John Stewart's Astronomical Vendors Page

Astronomy is looking up.

Quick Index: astronomy, ATM vendors, clubs, links, observatories, organizations, planetaria, publishers, software, telescope making (ATM), vendors, bottom.

Astronomical Publishers

Astronomy Magazine, from Kalmbach.
Astronomy Now, the UK's leading astronomy magazine.
Sky News, from Canada.
Lunar and Planetary Institute free Lunar Map Catalog, Lunar Atlases.
Sky & Telescope (Sky Publishing).
Sky Maps: quality, digital sky maps for publication, education and general commercial use.
Willmann-Bell, Inc. Prepublication offers.

Retail Astronomical Vendors

AOK Swiss, commercial source for Schiefspiegler telescopes.
ASTROMART -- The Internet Astronomy Market Place.
B&H Photo (tripods, heads, cameras).
Celestron.
Company 7, in Montpelier, MD.
Eagle Optics.
Hardin Optical, in Oregon. They now have the Astrola line. They also restored the Fresnel lens at the Cape Blanco lighthouse after it was vandalized. I have the 2-inch Astrola wide-angle eyepieces. Ask me to try one out.
Heavens and Earth, in Lethbridge, Alberta.
HighPoint Scientific, in Montague, NJ.
Internet Telescope Exchange.
Kendrick Astro Instruments, dew removers, quick focus.
Lumicon filters and accessories.
Meade Instruments.
Mountain Instruments.
Murnaghan Instruments, source for Coulter mirrors and Odyssey telescope components, in Wellington, FL.
Northshed, roll-off observatory kits, spruce and pine.
Oceanside Photo and Telescope, in Oceanside, California.
Obsession Telescopes.
Pacific Telescope Corp., British Columbia.
Peterson Engineering's Sky Division, field modifications and enhancements of Meade telescopes.
ScopeGuard telescope transport cases.
ScopeStuff, a good source of replacement parts in Cedar Park, TX.
Shutan Camera & Video, in Chicago.
SBIG Camera and Image Processing Software.
Siebert Optics, eyepieces.
Sirius Instruments, CCD cameras.
Space Walk Telescopes, truss tube Dobsonians, 10" through 20".
Starlight Express, CCD cameras.
Starmaster Telescopes, truss tube telescopes up to 28".
Taychert Telescopes, truss tube Dobsonians, some ATM parts.
Tech2000 Intelligent astronomy products, tracking motors for Dobs.
Tectron Telescopes, collimating tools.
Teeter's Telescopes, truss tube Dobsonians.
Telescope & Binocular Center (formerly Orion).
TL Systems, equatorial platforms and other products.
Tele Vue Optics.
Vehrenberg KG, Düsseldorf.
Williams Optics USA.

Sources for Telescope Making

At right: Pettersson is looking for the flattest black he can find. He should try ground-up walnut shells.

