STELLAFANE
CONVEnTION
Telescope Competition
If you have built a telescope, special gadget or restored a historical instrument, we strongly encourage you to bring it and enter it in the competition.
Homemade telescopes can be entered in our competitions to be judged on optical quality and/or several mechanical categories. Certificates are awarded at the Saturday evening program for the best instruments entered.
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Optical Judging
Friday, 10PM until all scopes are judged ( approx. 2AM)
If cloudy, postponed 24 hours
Competition Categories:
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Newtonians 12.5 inches and smaller
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Newtonians larger than 12.5 inches
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Compound Optics (any optical design in which more than one surface contributes optical power. Thus refractors, Cassegrains, and Catadioptrics all compete in this category)
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Innovative Component (such as eyepieces, field flatteners, etc.)
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Junior Optics (for those under 16 years of age).
Eligibility:
The primary optic must have been made by the exhibitor. If the actual builder is unable to attend due to a handicap or other reason, and has arranged it in advance, the chief optical judge may allow another person to exhibit on their behalf.
Small items such as diagonals, prisms, and eyepieces may be purchased.
The telescope must be in working order so that you can center the eyepiece on Altair or Vega and so that the judges can track by hand or motor when they star test your optics.
You should provide an eyepiece with a similar focal length in millimeters as the focal ratio of your telescope (for example, you should use a 5mm eyepiece in an f/5 system). The eyepiece does not need to be exactly correct, but within 1mm is best. This requirement is meant to provide a magnification of about 25 per inch for all apertures and focal ratios.
Reentry Policy: Previous entries can only be submitted for consideration a second time if some significant alteration has been made to the entry. Typically, this will require changes to the mirror and/or the optical tube assembly that will affect the optical performance. If you are interested in reentering an instrument, please contact the competition registrar, who will work with the judging team to consider eligibility
Judging:
Judges will examine the telescope for resolution and alignment. They will examine Vega/Altair in and out of focus and determine if the diffraction ring pattern is symmetrical, and whether the central obstruction (if any) appears centered. They will assign numerical scores for the following:
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Edge quality
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Symmetry of the images (between inside and outside focus, and around the center of the image)
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Collimation of the telescope
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Contrast of the images.
Be prepared to point your scope at the star Altair when the judges arrive. Please note that the judges may inspect your telescope more than once. Therefore, you should remain on the field with your instrument until the preliminary results are announced via loudspeaker. People are often surprised about how late optical judging can go — plan to stay up with your telescope until 2:00 or 3:00 am.
Your telescope should be collimated as well as it can possibly be. If it is not, it will be marked down due to the centering criteria listed above, and this has caused many otherwise excellent telescopes to receive lower scores. Inform the competition registrars if you need assistance collimating your scope - guidance on collimation might be able to be provided.
Weather:
If the weather permits the completion of the judging on Friday night, the optical judging will be closed for the duration of the convention and optical awards will be presented during the Saturday evening program. If the optical judging cannot be completed on Friday night, it will be continued on Saturday night, weather permitting. Additional optical entries may be accepted on Saturday, at the discretion of the judges. To inquire about this possibility, please ask a judging representative at the table in the Pink Clubhouse from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
In the event that the competition will have to be continued Saturday, some telescopes that were judged on Friday might need to be judged again. Please inquire with the registrar if your scope will need to be available again on Saturday. If the optical judging cannot be completed by the end of Saturday night, a partial field of optical excellence awards may be given, at the discretion of the judges.
Mechanical Judging
Saturday 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.
Mechanical Competition Categories:
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Mechanical Design (design of the instrument, how unique it is compared with prior art, and its effectiveness in providing a useful instrument)
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Craftsmanship (execution: how well the design was translated into a workable and functional instrument)
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Innovative Component
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Antique Restoration
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Special
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Junior (for those under 16 years of age).
At the discretion of the judges, one or more of the above categories may be dropped, or the number of place awards given may be reduced, if insufficient quality entrants exist.
Eligibility:
The majority of the instrument must have been made by the exhibitor. If the actual builder is unable to attend due to a handicap or other reason, and has arranged it in advance, the chief optical judge may allow another person to exhibit on their behalf.
Small items such as diagonals, prisms, and eyepieces may be purchased.
To be eligible for the Mechanical Design or Craftsmanship award, a telescope must be operative optically, although not necessarily completed. Telescopes that are not optically operative, or other individual components, may still be entered and will be judged in the Innovative Component, Special Award, or in another category.
For competition in the Mechanical Design category, it is highly recommended that the telescope clearly presents as a complete and finished instrument with at least some history of use validating its design attributes.
Judging:
The following four characteristics are to be examined on each telescope. The specific items to be included in the scoring are listed only as a guideline; judges are encouraged to add others. The craftsmanship score should be based on items 1, 2, and 3. The design score should be based on items 2, 3, and 4. A handicap may be deducted from each score depending on how many components were purchased.
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Craftsmanship:
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Parts well machined
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Castings finished
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Paint and others finished
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Non-metal parts well fabricated
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Stability:
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Rigidity
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Smoothness of bearings
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Tube vibration
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Tube balanced in all positions
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Stays where pointed
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Convenience:
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Ease of setup
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Tube rotation, if necessary
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Ease of finder use
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Smooth focus adjustment
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Portability/usability
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Ingenuity:
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Unusual solution to component design
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Use of cheap scrap materials
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Use of inexpensive tools
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Easy to build
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Note: any numerical scoring is not released to entrants. This is not to withhold any results but rather simply because scoring is only part of the highly detailed process involved in judging deliberations.
Master Class Competition
Our Master category for highly skilled Optical and Mechanical Competitors was new in 2016... and a huge success.
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The purpose of the Master Class is to encourage first time entrants to enter their scope without feeling they must be ready to compete at the level of a master. It is also intended to allow for an avenue for previous winners, judges and professionals to enter their own creations made for amateur use and purposes.
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Previous winners of 1st place in any category must enter in the Master Class if they wish to enter again in that same category.
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Anyone desiring to compete with the "high achievers" may enter as a Master, but only those mentioned above will be required to do so.
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Members of the judging committee must not judge in the years in which they are entering the competition.
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In case of controversy, the head judges will decide on classification of entries, and their decision shall be final.
