How to make a homemade reflector telescope. How to make a budget telescope with your own hands

This article is dedicated to people who are passionate about astronomy. Many people completely unfairly consider a telescope to be an overly complex device. There is nothing complicated in its operation, believe me! You will learn how to assemble a telescope in just a few hours. The magnification range from a homemade device is 30-100 times. So, how to make a telescope with your own hands at home?

You will need:

• Whatman paper.
• Paint (it can be replaced with ink).
• Glue.
• Two optical lenses

How to assemble a telescope at home - the procedure for making the lens:

• Roll a sheet of whatman paper into a 65 cm pipe. In this case, the diameter of the pipe is slightly larger than the diameter of the magnifying glass.

Important! If you use glasses from glasses to make an astronomical apparatus, the diameter of the rolled sheet will be no more than 60 mm.

• Paint over inner part sheet in black.
• Secure the paper with glue.
• Using jagged cardboard, secure a magnifying glass to the inside of the paper tube.

Making an eyepiece

The glass from binoculars can serve as an excellent eyepiece for an astronomical instrument. To assemble a telescope with your own hands:

• Make sure that the lens is firmly seated inside the tube.
• Now, using the jagged cardboard, connect the smaller tube to the larger diameter tube.

Important! The device for observing celestial bodies is, in principle, ready. However, it has one drawback: the image of objects turns out upside down.

• To correct the situation, add another 4 cm lens to the eyepiece tube. Iridescence, or diffraction, can be eliminated by setting the aperture at the focal point. The image loses a little in brightness, but the “rainbow” will disappear.

Naturally, the question arises of how to assemble a telescope with 100x magnification. This is a more serious device, in which the moon is literally visible in full view. You can use this device to view Mars and Venus, which will appear like small peas.

You can achieve 100x magnification using lenses that are 0.5 diopters larger than 30x magnification. The length of the pipe is 2.0 m.

Important! To prevent the two-meter pipe from bending under the weight of magnifying glasses, special wooden supports are used.

Video material

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the design of the device that every self-respecting astronomer has. Therefore, you will definitely cope with the task and will be able to assemble such a system yourself.

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I have always wanted to have a telescope to observe the starry sky. Below is a translated article by an author from Brazil who was able to make a mirror telescope with his own hands and from available materials. Saving a lot of money at the same time.

Everyone loves to look at the stars and look at the moon in the clear night. But sometimes we want to see far. We want to see him nearby. Then humanity created a telescope!

Today
We have many types of telescopes, including the classical refractor and the Newtonian reflector. Here in Brazil, where I live, the telescope is a luxury. It costs between R$1,500.00 (about US$170.00) and R$7,500.00 (US$2,500.00). It's easy to find a refractor for R$500.00, but this is close 5/8 wages, considering that we have many poor families and young people waiting better life state. I'm one of them. Then I found a way to look at the sky! Why don't we make our own telescope?

Another problem here in Brazil is that we have very little content about telescopes.

Mirrors
and the lens is not particularly expensive. So, we do not have conditions for purchasing later. An easy way to do this is by using things that are no longer useful!

But where to find these things? Easily! The reflector telescope is made from:

— Primary mirror (concave)

— Secondary mirror (plan)

— Optical lens (the most difficult part!)

— Adjustable plug.

— Tripod;

Where can I find these things?
— Concave mirrors are used in beauty salons (makeup, shops, hairdresser, etc.);

— Flat mirrors are found in many things. You just need to find a small mirror (about 4 cm2);

— The optical lens is hardier to find. You can get it from a broken toy or make it yourself. (I used an old 10x lens from a broken pair of binoculars).

- You can use water pipes (something between 80mm and 150mm in diameter), but I use empty ink tin and towel tin.

- Some black splashes.

You
You need PVC pipes, connectors and a few cardboard rolls too.

You can use hot glue or silicone paste.

So, no more waiting! Let's get it started!

Step 1: Calculation of optical components

I get 140mm Diameter of the concave mirror from Sagit from 3.18mm (measured with a caliper).

But first you should know that the mirror is Sagitta. In the depths of the mirror (the distance between the bottom surfaces and heights of boundaries).

Knowing this, we have:

Mirror radius (R) = d/2 = 70 mm

Radius of curvature (P) = P2 / 2C = 770.4 mm

Focal length (F) = p/2 = 385.2 mm

Aperture (F) = F / d = 2.8

Now we know everything we need to make our telescope!

Let's start!

Step 2: designing the main tube

By a strange coincidence, our paints are perfect for tin towels!

First we need to remove the paint on the bottom; we can’t.

Then you need to measure the distance between the concave mirror and the eyepiece location. To do this, you need to take into account the radius of the spray paint.

We then mark the height at 315mm. This is about 30 cm.

At this height, we make a hole in the can, as in the photo. IN in this case, I made a hole about 1.4 inches to fit the PVC connector.

As you can see in the next photo, the mirror fits perfectly into the can.

