Samantha’s New Telescope Takes First Place Awards
By Martha Slater

Ten year-old Samantha Ann Tabor of Randolph Center is a budding astronomer. Her stargazing talents and developing technical expertise recently made her an award-wining one.

Samantha and her parents, Julie and David Tabor, Jr., attended the 72^nd Annual Convention of the Springfield Telescope Makers (STM) at Stellafane in Springfield August 9-12. At the conference, she entered her new telescope in the Junior class of the optical and mechanical competition and won two first place awards—one for optical excellence, and another for mechanical excellence. This exceptional telescope was a 4 and 1/4-inch reflector that Samantha built herself.

Samantha’s dad notes that she started making her telescope last October, by attending a monthly class at Stellafane.

"During the six classes, Samantha learned all the steps to making her own telescope mirror," David Tabor explained. "That included beveling the edge of a flat glass blank, grinding out the center to the correct depth, fine grinding to attain a spherical shape, polishing it to a smooth finish, and then figuring and testing it to a parabolic shape. She worked for almost 50 hours over the winter, both in class and at home, arriving at an excellent optical quality reflector mirror, with final testing done during class this past May."

The mirror was then sent to be coated with aluminum and a clear quartz finish, and the building of the rest of the scope started. The tube and mount for the telescope are made from common hardware store items, and were constructed by Samantha, with the only exceptions being the focuser and the small elliptical secondary mirror.

David explained that, "She had a little help from her parents, especially in running the bench saw and the router. She also had a little help from her grandfather, David Tabor, Sr., with the jointer to help make the octagon tube. Samantha had several favorite parts to the project, including using the drill press and belt sander, as well as hand-painting the eight planets accenting the front and back of her octagonal tube."

At the convention, Samantha was surprised to be asked by the coordinator for the mirror class, Jay Drew, if she would consider being one of the instructors for the STM Mirror Class this fall. She accepted the challenge, and her dad says she has also expressed interest in joining the STM as an associate member, "and it’s likely she’ll be nominated and voted in soon."

If she is accepted, Samantha would be the youngest current member of STM. Since her father recently joined the STM and made his own telescope last year, she is part of a number of families in which more than one generation has membership.

The Springfield Telescope Makers is an active amateur astronomy and telescope-making club, with about 100 members. It was formed in Springfield in 1923 by Russell Porter, to help the average person build a quality telescope of their own. Located on Breezy Hill in Springfield, its name, Stellafane, is the contraction of two Latin words, and means "Shrine to the Stars."

David adds that, "Stellafane is also considered by many to be the birthplace of amateur telescope making. Nearby in Springfield, the STM runs the James Hartness Russell Porter Astronomy Museum. The STM puts on an annual convention, holds classes each fall-winter to teach mirror making as well as holding a few public star parties."

For more information, or to sign up to make your own telescope mirror, as Samantha did, visit www.stellafane.com.  

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