Re: ATM "The New S&T"

[Dave Sopchak <das@po.cwru.edu>]

My two cents,
        Excellent commentary by some folks already- here's my hopefully
worthwhile 20 millicents:

        I got started in ATMing because of Sky and Telescope. Reading the
Gleanings articles every month convinced me that there were all sorts of
neat stuff that could be built by folks with enough chutzpah and skill
(mostly chutzpah, I think).
        I remember in the late 80s reading the letters column, hearing a
lot of folks cry out about the sad demise of mirror making, and how easy it
was to make your own optics. I finally coughed up 20 bucks to W-B for
Texereau's book and read it in an afternoon (brain overload!) and realized
that this wasn't too big a deal at all! Got a 6" kit from W-B and the next
spring I had a great 6" f/9 scope- made great because of the incentive I
got reading an article in S&T in the spring of '92 in which 4 6" mirrors
were tested, each of differing optical quality. Inspired by this article, I
busted my hump to make that mirror as good as I could, and I was rewarded
by a scope that performed, in my limited experience, like nothing else I'd
ever seen for a scope that size. I now realize how many commercial junk
scopes are out there!
        Nowadays, I can get scads of info on ATM on the net, but for those
who aren't on it yet, or are just starting out in astronomy and happen to
pick up an  issue of S&T, it is _very_ important that they know of, at the
very least, the existence of ATM, just like clubs, because it is a very
important part of astronomy, if for nothing else than to let the scope
buyers and manufacturers know that there are excellent, inexpensive
instuments out there that the non-ATMers should try to emulate in quality.
        On another note, would the loss of the Gleanings column mean that
W-B and other ATM type supply companies and booksellers no longer want to
advertise in S&T?

Please keep the Gleanings a monthly column. If you want me to write an
article for it, I will!

Dave

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Great minds think alike, but fools never disagree.