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How to make a telescope at home. How to make a telescope with your own hands

Many people, looking up at the starry sky, admire the alluring mystery of outer space. I want to look into the endless expanses of the universe. See craters on the moon. Rings of Saturn. Many nebulae and constellations. So today I will tell you how to make a telescope at home.

First, you need to decide how much magnification is required. The fact is that the larger this value, the longer the telescope itself will be. At 50x magnification the length will be 1 meter, and at 100x magnification it will be 2 meters. That is, the length of the telescope will be directly proportional to the magnification.

Let's say it will be a 50x telescope. Next, you need to purchase two lenses at any optics store (or on the market). One for the eyepiece (+2)-(+5) dioptres. The second is for the lens (+1) diopter (for a 100x telescope, (+0.5) diopter is required).

Then, taking into account the diameters of the lenses, it is necessary to make a pipe, or rather two pipes - one should fit tightly into the other. Moreover, the length of the resulting structure (in the extended state) should be equal to the focal length of the lens. In our case, 1 meter (for a lens (+1) diopter).

How to make pipes? To do this, you need to wrap several layers of paper on a frame of the appropriate diameter, coating them with epoxy resin (you can use other glue, but the last layers are better strengthened with epoxy). You can use the remnants of wallpaper that are lying around idle after renovating your apartment. You can experiment with fiberglass, then it will be a more serious design.

Next, we build the objective lens (+1) diopter into the outer tube, and (+3) diopter into the inner eyepiece. How to do this? Your imagination is the main thing to ensure precise parallelism and alignment of the lenses. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the distance between the lenses when moving the pipes apart is within the focal length of the objective lens, in our case it is 1 meter. In the future, by changing this parameter, we will adjust the sharpness of our image.

For convenient use of the telescope, a tripod is needed to clearly fix it. At high magnification, the slightest trembling of the tube leads to blurring of the image.

If you have any lenses, you can find out their focal length in the following way: focus sunlight onto a flat surface until you get the smallest point possible. The distance between the lens and the surface is the focal length.

So, to achieve a telescope magnification of 50 times, it is necessary to place a lens of (+1) diopter at a distance of 1 meter from the lens of (+3) diopter.

For 100x magnification, we use lenses (+0.5) and (+3) changing the distance between them by 2 meters.

And this video shows the process of creating a similar telescope:

Enjoy your astronomical viewing!

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In my distant childhood, I came across a textbook on astronomy from those even more distant years, which I did not find when this astronomy was a subject at school. I read it thoroughly and dreamed of a telescope so that I could look into the night sky with at least one eye, but it didn’t work out. I grew up in a village where there was neither knowledge nor a mentor for this. And so this passion went away. But with age I discovered that the desire remained. I scoured the Internet, and it turns out there are a ton of people who are passionate about telescope construction and assembling telescopes, and what kind of telescopes, and from scratch. I gathered information and theory from specialized forums and decided to build a small telescope for a beginner.

If you had asked me earlier what a telescope is, I would have said - a tube, you look from one side, and point the other at the object of observation, in a word, a telescope, but larger in size. But it turns out that for telescope construction they mainly use a different design, which is also called a Newtonian telescope. Despite its many advantages, it does not have many disadvantages compared to other telescope designs. The principle of its operation is clear from the figure - the light of distant planets falls on a mirror, which ideally has a parabolic shape, then the light is focused and carried outside the pipe using a second mirror, installed at 45 degrees relative to the axis, diagonally, which is called - diagonal. Then the light enters the eyepiece and into the eye of the observer.

A telescope is a precision optical instrument, so care must be taken during manufacturing. Before this, it is necessary to make calculations of the structure and installation locations of the elements. There are online calculators for calculating telescopes on the Internet, and it would be a shame not to use them, but it doesn’t hurt to know the basics of optics either. I liked the calculator.

In principle, nothing supernatural is needed to make a telescope; I think that any business person in the utility room has a small lathe for at least wood, or even metal. And if there is also a milling machine, I envy you with white envy. And it’s not at all uncommon now to have home CNC laser machines for cutting plywood and a 3D printing machine. Unfortunately, in my household I have nothing of all of the above, except for a hammer, drill, hacksaw, jigsaw, vice and small hand tools, plus a bunch of cans, trays with a scattering of tubes, bolts, nuts, washers and other garage scrap metal, which seems and I need to throw it away, but it’s a shame.

