April Meeting – 4/2/2025
3D Printing for Backyard Astronomy
Greg Dolkas
For the April meeting, Greg will be giving a talk and demonstration of 3D Printing – what it is, how to do it, and how it can be used within the hobby of Backyard Astronomy. The technology allows the at-home “manufacturing” of parts for a variety of situations. This can be everything from replacing lost or broken parts, to the design and creation of custom brackets, boxes, covers, and even entire telescopes.
Growing up during the early days of the Space Age, Greg has had a long-time interest in all things related to Space. But he never really looked at astronomy as a hobby until the fall of 2016 when he happened on a class on the subject at the local Community College put on by Don Machholz. Don who? Oh… Yeah. Don’t ever pass up an astronomy class hosted by someone with 11 comets named after them! That class convinced Greg to get his own telescope, eventually focusing on the imaging of Deep Sky Objects. On the side, Greg has been one to tinker with all sorts of things, getting into 3D printing a couple of years ago in support of several of his hobbies.
Coming up in May: A Quick-Start Guide to Observing the Night Sky
Ready to get out and view the night sky, but don’t know how to prepare, what to bring, or how to use a telescope? You will not want to miss our May meeting! Our presentation will tell you the basics you need to know to start visually observing (with your eyes, not a camera)
** Note **
For the “Summer Season” (July and August) the NC Astronomers will be meeting on-line via Zoom. Club members will receive the keys to the Zoom conference in their email via Groups.io.
NC Astronomers Meets on the 1st Wednesday each month at 7pm in the
Madelyn Helling Library Community Room
980 Helling Way
Nevada City, CA 95959
(September – May)
** NC Astronomers “YouTube” channel **
Many of the presentations are recorded and posted to the club’s YouTube channel. Please see https://www.youtube.com/@ncastronomers9981/videos