genet telescope

A Cal Poly Student Project Thursday, May 31, 2012 4:00 PM Kennedy Library Room 35-510B Russ Genet, Cal Poly Research Scholar in Residence Mounir El-Koussa, Laura Rice, and Mike Vickery Architectural Engineering Students LLuvia Rodriguez, Electrical Engineering Student Timothy Scott, Mechanical Engineering Student Maintaining permanent, remote, dark-sky observatories is expensive, so undergraduate institutions and amateur astronomers—often located in light-polluted cities—transport small telescopes with 6- to 14-inch mirrors to dark-sky locations for observing. A telescope with a giant 60-inch diameter mirror could—at least in theory—be legally transported down the road. Current 60-inch telescopes, however, weigh tons and cost millions of dollars. Together with Research Scholar in Residence, Dr. Russ Genet, Cal Poly students designed and built a portable “light bucket” 60-inch telescope that weighs less than 500 lbs. and just costs a few thousand dollars. Analytic tools that architectural engineering students mastered to design skyscrapers were used to minimize the telescope’s weight while maximizing its stiffness. The telescope’s planar trusses, made from top quality ApplePly hardwood plywood, were automatically milled out on a numerically controlled machine. This telescope won first place in the annual ApplePly contest—usually won by furniture designs. Dr. Genet and the students will present information on the design, construction, and applications of this unique and award-winning telescope.

Presented by the Office of Research and Graduate Programs, [email protected].