A prominence on the sun’s atmosphere was in focus for anyone looking through retired Ph.D. physicist Doug Arion’s telescope Saturday morning. With a commercial lens that lets viewers watch the sun, his telescope was otherwise entirely handmade.
Set up at the 85th Stellafane Amateur Telescope Makers’ Convention, Arion was in the company of telescope makers of every age and ability, populating Breezy Hill with homemade telescopes made with hand-ground mirrors. Makers chatted, trading innovations as they waited for the competition judges. As one of the biggest conventions of its kind in the United States, normal years draw attendees from around the world.
It’s really the “camaraderie between the people; it’s like old friends once you’re here,” said 36-year attendee Tony Costanzo, who used to own the Astronomy Shoppe in Plaistow, N.H. During his time there, he won four awards for original products.
“All the ideas were generated from looking at what people do here,” Costanzo said. “People come up with really interesting solutions to problems because there’s no perfect telescope.”
Stellafane’s roots go back to 1920, when arctic explorer, artist and telescope maker Russell Porter led a telescope-making class for 16 people: 15 men and one woman.
“(Springfield) was the Silicon Valley of its time because of the machine tool factory,” said Stellafane club member Carl Malikowski. “(Porter) firmly believed that any common person could make an optical surface.”
This first successful meeting sparked the formation of the Springfield Telescope Makers three years later, and the bright pink Stellafane clubhouse was soon built on Breezy Hill. Latin words stella and fane mean “star” and “shrine.” Today, this “shrine to the stars” sits on 90 acres of land, with the summit of Breezy Hill where the clubhouse and Porter Turret Telescope sit is a National Historic Landmark.
The main convention event in modern years is the telescope-making competition. The convention also hosts speakers in the evenings and opens the observatories for use. During the day there are telescope-making demonstrations, and attendees trade and sell leftover materials at a swap event. Tents and RVs are set up around the property for the four-day event.
Many of those at Stellafane this weekend had long histories with the convention. University of Connecticut rising sophomore Stefania Schuler has been to the convention 17 times, last year being one of the only years missed. Carver, Mass., resident Phillip Boucher was there with two of his 10 children, 4- and 1-year-old granddaughters, and longtime friend Jack McDermott with whom he started the Carver Astronomy Club.
Retired physicist and club member Arion remembers the excitement of his first telescope, ordered through a Sears catalog unlike the ones he makes by hand today.
“I was 11 years old so my parents cut a deal, it was like an NBA trade,” he said. The agreement’s terms included that the gift would cover his birthday and part of Christmas, and Arion was also required to read the astronomy books at the local library.
“If you understand the universe and the whole cosmic history, you understand we’re no more special than anything else,” Arion said.
“We are unique, but so is this type of grass,” he said, pointing to the ground.
For some, though, telescope-making was a new hobby. Rising high school senior Gavin Buckowski, of Belchertown, Mass., started making his first telescope in late September 2020 as part of a school project. He said the hands-on work was a nice break from all the school Zoom meetings.
“It was kind of surreal because you put all this work into it and it’s like, ‘Is it going to work, is it not going to work?’ ” Buckowski said. “And then you’re like, ‘Oh my god, it worked!’ ”
Jasmine Taudvin can be reached at jtaudvin@vnews.com.