 Fourth edition cover, Book One | |
Volumes: Amateur Telescope Making Amateur Telescope Making - Advanced Amateur Telescope Making - Book Three | |
| Author | Albert G. Ingalls |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Amateur astronomy |
| Publisher | Scientific American, Inc. |
| Published | 1935, 1958 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Amateur Telescope Making (ATM) is a series of three books edited by Albert G. Ingalls between 1926 and 1953 while he was an associate editor at Scientific American. The books cover various aspects of telescope construction and observational technique, sometimes at quite an advanced level, but always in a way that is accessible to the intelligent amateur. The caliber of the contributions is uniformly high and the books have remained in constant use by both amateurs and professionals.
The first volume was essentially a reprinting of articles written by Ingalls and Russell W. Porter for Ingalls's monthly column "The Backyard Astronomer" (later "The Amateur Scientist") in the 1920s. It also featured numerous drawings by Porter. The two later volumes contained chapters written by James Gilbert Baker, George Ellery Hale, George Willis Ritchey and others on topics ranging from lens grinding to monochromators to photoelectric photometry. Much of the information, including Porter's articles on the Springfield mount and Franklin Wright's and Henry E. Paul's articles on the design and construction of Schmidt cameras, appeared for the first and only time in these books.
The ATM books are widely credited with having initiated the amateur telescope making movement in the United States. They are often referred to collectively as the "bible" of amateur telescope making.[1]
- ^ Williams, Thomas R. (February 1991), "Albert Ingalls and the ATM Movement", Sky and Telescope, vol. 81, pp. 140–142, Bibcode:1991S&T....81..140W