Astroscan Telescope Designer Was Only Paid $100 Per Day – Insights From Norm Sperling

Norm Sperling designed the iconic Astroscan rich field telescope in 1975 for Edmund Scientific, working with the team of Mike Simmons and Peter Bressler. In this interview, we cover the history of low-power telescope development and Norms wild adventure through the world of astronomy, from working in a planetarium to "writing the book" on John Dobson, all the while helping create the most iconic telescope of my generation. He's also got a lot of cool projects in the works right now. Be sure to check out his website!
#astroscan #telescope #moon

Norm's Website: http://www.EverythingInTheUniverse.com

CHAPTERS INDEX:
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:40 The early years
0:03:25 Observing how people used telescopes
0:04:40 Magnification
0:08:28 How to teach Constellations
0:11:28 The advantages of Low Power
0:17:30 Rich Field Telescopes (RFT)
0:19:25 Roger Tuthills Star Trap telescope
0:26:10 Visiting Edmund Scientific headquarters
0:32:15 Consulting for Edmund Scientific
0:32:45 Robert Edmund takes over the company from his Dad
0:37:10 The beginning of Astroscan development
0:39:00 Deciding to make it a rich field telescope
0:42:37 Requirement: From box to using should take less than 3 minutes
0:47:42 Picking the name Astroscan with a contest
0:54:23 Behold the Edmund Astroscan
0:55:42 Sales took off like a rocket
0:57:30 Dis-Economy of scales - running out of parts!
0:58:35 Scavenging the world for eyepieces
1:00:37 Customers loved the Astroscan
1:02:08 Origin of the RKE eyepieces (R is for Rank)
1:05:00 A match made for the heavens
1:05:22 Industrial Design Award
1:06:06 Why is the color red?
1:06:28 Mirror mystery: Parabolic or Spherical?
1:09:06 My (Reflactor) silly question, but I left it in anyways
1:09:36 Nobody ever expected Astroscans to last this long!
1:13:34 The other designers: Mike Simmons and Peter Bressler
1:17:16 The mythical mold break in 2013
1:21:37 The collectible wooden John Dobson book
1:28:31 Current & future projects
1:29:33 Geology Project: Touch Deep Time
1:31:00 Visiting Astronomically named cities


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YouTube NOTES:
1) This video strictly complies with the YouTube Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.
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Summary: This long-form video tells the story of how the Edmund Scientific Astroscan telescope was created in 1975 by Norm Sperling, Mike Simmons, and Peter Bressler.

#edmundscientific #astrophotography #richfieldtelescope #reflector