Portland XVIII Alt-Az Workshop Agenda
October 10 through October 12, 2025
Russ Genet – Founder, Dan Gray – Local Host, Howard Banich and Mel Bartels – Co-Chairs and Zoom Hosts
All times are Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) (U.S. west coast time zone)
If possible, please wear earbuds or headphones while logged on to the Zoom presentations to reduce feedback.
Friday, October 10, 2025
4:55 pm - Welcome to Portland XVIII (start of Zoom meeting for day 1) – Howard Banich
5:00 pm - Speckle interferometry discovery of new binaries and triple stars – Russ Genet
6:00 pm – Using AI to Aid in Telescope Mirror Making – Tom Otvos
6:30 pm - End of day 1 wrap up – Howard Banich
6:30 pm – BBQ dinner (for in-person attendees)
6:30 pm – Mirror testing demonstrations (for in-person attendees)
Saturday, October 11, 2025
8:30 am – Morning Social at TMS (for in-person attendees)
9:25 am - Welcome to Portland XVIII (start of Zoom meeting for day 2) – Howard Banich
9:30 am – Flipping the Bird: How I converted two hobby killers into killer instruments – Rob Brown
10:30 am – Digital Finders and their impact on visual observing - Keith Venables
11:30 am – 20-inch ball scope - Pierre Lemay
BBQ Lunch Break: 12:30pm – 1:30pm
1:30 pm - How to find an observing location - Lauren Wingert
2:30 pm – International collaboration discovering faint, large-scale objects – Tim Schaeffer, Carl Björk and Steeve Body
Break: 3:30pm – 3:40pm
3:45 pm – Adaption to Direct Drive on a 24-inch Cassegrain – Bruce Howard
4:45 pm – 21 ways to find an object – Lauren Wingert
5:45 pm – 8-inch binocular telescope – Robert Asumendi
6:15 pm – End of day 2 wrap up – Howard Banich
6:20 pm – BBQ dinner (for in-person attendees)
6:20 pm – Spray silvering demonstration (for in-person attendees)
Sunday, October 12, 2025
8:30 am – Morning Social at TMS (for in-person attendees)
9:25 am - Welcome to Portland XVIII (start of Zoom meeting for day 3) – Howard Banich
9:30 am – The Peter Abrahams Astronomical History talk – History of the AAVSO – Richard Berry
10:30 am – Binosoar – Bob Bjornstedt
11:30 am – Drawing in the Digital Age – Mel Bartels
12:00 pm - Meniscus mirror Pusher, and night vision hydrogen-alpha sketches - Howard Banich
BBQ lunch Break: 12:30pm to 1:30pm
1:30 pm – 3D Printing Telescopes – Jonathan Kissner
2:30 pm – Powered Wheelbarrow Handles – Bhavesh Parekh, Dave Kasnick, and Craig Sterrett
3:30 pm – Parabolizing and silvering a 17.5" mirror and telescope construction – Taylor Seidel
Break: 3:20 – 3:34
4:30 pm – SiTech SiPi - Dan Gray and Taj Wurl-Koth
5:30 pm - 20-inch ball scope shelter - Pierre Lemay
6:15 pm – Workshop wrap up – Howard Banich
End of workshop
Portland XVIII Alt-Az Workshop
October 10, 11 and 12, 2025, Portland, Oregon
There is no registration fee for the workshop - the only requirement is to inform us at (hbanich at gmail dot com and melvinbartels at gmail dot com) if you plan to attend in-person.
The 18th annual Portland Alt-Az Workshop will be held October 10, 11 and 12, 2025 at Dan Gray's Technical Marine Service (TMS) location.
A BBQ meal will be available for Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch. A $5.00 donation for each meal is requested to help pay for the food – and feel free to bring your own. Anyone who volunteers to do the BBQ-ing eats for free.
A limited continental breakfast will be available Saturday and Sunday mornings, but bring your own coffee if you can’t live without it.
The Alt-Az Workshop is held in a relaxed, informal environment. There will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions, discuss the presentations, and examine the telescopes on display. Please see the 2025 agenda for the schedule of presentations.
Just like last year, this will be a hybrid workshop - we’ll have both in-person, and Zoom-only presentations. All talks will be seen live via Zoom and livestreamed on YouTube, and recordings will be available on YouTube soon after the workshop is finished. The links for the Zoom meeting and YouTube livestreams will be sent out a few days before the workshop begins – no later than October 8th.
Throughout its history, the Alt-Az Workshop has brought together advanced amateurs, professional telescope makers and astronomers in an informal collaboration. Our goal has been to adapt technologies used in the world’s largest telescopes for the design and construction of low cost, high performance 1.0 to 2.0-meter amateur telescopes. We’ve never been closer to achieving this goal.
Like last year, we’re adding presentations about how we use the telescopes we build, as well as talks from a beginner’s point of view. The universe of users and beginners is much larger than the small group the workshop has been geared toward in the past, and our hope is that this broader perspective will be helpful for everyone.
Dr. Russ Genet founded the workshop, Howard Banich and Mel Bartels are co-chairs, and Dan Gray is the local host.
Workshop Location
6650 N. Basin Suite E/F
BLDG 4
Portland, OR 97217
(503) 285-8947
Places to stay
Vrbo: https://tinyurl.com/mt2sc398
Booking.com: https://tinyurl.com/5ansb42e
Airbnb: https://tinyurl.com/mue6234w