When choosing the size of the mirror (diameter 114mm), it seems to me that I chose the golden mean: on the one hand, this size of the chassis is no longer quite small, on the other hand, the cost is not so huge that in case of a fatal failure I would suffer financially. Moreover, the main task was to touch, understand and learn from mistakes. Although, as they say on all forums, the best telescope is the one in which you observe.

And so, for my first, I hope not the last, telescope, I chose a spherical main mirror with a diameter of 114 mm and an aluminum coating, a focus of 900 mm and a diagonal mirror shaped like an oval with a small diagonal of one inch. With these mirror sizes and focal lengths, the differences between the shapes of a sphere and a parabola are negligible, so an inexpensive spherical mirror can be used.

According to Navashin’s book, Telescope of an Amateur Astronomer (1979), the internal diameter of the pipe for such a mirror must be at least 130 mm. Of course, more is better. You can make the pipe yourself from paper and epoxy, or from tin, but it would be a sin not to use ready-made cheap material - this time a meter-long PVH sewer pipe DN160, bought for 4.46 euros in a hardware store. The wall thickness of 4mm seemed sufficient to me in terms of strength. Easy to saw and process. Although there is one with a 6mm wall thickness, it seemed a bit heavy to me. In order to saw it, I had to brutally sit on it; no residual deformations were visible to the eye. Of course, aesthetes will say fi, how can you look at the stars through a pipe for an Aries. But for real hands-on priests this is not an obstacle.

Here she is, beauty

Knowing the parameters of the mirror, you can calculate the telescope using the above-mentioned calculator. Not everything is clear right away, but as creation progresses, everything falls into place; the main thing, as always, is not to get hung up on theory, but to combine it with practice.

Where to start? I started, in my opinion, with the most difficult one - the diagonal mirror mounting assembly. As I already wrote, the manufacture of a telescope requires precision, but that does not negate the possibility of adjusting the position of the same diagonal mirror. Without fine adjustment - nothing. There are several mounting schemes for a diagonal mirror: on one stand, on three stretchers, on four, and others. Each has its own pros and cons. Since the dimensions and weight of my diagonal mirror, and therefore its mounting, frankly speaking, are small, I chose a three-beam mounting system. As stretch marks I used a found stainless steel adjustment sheet 0.2mm thick. As fittings I used copper couplings for a 22mm pipe with an outer diameter of 24mm, slightly smaller than the size of my diagonal, as well as an M5 bolt and M3 bolts. The central M5 bolt has a conical head, which, inserted into the M8 washer, acts as a ball joint, and allows you to tilt the diagonal mirror with the M3 adjusting bolts when adjusting. First I soldered the washer, then roughly cut it at an angle and adjusted it to 45 degrees on a sheet of coarse sandpaper. Both parts (one completely filled, the second 5mm through the hole) took less than 14 ml of five-minute two-component epoxy adhesive Moment. Since the dimensions of the unit are small, it is very difficult to place everything and for it all to work properly, the adjustment arm is not enough. But it turned out very, very well, the diagonal mirror is adjusted quite smoothly. I dipped the bolts and nuts into hot wax to prevent the resin from sticking when pouring. Only after the production of this unit did I order the mirrors. The diagonal mirror itself was glued to double-sided foam tape.

Below the spoiler are some photos of this process.

Diagonal Mirror Assembly

The manipulations with the pipe were as follows: I sawed off the excess, and since the pipe has a larger diameter socket, I used it to strengthen the area where the diagonal braces are attached. I cut out the ring and put it on the pipe using epoxy. Although the rigidity of the pipe is sufficient, in my opinion it would not be superfluous. Then, as the components arrived, I drilled and cut holes in it, and covered the outside with decorative film. A very important point is painting the inside of the pipe. It should be such that it absorbs as much light as possible. Unfortunately, the paints on sale, even matte ones, are not suitable at all. There is a special There are paints for this, but they are expensive. I did this - following the advice from one forum, I covered the inside with paint from a can, then poured rye flour into the pipe, covered the two ends with film, twisted it well - shook it, shook out what did not stick and blew the paint out again. It turned out very well, you look like you’re looking into a chimney.

