The 2022 Antique Telescope Society Virtual Convention
Call for Papers
The 2022 Convention of the Antique Telescope Society will be held online on the weekends of November 12-13 and 19-20, using the Zoom platform once again. We had excellent participation at the last two years’ virtual meetings from attendees around the world. We’re looking forward to your participation in November, as an attendee, or even better, a presenter. Membership is not a requirement to attend the meeting, but we do hope you’ll consider joining the Antique Telescope Society. There will be no charge to register for the conference, and you can register at this link:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Several sessions are scheduled and we’d like you to consider submitting an abstract of a proposed presentation. We welcome papers on the usual subjects: antique telescopes and accessories, early observatories and astronomers, instrument makers, the history, construction, and preservation of telescopes, the history of astronomy, the history of optics, and related topics. If you’re not certain about a topic or have any questions about the process, please contact Papers Coordinator Ken Launie, who can be reached at launiek@alum.mit.edu. Note that the abstract deadline is October 15, 2022
Your abstract should be brief, preferably no more than 200 words. Please indicate the time you’d like for your presentation. Ideally, your talk will be in the form of a narrated PowerPoint presentation or slide show, to be presented online to the conference attendees, followed by a live Q&A session. Presentations will be in English. We expect presentations to be no more than 30 minutes long (including time for questions). In special cases, it may be possible to allow more time.
We also would like to encourage speakers to simultaneously prepare a printed version of their presentations for publication in the ATS Journal. That way your research becomes more than just a fleeting talk, with a risk of being forgotten soon after the convention. It could become a published paper for all posterity via the Antique Telescope Society Journal and ultimately the digital archive of the NASA ADS. Please contact ATS Journal Editor Roger Sinnott at roger.sinnott@verizon.net.
A highlight of our recent meetings was the virtual tours of observatories and workshops, coordinated by Alan Agrawal. Please consider organizing one for us this year. You can contact Alan at alancygnusx1@yahoo.com. Bart Fried is the Ambassador to other interested organizations. Walter Yund and Aaron Sliski will be handling technical issues for the virtual event, and many others will be contributing as plans go forward.
Best regards,
Alan Sliski
President of the Antique Telescope Society