Observatory. Through text and illustrations, they are intended to give visitors an explanation of the Observatory's history and construction, its achievements, and its ongoing science programs. Four of the boards have a description of a specific major instrument; one near the museum describes the Observatory as a whole. Each includes a map of the Observatory grounds that shows the viewer’s location. The result is very attractive and an important addition to the Observatory's public outreach program.
As time progresses, the displays will be updated as necessary, and more boards may be added describing other instruments. To date, boards have been installed in these locations:
Gale has volunteered considerable time, effort, and funds to build these displays. In addition, he is an MWOA Board member, the MWOA Secretary, a member of the 60-inch upgrade team, and the coordinator of observing session directors and docents for special tours.
Several MWOA members have generously volunteered their time and expertise in the recent effort to upgrade the drive system and control console of the Mount Wilson
60-inch telescope. When built in 1908, this famous instrument was the largest telescope in the world and the archetype of all future big reflectors designed for photography, spectroscopy, and astrophysical research.
The present project has involved replacing five old motors (plus their associated gearboxes, clutches, and wiring) with two modern servomotors. New motor controllers were purchased, and related electronics equipment were designed and built. To control the telescope, a new modern console was designed and built that is smaller than the old one and is designed for computer compatibility.
The members involved include:
The new system is now working very successfully, with a quieter, easier, and more responsive telescope operation. The next phase will be to add a telescope control computer with modern features such as go-to operation, autoguiding, etc.
All of this work is part of an ongoing effort to modernize the telescope and dome to make it more suitable for its new role in Education and Public Outreach. Safety improvements are a primary concern, leading to the dome wheel covers, better lighting, etc. The observing floor has been cleaned up and more room created for observing clients. Control of stray light on the observing floor, to maintain night vision, is another concern.
This project is a prime example of how MWOA helps Mount Wilson Observatory. By joining and supporting MWOA, all members are contributing to the continuation of the Association, which makes this work possible.
Several MWOA volunteers have also been working to upgrade the
Snow horizontal solar telescope. This was the first major telescope that Hale installed at his then-new Mount Wilson Solar Observatory in 1904. The main goal of the present improvements is to make this venerable instrument more useful as a teaching tool, especially for the CUREA summer school program.
Of course, there is no reason why it cannot still be used for special scientific research projects too. The telescope itself has a 24-inch aperture, a focal length of 60 feet, is all-reflecting, and has no central obscuration. The Sun's image is 6.5 inches in diameter. The image can be moved around, but once placed is stationary and non-rotating. Large analytical instruments can be mounted fixed to the floor.
The various projects were:
The telescope performed flawlessly during the latest CUREA sessions. The improvements now give new life to this historic telescope.
Ken and Larry Evans, along with their friend Mike Jones, also got the amazing 50 horsepower 1911 Fairbanks-Morse distillate-fueled engine in the powerhouse running again. It was used for years to turn the directly coupled Fairbanks-Morse 40 KW 125 VDC generator to make the Observatory’s electricity. For a picture of this historic internal-combustion system (with Gale Gant) go to Fairbanks-Morse Engine and DC Power Generator.
The engine has two cylinders with an 11-inch bore and 13-inch stroke and is run at 300 RPM. The two flywheels are each 6 feet in diameter. The pistons move in the same direction together but fire alternately as a four stroke cycle engine. The compression ratio is not known exactly, but engines of this era had values that were fairly low, typically in the range of 4.5 to 5.0. Instead of spark plugs, there is an electro-mechanical "igniter" inside each combustion chamber. The engine is started using compressed air by converting one cylinder to an air driven engine. When the second cylinder fires, the first is converted back and provides steady power from the two cylinders. The used cooling water is then piped to an adjacent shower room.
This unit appears in the Fairbanks-Morse 1913 catalog. For Larry's description of their work, and lots of photos, go to
Engine Refurbish.
MWOA member David Frank was on the 78th floor of World Trade Center Tower #1
(North Tower), when the hijacked airliner struck the building near the 80th floor,
not far above him. He escaped the tower, with some other people, and subsequently
had to escape again, from the dense debris cloud from the collapse of the South
Tower. He has written the story of his experience and escape, which we present
here with his permission. The story was written entirely by David Frank, the webpage was
designed by Mike Simmons, MWOA Vice President.
MWOA member Jean Mueller, formerly a night assistant/observer at Mt. Wilson, is now night assistant on the
200-inch Hale Telescope at
Palomar Observatory,
located in northern San Diego county. For 15 years she worked as an observer on the
2nd Palomar Sky Survey,
which is now completed. In the course of her work with the
48-inch Oschin Schmidt,
she discovered 15
comets (7 of them periodic) and 7
near earth asteroids. In addition, her discovery of 110 supernovae is more than any other living person and is surpassed only by the legendary Fritz Zwicky. For further information see David H. Levy and Wendee Wallach-Levy's 2001 book Cosmic Discoveries: The Wonders of Astronomy.
Every known Supernova since 1885. Just search for "Mueller" and you will find them all.
MWOA Board member and Vice President Mike Simmons is an instructor in the CUREA summer school program at Mount Wilson. He is also active in organizing and administering the program. For more on CUREA, see CUREA. In addition, Mike's astronomical interests include traveling to see eclipses and the Venus transits. Mike made many friends in Iran when he was there recently. For more on Mike's travels and activities, see Mike Simmons.
