Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...211.2302w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #23.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.774
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
In the mid-1950s, a remarkable pair of high school teachers, Mrs. Vi Hefferan and (later) Mr. John Bartholdi, organized an astronomy club and Moonwatch satellite tracking team open to students from all Albuquerque high schools. The Albuquerque team distinguished itself as one of the best in the worldwide network. Among other tasks, they found some satellites that had been "lost" by professional trackers. The team provided a variety of interesting and exciting activities for science-interested students from the whole city. Among the most meaningful was the ability to make observations that were scientifically useful.
By 1966 when I joined as a 10th grader, the excitement of the early days was gone but the sense of participation in a large and fascinating enterprise was still keen. I will discuss the techniques and technologies used to track satellites from the high school and from my front yard, including slide rules, rulers, telegrams, special delivery mail, short-wave radio time signals, tape recorders, stop watches, star maps, computers, and a five-inch rich-field "apogee" refractor.
After a year of intense effort at satellite tracking for Moonwatch, I had the opportunity to visit a then-secret 48-inch Air Force satellite tracking telescope in southern NM in 1968. This event demonstrated the obsolescence of the amateur (though not amateurish!) techniques that we had been using and provided a fitting end to my participation as I left for college.
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