American Science & Surplus, copier lenses, heat ropes, other stuff. Have fun in Milwaukee.
Apogee Inc., optics, miscellaneous parts.
P.A. Clausing, Inc., optical coatings, also here.
Denton Vacuum, coating services.
Digi-Key, electronic components, stepper motors.
Edmund Scientific, good for eyepieces and diagonals.
Galaxy Optics, precision 18 to 25 inch Newtonian telescope optics, diagonals.
Gary Wolanski's Astro Fabricating, spiders and focusers.
Glass Fab, Inc., supplier of optical parts.
GotGrit.com, supplies, plus some very thin plate glass blanks.
Jameco Electronics, electronic components, stepper motors.
Jim's Mobile, Inc., focusers, accessories.
Johnsonian Platforms, drive systems for Dobsonians.
MC Telescopes, ATM components and complete scopes.
McMaster-Carr, mechanical components and tools.
Meridian Telescopes., telescope components.
MirrorKits.com, very thin plate glass mirror blanks and lots of instruments and supplies.
MoonLite Telescope Accessories, focusers & collimators, truss tube connectors.
Newport Glass Works, Ltd. & Newport Industrial Glass, Inc., Telescope kits, telescope mirrors, optical glass, molded glass blanks, glass bending & sagging, colored filter glass, fused silica & quartz, BK7, secondary mirrors, grinding & polishing compounds, technical books.
Northern Lights Optics, optical design for amateur telescope makers, and Northern Lights Minerals, supplies for mirror making.
Opticast Mirrors, back on the web after a hiatus, but still not filling orders.
Steve Waddington's WVC Vacuum Coating, mirror aluminization, in Canada.
Pegasus Optics, supplier of precision annealed pyrex mirrors, in Texas.
Precise Parts, custom parts for astronmy, in Miami, FL.
Precision Applied Products Optical Components Coatings.
ProtoStar Astronomy Products.
QSP Optical Technology, Inc.
Salem Distributing Company, grinding and polishing materials.
Scope City, telescope making components, tubes, spiders, mirror cells, and so on.
Small Parts Inc., small tools and materials mused by artisans, model makers, engineers and prototype builders.
Spectrum Coatings, mirror coating services.
Star Gazer Steve sells kits for basic reflector telescopes.
Surplus Shed, surplus and used optical and electronic items.
Swayze Optical, high quality telescope mirrors.
Tech2000 Intelligent astronomy products, tracking motors for Dobs.
Torus Precision Optics.
U.S. Digital Corporation, motion control products.
United Lens Company, mirror and lens blanks and coatings.
Universal Photonics, Inc., grinding and polishing materials.
University Optics. diagonal mirrors, small mirror cells, eyepieces, accessories. I am happy with my 40 mmKönig MK-70
Willmann-Bell. Although their website shows only that they books on telescope making, if you call them, they will sell you a mirror-making kit (at their cost). The kits have two identical pieces of pyrex, but you can substitute your own tool for one of them.

Here is Bob Lombardi's ATM Resource List.

Astronomical Software

Astrometrica.
The Astronomical Applications Dept. of the United States Naval Observatory.
Dan's Astronomy Software Collection.
CapellaSoft, makers of SkyTools2, designed to aid observers with observation planning, charting, and logging. Greg Crinklaw runs a SkyTools discussion group.
"The Earth Centered Universe" Astronomy Program.
Main Sequence Software Desktop Universe.
JavaScript utility from Sky & Telescope: Jupiter's Moons.
JavaScript utility from Sky & Telescope: Visibility of Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
Planetarium Software from SEDS.
Software tools of the Munich Astro Archive.
Southern Stars Software.
TheSky from SoftwareBisque, for Windows or Macintosh.

Palm Pilot software

Jovian, by Hans Anger, shows the positions of the Gallilean moons and the Great Red Spot. I use this myself, so ask for a demo.
Planetarium, for the Palm Pilot. I use this myself, so ask for a demo.
The Pleiad Atlas for the Palm Pilot. The author, Brian Tung, is a regular contributor to the Palm Astro Yahoo group.
2Sky Star Chart, for the Palm Pilot. Does anyone use this? If so, let me kknow.

ATM Software

At right: While camping at Stellafane, Pettersson gets a bad case of aperture fever. Meanwhile, Findus is just waiting for the big dinner on Saturday night before the drawings and the big talk.

John Stewart's design tool for secondary mirrors for Newtonians.
John Stewart's Poncet platform design tool.
Software by Mel Bartels.
The Hauchuca Astronomy Club has an Excel spreadsheet to reduce Foucault test data.
Michael Lindner's Tex 3.0 program for reducing Focault knife-edge measurements.
Newtonian telescope design program (shareware by Dale Keller). On his own site.
Automated mirror cell design using PLOP.
David Stevick's Telescope Design Software.
Amateur Telescope Making Optical Design and Analysis software (ATMOS).

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