The design for this unusual telescope, which features a polar-aligned, fixed eyepiece, takes me back several decades. At the time, I was investigating warmed-room observatories, many of which had been featured in the well-known Amateur Telescope Making book series (three volumes). One of the simplest of these had been constructed by Russell W. Porter (1871–1949), principal founder of the amateur telescope making movement, which (in the U.S.) began in the early twentieth century.

Our December meeting is our annual “telescope clinic” where we invite anyone to bring their troublesome or confusing telescopes to the meeting. Our members will assist you in understanding how they work and diagnosing (and even fixing) any problems you’ve encountered. Also, refreshments!

“Perspectives”  examines relative distances in the universe and the possible distances achievable through manned and unmanned space flight and through amateur and professional telescopic observation. Examining scales from the human altitude record to the four cosmological horizons, the program discusses astrophysicists’ current thinking about several significant questions: