10 inch Fork with Cold Camera by Mel Bartels
After my 8 inch f/7, my second serious telescope was a larger faster scope,
a 10 inch f/5. The tube needed to fit into the backseat of a car. I often
drove to the top of the pass: note Mt Washington in the background from
Potato Hill, one of my observing sites. For tracking I used a drive built
from a homemade gear with teeth made from wood putty. The motor was an AC
synchronous motor with variable frequency control. With careful polar
alignment I was able to guide for several minutes. I developed my own
B&W and color film and produced my own enlargements. I built a cold
camera that accepted rolled film. It worked quite well. I had a lot of fun
both observing and imaging with this scope. The telescope was featured in
Sky and Telescope and drew a great deal of interest in the mounting.
Here are cold camera slides taken with the 10 inch, push processed and
developed by me. These are 5 minute exposures. Keep in mind that these were
taken in the 1970's and astonished us when projected. The vividness of the
colors was rare in those days.
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