Amateur Astronomy
Two of my great loves are observing the night sky and making telescopes to view with. I started with my first 6" f/10 homemade telescope in 1970 as a teenager. I am always happy to help others in expanding their skills and knowledge in this area.
I have put togther some general background information on telescopes here. I talk about some of the definitions and how to choose optics.
Below are a few photos which show some of the scopes that I've built. You can easily build all or part of a telescope with very minimal tools. See our ATM area if you want to see what's involved.
At left is a night photo of my 6" f/4.8 (wide field) telescope. The green altitude bearing is made of fiberglass from a storm drain. I've since replaced the finder seen on the box with a Telrad-like finder scope (made by Rigel). I don't normally observe on the table because of vibrations. This scope can be set on a tripod mount or set on the ground, where it is just the right height for young kids.
The opposite side of the tube, where the eyepiece is,
can be seen in the photo with my wife
looking at the moon, most likely.
I've since painted an area about 6" around the eyepiece black to reduce
reflections into the eye. Notice there's no reflection from the inside of
the tube. This photo helps show the small size of this scope, which weights
under 15 lbs. It is easily carried in one hand!
Choosing a Telescope
A lot of things affect the choice of a good telescope. We go into some of those details for you here. Also, browsing through the rest of this site will further help you in this important choice.
One of the best things a beginner can do is join a club and go to Star Parties to observe with others.
AstroPhotography
Using a Camera Alone
The results may suprise you! A good 35mm camera and today's fast films can capture an exciting view of the night sky. Take a look at our photos of Hale-Bopp Comet, for example. Even ordinary stars can look exciting with time exposures.
Barn Door Sky Tracker (Build your Own!)
Most of my Hale-Bopp images were made with a regular 35mm SLR camera with this what is called a Barn Door tracker. The basic tracker can be built in a few hours time, at very low cost. Give it a try!
Seeing with a 6" scope and a camera. Photos I've taken over the last few years of objects in our Solar System.
Using the 12.5" Telescope
No photos yet... the 6" is still getting most of use when we have small periods of average seeing.
Amateur Telecope Making (ATM)
There are several pieces to a typical reflecting telescope. Many are made commercially and are of fine quality. Often, however, commercial scopes cannot have optics of the same quality that you yourself can make. This is because making telescope mirrors is an art and final work must be done by hand. With today's labor costs, that makes fine telescopes extremely expensive.
For people on a budget, or folks like me who enjoy making things inexpensive and using Yankee ingenuity, I present ideas you may want to try:
We have also now developed software to assist people in making their own telescopes:
Legal Notice
Everything on these linked pages is copyrighted material. The right to download, use, and distrubute this material is granted for personal use only. No text, image, plan, software, or other material may be incorporated into a web site, commercial product, or publication (except for short extracts for review purposes) without prior written consent.
Questions? email us at rduvall@jlc.net
