Any other Amateur Telescope Makers here?

[benburch]

Just curious? I think we are a dying breed...

[wtmusic]

1. Yep

I ground a 6" reflector when I was a kid...last year I was going to give it another shot but I caved and bought a Celestron 8

[benburch]

3. Excellent!

I did a 4.25" RFT, a 6" F-8 and a 10" F-6 when I was a kid. We had a great Astronomy program here in the public schools here back then.

I am seriously considering getting back into it just to have a physical hobby.

[wtmusic]

5. Did you grind your own mirrors?

A 10" would be some good exercise--my 6" had a badly "turned" edge, probably because I was an impatient young rascal. Like to try it again sometime.

[benburch]

7. Yes!

And grinding the 10" WAS exercise!

It was a 2.5" think cast pyrex mirror, and a matching tool. (We used like glass for tool and mirror and it helped avoid turned edges and other similar issues.)

[Massacure]

11. Astronomy and Space Science were just added to my schools class choices.

I tried to sign up for both, but only got Space Science. Astronomy conflicted with two many of my other classes.

Is grinding a mirror real hard?

[benburch]

12. Not hard at all!

There are a number of good books on the subject.

If you have patience, and can devote a week of evenings to it, you should be able to send your finished 6" mirror off to be aluminized by Sunday Evening.

Takes a sturdy workspace, lots of newspaper, water, abrasives, pitch, and glass.

You also need to buy or build a very simple knife-edge tester so that you can put the final figure on the mirror. Some math is also involved in that part of the process, though I did it by eye on my 4.25" mirror, and then found it was nearly perfect when I finally did the math.

Then you need some skill with tools to build a mounting and optical tube for the telescope.

You can actually make most of everything you will need, but parts can be bought in a number of places (many online). Plywood and pipe fittings have made many very nice telescopes, though. You substitute ingenuity for funds pretty easily in such a venture.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. I used to be

My childhood project was an 8" reflector. Several of us young nerds in 6th grade spent time walking around the setup with the main reflector in the middle, the grinding blank in one hand, and chewing gum in our mouths for when those chalkboard-squealing grades of carborundum were in use.

I wanted to make an electron telescope when I was in junior high, but it interfered with the time I had to dedicate to developing my early-adolescent psychosis. :)

--p!

[benburch]

4. I wanted to make a laser then...

But my glass blowing skills were not up to it.

[Gloria]

6. I made a Dobsonian a couple of years ago under the auspices

of the local Astronomy Club....and then, James Dobson came a few months ago and I got it autographed!!

He's got long hair and he's around 80, if I recall correctly. He travels all over the world visiting astronomers and astronomy clubs and lecturing. And, I can tell you....he hates Bush!!!!

[benburch]

8. Good to hear that!

I'd love to meet him. He revolutionized simple telescope design.

[Dogmudgeon]

10. (Cue Homer Simpson voice)

Mmm ... a Dobsonian ...

--p!

[Dogmudgeon]

9. There is also Amateur RADIO Telescopy

I've seen a few books about it but never followed up.

Essentially, an amateur radio telescope consists of an antenna, an amplifier, and (usually) a C-band receiver. A lot of them can also double as satellite broadcast receivers. Not the "DishTV" kinds of broadcasts, but the real deal from BBC, NHK, Deutsch Welle, RFI, and the rest, which also allows the owner to work TV QSL (a ham radio pursuit).

I also wonder if any amateurs are trying long baseline interferometric telescopy. This can be used with either optical or radio telescopes. The technique uses two or more telescopes with objective CCDs. The digitized images are processed together with the baseline geometry taken into consideration. Although the collected light isn't any better than the total size of the mirrors/lenses, the resolution power is ... astronomical.

--p!