Lauren Wingert is our club’s “gadget girl.” She has built dozens of amazing astronomy tools, from simple dew shields to a binocular observing chair to a fabulous (and functional!) replica of the Hubble Space Telescope. Many of her designs have been featured in Sky & Telescope magazine.

Last December she acquired a 17.5-inch Coulter mirror from a friend. The mirror had been refigured by the late Steve Swayze, a master mirror-maker, so it was near perfect. Trouble was, the scope it was in weighed 120 pounds. It was rebuilt from the original Coulter cardboard tube and particle board, but it was still heavy as lead. So Lauren took only the mirror and set out to build a lighter, more portable scope to house it.

At our August 20th meeting she will show us what she’s done and how she did it. There were several setbacks along the way, each of which she solved with her characteristic ingenuity and willingness to try anything that might work. She wound up with a design that’s much lighter, much easier to use, and easier to transport. Come see what she built and listen to her describe how she built it.

At our meeting we will also have Ken Martin’s slide show of the astrophotos shared on our email list since the last meeting, displayed in all their glory on the planetarium dome.

The meeting is at 7:00 on Thursday, August 20th at the Eugene Science Center planetarium, 2300 Leo Harris Parkway in Eugene (behind Autzen Stadium).