Grand Traverse Astronomical Society


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Member and Information Page Deep Sky Objects for viewing at Star Parties Getting Ready for Summer Outreach Index Links to Society Documents Back issues of the Stellar Sentinel (Last month and older) New! Not Updated How to get there from here Brandt Farview Orchard Directions Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Platte River Point Dune Climb Thoreson Farm Setup Instructions for the SBDNL 102 mm telescope (pdf) Ranger Astronomy Training 2015 handout Society Instrument Documentation and Manuals 25” Obsession Telescope Lunt Hydrogen Alpha Solar Telescope Daystar Filters SolaREDi 127 Hydrogen Alpha Solar Telescope The GTAS has donated telescopes to local libraries. Telescope Basics.pdf A quick primer about telescope and mount types Traverse Area District Library on Woodmere, Traverse City, MI and the Betsie Valley District Library at Thompsonville, MI have the TableTop Maksutov telescope. Library Edition TableTop Maksutov Telescope Instructions.pdf (Updated formatting 7/22/15) StarBlast telescope. Telescope Presentation Letter.pdf StarBlast User Instructions (StarBlast.pdf) All about the StarBlast Telescope.pdf (Presentation) Celestial wonders to see with the StarBlast telescope.pdf Links to Society Documents Mission Statement Articles of Incorporation By-Laws How to get there from here Brandt Farview Orchard Directions Mapquest link to 304 S Herman Rd., Suttons Bay, MI 49682 The Location and Route Head out M22 from Traverse City north to Revold Road about 13 miles north of Tom’s West Bay (M72 & M22 intersection) and turn left (west). There’s a sign for Revold before you get there. Revold ends at Center Road (County Road 633). Turn right (North). Travel about 2.3 miles to Herman Road where the reduced speed zone and the 25 MPH speed limit sign is. Turn left on Herman Road and travel about 1.4 miles. There is a farmer’s windmill on the left before the unmarked asphalt paved drive also on the left. Turn left on the drive marked 304 (Farview Orchards). This is opposite the Crestwood road sign is (on the right). Note for GPS units, it is 304 S Herman Rd, Suttons Bay, MI. Remember the “S”. (Long: 85.67503 W, Lat: 44.97759 N) Off road to the picnic spot Follow the asphalt drive turning to the left at the two forks on it. The road will end in a gravel road by the front of a brown house (The Brandt’s). Bill Hathaway, who arranged the use of the grounds, will place markers for the rest of the drive, that will take you through a cherry orchard to the picnic and viewing spot. Drive slowly, it’s a bumpy ride through the orchard. It’s about a mile from Herman Road to the picnic spot. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Platte River Point Dune Climb Thoreson Farm 25" Obsession Telescope (The Emmettron) Obsession Telescope web site - www.obsessiontelescopes.com Documents (PDF) Using Your Obsession Telescope (This was scanned, so it's 1 MB in size) These were the instructions that we found after we set up the telescope the first time. We didn't screw it up too bad. Obsession Set-up and Take-down (The normal setup and takedown instructions were converted via OCR to text from the above publication, and bulleted for step by step instructions and easy understanding by removing referenced to other sized telescopes. Argo Navis / ServoCAT QUICK Startup with alignment stars visible ServoCAT Handpad Usage New! Collimation Instructions - From the web site. Cleaning the Mirror - From the web site Lunt Hydrogen Alpha Solar Telescope Lunt Solar Telescope Manual.pdf Page updated: 09/26/25
Updated 09/26/2025, 09:23 PM