The main mirror mount was made from two 12mm thick plywood disks. One with a pipe diameter of 152mm, the second with a main mirror diameter of 114mm. The mirror rests on three circles of leather glued to the disk. The main thing is that the mirror is not tightly clamped; I screwed the corners and wrapped them with electrical tape. The mirror itself is held in place by straps. The two discs are able to move relative to each other to adjust the main mirror using three M6 adjusting bolts with springs and three locking bolts, also M6. According to the rules, the disks must have holes to cool the mirror. But since my telescope will not be stored at home (it will be in the garage), temperature equalization is not relevant. In this case, the second disk also plays the role of a dust-proof back cover.

In the photo the mount already has a mirror, but without the rear disc.

Photo of the manufacturing process itself.

Mounting the main mirror

I used a Dobson mount as a support. There are a lot of different modifications on the Internet, depending on the availability of tools and materials. It consists of three parts, the first in which the telescope tube itself is clamped -

The orange circles are sawn-off round pieces of pipe into which circles of 18mm plywood are inserted and filled with epoxy resin. The result is a component of a sliding bearing.

The second one, where the first one is placed, allows the telescope tube to move vertically. And the third is a circle with an axis and legs, on which a second part is placed, allowing it to be rotated.

Pieces of Teflon are screwed into the places where the parts rest, allowing the parts to be moved relative to each other easily and without jerking.

After assembly and primitive setup, the first tests were completed.

A problem immediately appeared. I ignored the advice of smart people not to drill holes for mounting the main mirror without testing. It’s good that I sawed the pipe with a reserve. The focal length of the mirror turned out to be not 900mm, but about 930mm. I had to drill new holes (the old ones were sealed with electrical tape) and move the main mirror further. I just couldn’t catch anything in focus; I had to lift the eyepiece itself from the focuser. The disadvantage of this solution is that the fastening and adjusting bolts at the end are not hidden in the pipe. but they stick out. In principle, it is not a tragedy.

I filmed it with my cell phone. At that time there was only one 6mm eyepiece, the degree of magnification was the ratio of the focal lengths of the mirror and the eyepiece. In this case it turns out 930/6=155 times.
Test number 1. 1 km to the object.

Number two. 3km.

The main result has been achieved - the telescope is working. It is clear that to observe the planets and the Moon, better alignment is needed. A collimator was ordered for it, as well as another 20mm eyepiece, and a filter for the Moon on a full moon. After this, all the elements were removed from the pipe and put back more carefully, more firmly and more accurately.

And finally, the purpose of all this is observation. Unfortunately, there were practically no starry nights in November. Of the objects that I managed to observe, only two were the Moon and Jupiter. The moon does not look like a disk, but rather a majestically floating landscape. With a 6mm eyepiece, only part of it fits. And Jupiter with its satellites is simply a fairy tale, taking into account the distance that separates us. It looks like a striped ball with satellite stars on the line. It is impossible to distinguish the colors of these lines; here you need a telescope with another mirror. But it’s still fascinating. To photograph objects, you need both additional equipment and a different type of telescope - a fast one with a short focal length. Therefore, here are only photos from the Internet that accurately illustrate what is visible with such a telescope.

Unfortunately, you will have to wait until spring to observe Saturn, but for now Mars and Venus are in the near future.

It is clear that mirrors are not the only cost of construction. Here is a list of what was purchased besides this.

Make a telescope with your own hands? Nothing could be easier!

Let's say it will be a 50x telescope. Next, you need to purchase two lenses at any optics store (or on the market). One for the eyepiece (+2)-(+5) dioptres. The second is for the lens (+1) diopter (for a 100x telescope, (+0.5) diopter is required).

For convenient use of the telescope, a tripod is needed to clearly fix it. At high magnification, the slightest trembling of the tube leads to blurring of the image.

So, to achieve a telescope magnification of 50 times, it is necessary to place a lens of (+1) diopter at a distance of 1 meter from the lens of (+3) diopter.

For 100x magnification, we use lenses (+0.5) and (+3) changing the distance between them by 2 meters.

And this video shows the process of creating a similar telescope:

Enjoy your astronomical viewing!

So, you have decided to make a telescope and are getting down to business. First of all, you will learn that the simplest telescope consists of two biconvex lenses - the objective and the eyepiece, and that the magnification of the telescope is obtained by the formula K = F / f (the ratio of the focal lengths of the lens (F) and the eyepiece (f)).

