Mike
Lockwood's Telescopes and Projects, etc.
Here are the telescopes I've worked on so far. I made or
refigured all the mirrors in my own my scopes, with the exception of
the 8" F/6 that I
built and sold to a friend years
ago. The other telescopes mentioned belong to local clubs or
friends, and I
either built them or
contributed significant effort to building them. Newer or more
interesting projects have links with larger text.
To date I've made the telescopes listed below under "My Telescopes",
and I have ground or refigured
a total of ~300 mirrors
including four Cassegrain optical sets, several
flats of varying sizes, and quite a few elliptical diagonal mirrors, up
to
8.25"
minor axis. Overall, I believe I've been involved in making or
working on over 40
telescopes. I've taught one telescope
making class and one mirror grinding class, both through a college
club. On Tuesday nights I often host a meeting of a group of ATM
friends. I help friends work on mirrors and test them in the
basement. These meetings of friends help to counteract the
depressing effects of
the lousy cloudy winter weather here in
Illinois.
I was president of the Champaign-Urbana
Astronomical
Society for 2006 and 2007 (member since 2003) and a member of the Astronomical Society at the
University of Illinois (UIAS, member since 1997). I was a
member of the Cincinnati
Astronomical Society from ~1990-1996, and a member of the Rose-Hulman Astronomical
Society during my undergraduate years there from 1993-1997,
president from 1995-1997.
My Telescopes:
Telescopes I own(ed), in
approximate order of completion.
8"
F/3.9 - my FIRST mirror!
Award winner at Astrofest 2003.
5.25" F/8.8 (version 2) -
award
winner at Astrofest 2003.
10" F/6.8 (version 2) -
award
winner at Astrofest 2004,
now
for
sale because I don't use it
enough.
16" F/4
"Hex
Scope" -
award winner at
Prairie Skies 2004
and
Astrofest 2004.
4.25" F/4.5 - award winner at
Prairie Skies 2004.
6" F/6 Travel Scope - fits in
carry-on luggage. (Now stripped of its focuser and secondary for
use in my new 8" travel scope, linked below.)
12.5"
F/12.5 Classical
Cassegrain
- Dob-mounted, open-tubed, and wire-spidered!
Craftmanship and
design award at Astrofest 2005.
Featured in October
2006 Sky & Telescope.
10" F/8.8
-
No-compromise planetary scope.
Fast setup,
compact when disassembled.
Craftmanship
and
design awards at Astrofest 2005.
Featured in March 2006
Sky & Telescope.
10" F/5.5 - Same
mirror box, cage, and type of truss structure as the F/8.8, but
shorter! This scope has been sold to a good home.
8"
F/5.4 travel scope
- My new travel scope, with a novel two-part collapsible truss
structure.
Other Projects:
A joint project and those built by friends using my
optics.
30"
F/3.8
- Joint
project with (and owned by) Mike Conron
and Bob Nonnemann, award winner at 2004 Astrofest and Prairie Skies
2006.
5"
F/5 -
prototype for my class (see UIAS projects below)
9" F/4.8
- Russ Jocoy's scope, (I made the ~1/2" thick plate glass mirror)
13.1" F/4.5 - Russ
Jocoy's scope, (I
made the 3/4"-thick plate glass mirror)
14.25" F/20.8 -
Dave Moore's classical Cassegrain (I refigured the primary and made a
new 3" secondary)
24" (0.61m) F/4.5
- Bob Holmes' second home-built research telescope (I made the primary
mirror)
32"
(0.81m) F/4.0
- Bob Holmes' home-built monster fork-mounted research telescope ( I
made the
mirror)
43.4" (1.1m) F/4.0
- I have been chosen to make the optics for this large, portable
amateur telescope.
NEW
28" F/4.4 RC - A
very fast Cassegrain (not a Newt!) intended for imaging. I
refigured the optics. NEW
GROUP PROJECTS