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BUILT OWN TELESCOPE
DECATUR MAN WATCHES MARS FROM BACKYARD Not many Atlantans are getting a close-up view of Mars, nearer the earth
now than at any time in the last 11 years. But W.H. Close of 225 Forkner Dr, Decatur, can sit in his back yard at midnight and see the planet's polar caps. On May 29 he and Mrs. Close even spotted one of the rare Martian cloud formations. All it takes to be able to do this is a few trips to a local junkyard, years of patience and a knowledge of astronomy.
HOWEVER,
Mr. Close says it also takes a wife who knows how to heat pitch on the
kitchen stove. And a bathtub large enough to hold a 16-inch mirror and a
grinding tool. His view of the earth's neighboring planet comes through a 16-inch
Newtonian reflector telescope which he has been working on for five
years. It's not completed, but we have been making observations with
it for two years," Mr. Close said. Mr. Close began making his
telescope "about five years ago" at Agnes Scott College. He
soon had to move operations to his home first to the cellar, then to
his wife's sewing room. USING NO DIAGRAMS
or patterns to go by, the former president of the Atlanta Astronomy Club
began looking around various junkyards for the necessary equipment.
In a Decatur street
junkpile, he came up with his polar, axis a retractable screw from
the landing gear of a World War II bomber. The polar axis keeps the
telescope on a level plane with the Earth and allows it to compensate
for the Earth's rotation. The cell that holds the 16-inch mirror was
built from the steel strainer section of an army coffee urn. * * * THE MIRROR was ground
with a polishing tool made of cement and small squares of tile. Usually
a grinding tool is a piece of glass designed to fit the surface of the
mirror. Mrs. Close heated the
pitch used for the
grinding on the kitchen stove while Mr. Close got the mirror hot "in the bathtub." When Mr. Close wanted the pitch
brought into the
bathroom and poured onto he mirror, he gave a shrill whistle.
His wife came running with the pitch. "Needless to say, much time
was spent scraping pitch from all parts of the bathroom," Mr. Close
said. After 15 or 16 pitch laps and 18 months' grinding the amateur
astronomer came up with one of the best amateur telescopes in the
Southeast. |
