Lockwood
Custom Optics
Telescope-Related
Publications
and Presentations
Here's a
list of articles I have written, articles I have been mentioned in, and
presentations I have
given
on topics related to telescope making and mirror making. The
author/presenter is me, unless otherwise noted.
Please
let me know if you have interest in having me speak at your event.
"Optical Testing",
presented at the Winter Star Party, Tues., Feb. 21, 2012.
Presentation
about general optical testing topics, different test methods,
advantages and drawbacks, null-testing arrangements, etc. Updated from the previous talk.
"Measuring
asteroids with homemade monsters", Sky
and
Telescope Magazine,
December, 2011.
I
wrote this article to describe the hard work done by Bob Holmes,
founder of the Astronomical Research Institute.
Bob built his own
telescopes, and has devoted many years to measuring asteroid positions,
and his work is now funded by NASA.
"Optical Testing",
presented at the Okie-Tex
Star Party, Thu., Sept. 29, 2011.
Presentation
about general optical testing topics, different test methods,
advantages and drawbacks, null-testing arrangements, etc.
"Building a
better Newtonian", presented at the Okie-Tex
Star Party, Thu., Sept. 29, 2011.
Presentation
about ways to improve Newtonian telescopes, such as fast cooling
mirrors, how to cool mirrors, proper mirror edge support.
Beginning of the talk was a continuation of "Optical Testing"
including the Lockwood Coating Polish test and test results for five
example mirrors.
"Fast Optics -
V2.0", presented
at a meeting of the Indiana Astronomical Society at
the Link
Observatory on
Sat. May 21, 2011.
Presentation
about the advantages and disadvantages of fast Newtonian telescope
optics, and some of the stories behind how I came to make such large,
fast mirrors. Slides added to discuss 50" f/2.2 mirror and
other
completed or upcoming large-mirror projects that I will be working on.
"The new
Dobsonian revolution", by Michael
Bakich, Astronomy Magazine, January, 2011.
Michael
Bakich discusses my fast optics, Starmaster Telescopes, and the
Paracorr Type 2 by Televue, and how the combination has altered the
telescope market.
"A New Optical
Shop", presented at the Okie-Tex
Star Party, Thu., Oct. 7, 2010.
Presentation about my new
optical shop, how it was constructed with optical fabrication in mind,
and some of my latest projects.
"Various Topics",
presented at the Okie-Tex
Star Party, Thu., Oct. 7, 2010.
Presentation
about optician Dick Wessling, who passed away in the spring, my trip to
Haleakala Observatories last year, an update on fast optics, and a
Q&A session about various telescope and optical topics.
"Fast Optics",
presented at the Indiana Family Star Party, Sat.,
Aug. 7, 2010.
Somewhat abbreviated version
of the talk below.
"Fast Optics",
presented at the Okie-Tex
Star Party, Wed., Sept. 16, 2009.
Presentation
about the advantages and disadvantages of fast Newtonian telescope
optics, and some of the stories behind how I came to make such large,
fast mirrors.
"Amateur
Telescope Making - A Survey of the Craft",
presented at the Okie-Tex Star Party,
Wed., Sept.
16, 2009.
A presentation that I do every
so often covering
the history of increasingly large telescopes, the history of telescope
making, and an overview of how amateurs build telescopes, the designs
and materials they choose, and other random thoughts that I consider
relevant to a discussion of ATMing.
"Building
Faster, High Quality Newtonian
Telescopes", Amateur
Astronomy Magazine, Volume 63, Fall 2009.
I
discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
fast Newtonian telescopes in this medium-length article.
"Bigger,
Faster, Better!" by Gary
Seronik, Sky
and
Telescope Magazine,
July 2009.
Gary
Seronik discusses fast Newtonian
telescopes, and features my 20" F/3 Starmaster telescope in his monthly
Telescope Workshop column.
"A
Travelscope Challenge" by Gary
Seronik, Sky and
Telescope Magazine,
March 2009.
Gary
Seronik describes my 8" F/5.4 travel
telescope in his monthly Telescope Workshop column.
"Large
Telescopes, Projects, Trends and Issues",
presented at the Okie-Tex Star
Party, Wed.,
Oct. 1, 2008.
Presentation
about large telescopes and some of
the issues that their builders deal with, such as thermal performance,
mirror support, and trends in construction. Up to date information was
given about Bob
Holmes' 24", 32" and future 48" research telescopes with
updated
statistics from him, as well as the 43.4"
telescope under
construction by Robert Houdart.
"Optical
BS", presented
at the Okie-Tex Star Party,
Thurs., Oct. 2., 2008.
After
giving a bit of information about my
background, in this talk I explored some of the misconceptions about
optics and optical testing by posing ten questions, the answers to
which are either "True" or "BS". I asked the audience to vote
on
which answer is correct, and explained the correct answer. I then
disussed the answers, and finished up by talking about mirror cooling,
quality metrics for optical testing, and issues with some common
optical tests.
"Okie-Tex
2007", Amateur Astronomy
Magazine,
Volume 59, Fall 2008.
Describes
my experience at my
first Okie-Tex Star Party.
"Building
and doing research with a 32” and a 24” telescope and
Large telescopes", presented
at the Winter
Star Party,
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008.
Presentation
about Bob
Holmes' 24" and 32" research telescopes with updated
statistics
from him, as well as the 43.4"
telescope under
construction by Robert Houdart, which I am making the primary
and
secondary mirror
for, and Bob Holmes' proposed 48" F/4 prime-focus telescope.
"Building
MBM 30" (updated
version), presented by
Mike Lockwood, Mike
Conron, and Bob Nonnemann the Okie-Tex
Star Party, Friday,
Oct. 5, 2007.
Describes
the making of the 30" mirror and the
construction of the
MBM 30" telescope.
"Construction,
observations,
and research using 24" and 32" telescopes",
presented at the Okie-Tex Star Party,
Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007.
This
talk uses some presentation materials from
Bob
Holmes, who built the telescope, but also many photos and videos that I
took while making the primary mirror.
I made the primary mirrors for Bob's two
telescopes
and assisted with their setup.
"Construction,
observations, and research using 24" and 32"
telescopes",
presented at the Indiana
Family Star Party, Saturday,
Aug. 11,
2007.
"A
Modern Long-Focus Newtonian", Sky and
Telescope Magazine,
March 2006.
Describes
my 10"
F/8.8 scope and its
construction.
"A Portable
Large-Aperture Cassegrain", Sky and
Telescope Magazine,
October 2006.
Describes
my 12.5"
F/12.5 classical
Cassegrain and its construction.
"Building
an Open-Tubed 12.5" F/12.5 Classical Cassegrain",
July 2005, Cloudy
Nights article.
Details
the design and construction of my
Classical Cassegrain,
originally entered in the Cloudy Nights telescope making contest.
"Amateur
Telescope Making - A Survey of the Craft",
presented at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Nov. 28th, 2005.
Also
presented to the Astronomical Society at
the University of Illinois (UIAS), Feb. 22nd, 2006.
Previous versions of this talk were
presented to
UIAS in several previous years, and I update it every year.
"Building
MBM 30", presented
by Mike Lockwood and
Mike Conron at the second annual Prairie
Skies Star Party, Saturday,
Oct. 1st, 2005. Here is a
link to my article about PS2005.
An
updated version (as of October 2007) was
presented at the Okie-Tex
Star Party
2007.
"Live
Foucault Testing" - I took one
of my
testers to Prairie Skies 2006 and 2007 to test mirrors on the
spot. The results ranged from great to very bad.