Armed with this knowledge, you go digging through boxes of different junk, in the attic, garage, barn, etc. with a clearly defined goal - to find more different lenses. These can be glasses from glasses (preferably round ones), watch magnifiers, lenses from old cameras, etc. Having collected a supply of lenses, start measuring. You need to choose a lens with a larger focal length F and an eyepiece with a smaller focal length f.

Measuring focal length is very simple. The lens is directed at some light source (a light bulb in the room, a lantern on the street, the sun in the sky or just a lit window), a white screen is placed behind the lens (a sheet of paper is possible, but cardboard is better) and moves relative to the lens until It will not produce a sharp image of the observed light source (inverted and reduced). After this, all that remains is to measure the distance from the lens to the screen with a ruler. This is the focal length. You are unlikely to cope with the described measurement procedure alone - you will need a third hand. You'll have to call an assistant for help.

Once you have selected your lens and eyepiece, you begin constructing the optical system to magnify the image. You take the lens in one hand, the eyepiece in the other, and through both lenses you look at some distant object (not the sun - you can easily be left without an eye!). By mutually moving the lens and eyepiece (trying to keep their axes on the same line), you achieve a clear image.

The resulting image will be enlarged, but still upside down. What you are now holding in your hands, trying to maintain the achieved relative position of the lenses, is the desired optical system. All that remains is to fix this system, for example, by placing it inside a pipe. This will be the spyglass.

But don't rush into assembly. Having made a telescope, you will not be satisfied with the image “upside down”. This problem is solved simply by a wrapping system obtained by adding one or two lenses identical to the eyepiece.

You can obtain a wraparound system with one coaxial additional lens by placing it at a distance of approximately 2f from the eyepiece (the distance is determined by selection).

It is interesting to note that with this version of the reversing system, it is possible to obtain greater magnification by smoothly moving the additional lens away from the eyepiece. However, you won’t be able to get a strong magnification if you don’t have a very high-quality lens (for example, glass from glasses). The larger the lens diameter, the greater the magnification obtained.

This problem is solved in “purchased” optics by composing a lens from several lenses with different refractive indices. But you don’t care about these details: your task is to understand the circuit diagram of the device and build the simplest working model according to this scheme (without spending a penny).

You can obtain a wraparound system with two coaxial additional lenses by positioning them so that the eyepiece and these two lenses are spaced from each other at equal distances f.

Now you have an idea of the telescope design and know the focal lengths of the lenses, so you begin to assemble the optical device.
Well suited for assembling PVC pipes of various diameters. Scraps can be collected at any plumbing workshop. If the lenses do not fit the diameter of the tube (smaller), the size can be adjusted by cutting rings from a tube close to the size of the lens. The ring is cut in one place and put on the lens, secured tightly with electrical tape and wrapped. The tubes themselves are adjusted in the same way if the lens is larger than the diameter of the tube. Using this method of assembly you will get a telescopic telescope. It is convenient to adjust the magnification and sharpness by moving the sleeves of the device. Achieve greater magnification and image quality by moving the wrapping system and focusing by moving the eyepiece.

The process of making, assembling and customizing is very exciting.

Below is my telescope with 80x magnification - almost like a telescope.

Telescope- the dream of many, because there are so many stars in the universe that you want to look at each one. Store prices for this device are a little steep for ordinary people, so there is an option to make a telescope with your own hands.

How to make a telescope at home?

For the simplest telescope we need:

Lenses, 2 pcs.;
- thick paper, several sheets;
- glue;
- magnifying glass.

Telescope diagram.

There are two types of telescopes - refractors and reflectors. We will make a refracting telescope, since lenses for it can be bought at any pharmacy. A spectacle lens is required, diameter - 5 cm, diopters +0.5-1. For the eyepiece we will take a magnifying glass with a focal length of 2 cm.

Let's get started!

How to make the main tube for a telescope with your own hands?

From a sheet of thick paper, make a pipe with an approximate diameter of 5 cm. Then, straighten the sheet and paint the inside with black. You can use gouache paints. Rewind into a tube and secure the position using glue.

The length of our pipe should be about 2 meters.

How to make an eyepiece tube for a telescope?

We make this pipe in the same way as the main one. Length - 20 cm. Do not forget, this pipe will be put on the main one, so the diameter should be slightly larger.

Once you glue the two pipes together, all that remains is to insert the lenses. Install them as shown in the diagram. Fix them well so that they are not damaged during use.