An Amazing Group of People!

Today was the Hartness House Workshop, a part of the Stellafane Convention.  It was a day long program that included a dinner and a featured speaker.  This year many of the talks were about the history of astronomy, and in particular, the work of Russell Porter, a native son of Springfield, Vermont and a legend in amateur astronomy.  I realized after about the third talk today I was feeling really happy to be here. Because I was in a room of people passionate about astronomy and history and telescope making, among other things. There were professional astronomers, and amateurs and students who had all come to learn more about their hobby, and everyone was happy to share their knowledge with others.  I was happy because sometimes the world these days seems so negative with politics and people forgetting about being kind to others and behaving badly.  But here was a room of really smart people whose energy was directed to science and astronomy, and sharing with each other.  It really brightened my day!

One of our speakers was from Cal Tech and he spoke of the ideas Russell Porter had on the design of the Palomar Observatory having to do with his work as both an architect, and of the design of the 200 inch telescope.

This gentleman came from Washington, DC and he told the story of the U.S. Naval Observatory and the importance of the work done with the 26" Clark "Great Equatorial" telescope which was used to discover Phobos and Deimos, two of the moons of Mars.  That telescope was installed 150 years ago and is still in use today!