Flamsteed Astronomy Society

Flamsteed Telescope Workshop for Beginners

with Dr John Griffiths — March 17, 2008

On Monday March 17, 2008 John Griffiths conducted another of his telescope workshops. This is the third he has run in the past two years for the ROG. This one, held in the lobby of the Peter Harrison Planetarium was limited to members of the Flamsteed and their guests.

Some 25 attended of whom 6 brought telescopes for John to refer to during the talk part of the evening.

John talked for about 75 minutes during which he covered:

What is a telescope?

Why Use a Telescope?

Components of a telescope.

Types of Telescopes and Mounts, including GOTOs.

Magnification

Using a telescope

Finding Objects in the Sky and Aids for Doing So.

At about 8.15p.m. the workshop repaired to the courtyard outside. The sky was covered with a thin layer of cloud, but it was possible to see the Moon most of the time. Two telescopes, a Meade  ETX90 and a 100mm APO TMB refractor enabled members to observe the Moon; a Canon 8 x 25 image-stabilised set of binoculars also gave surprising, steady views of the Moon’s features.

The evening concluded with a brief walk-around the other telescopes.

Peter Kitcherside

“The one that got away”  — John discusses the next generation of terrestrial telescopes [Pic: Gil Newnham]