Step 3: Flat Mounting

I decided to fix it to support the mirror through 3 points, as in the drawing.

To fit the mirror plane, I used two wooden sticks and a small wooden triangle with a 45° angle.

Then I made some arrangements. With a drill, I made holes to insert the sticks.

Then I calculated the distance between the center of the mirror and the handle of the hole. This is 20 mm.

Make holes in the paint can with a drill.

So I adjusted the sticks to the plane of the mirror, when the eye holes are observed, my own eyes show.

*I attached the mirror in support with hot glue.

Step 4: Focus Adjustments

I used the microphone pedestal as a telescope tripod. Fitted with tape and elastic.

To find the hearth, we must aim for the sun with a telescope. Obviously, never look at the sun through a telescope!

Place the paper in front of the eye hole and find a smaller light spot. Then measure the distance between the hole and the paper as shown in the picture. Me from a distance of 6 cm.

This distance is required between the hole and the eyepiece. To fit the eyepiece I used a cardboard roll (from toilet paper), cut and fixed with a little tape.

Step 5: Support & Dress

Important detail:

Anything inside the pipe should be black. This prevents light from reflecting in other directions.

I drew ink on the outside of the black tin only on appearance. I also drove pins to hold the tin towels better in the tin paint.
Some other barretes hold better secondary mirror sticks... and then I fixed the "PVC tripod socket" with a rivet and hot glue.

I added a gold plastic edge to the top of the tin ink to make it look nice.

Step 6: Tests and Final Considerations

Sometimes you find all sorts of rubbish in your bins. In dresser drawers in the country, in chests in the attic, among things under an old sofa. Here are grandma's glasses, here is a folding magnifying glass, here is a spoiled eye"" from front door, and here are a bunch of lenses from disassembled cameras and overhead projectors. It’s a shame to throw it away, and all this optics sits idle, just taking up space.
If you have the desire and time, then try to make a useful thing, for example, a spyglass. Do you want to say that you’ve already tried it, but the formulas in the help books turned out to be painfully complicated? Let's try again, using simplified technology. And everything will work out for you.
Instead of guessing by eye what will happen, we will try to do everything further according to science. Lenses are magnifying and minimizing. Let's divide all the available lenses into two piles. In one group there are magnifying ones, in the other group there are diminutive ones. The disassembled peephole from the door has both magnifying and minimizing lenses. Such small lenses. They will be useful to us too.
Now we will test all magnifying lenses. To do this, you need a long ruler and, of course, a piece of paper for notes. It would be nice if the sun was still shining outside the window. With the sun, the results would be more accurate, but a burning light bulb will do. We test lenses as follows:
-Measure the focal length of the magnifying lens. We place the lens between the sun and the piece of paper, and moving the piece of paper away from the lens or the lens away from the piece of paper, we find the smallest point of convergence of the rays. This will be the focus length. We measure it (focus) on all lenses in millimeters and write down the results, so that later we don’t have to worry about determining the suitability of the lens.
So that everything continues to be scientific, we remember a simple formula. If 1000 millimeters (one meter) is divided by the focal length of the lens in millimeters, we get the lens power in diopters. And if we know the diopters of the lenses (from an optics store), then dividing the meter by diopters we get the focal length. Diopters on lenses and magnifying glasses are indicated by a multiplication symbol immediately after the number. 7x; 5x; 2.5x; etc.
Such testing will not work with miniature lenses. But they are also designated in diopters and also have a focus according to diopters. But the focus will already be negative, but not at all imaginary, quite real, and we will now be convinced of this.
Let's take the longest focal length magnifying lens in our kit and combine it with the strongest reducing lens. total length The focus of both lenses will immediately decrease. Now let's try to look through both lenses assembled, diminutive to ourselves.
Now we slowly move the magnifying lens away from the diminutive lens, and in the end, perhaps, we will get a slightly enlarged image of objects outside the window.
The mandatory condition here must be the following. The focus of the diminutive (or negative) lens must be smaller than the magnifying (or positive) lens.
Let's introduce new concepts. The positive lens, also known as the front lens, is also called the objective lens, and the negative or rear lens, the one closer to the eye, is called the eyepiece. The power of the telescope is equal to the focal length of the lens divided by the focal length of the eyepiece. If the division results in a number greater than one, then the telescope will show something; if it is less than one, then you will not see anything through the telescope.
Instead of a negative lens, short-focus positive lenses can be used in eyepieces, but the image will already be inverted and the telescope will be slightly longer.
By the way, the length of the telescope is equal to the sum of the focal lengths of the lens and eyepiece. If the eyepiece is a positive lens, then the focus of the eyepiece is added to the focus of the lens. If the eyepiece is made of a negative lens, then plus to minus is equal to minus and from the focus of the lens, the focus of the eyepiece is already subtracted.
This means the basic concepts and formulas are as follows:
-Lens focal length and diopter.
-Magnification of the telescope (the focus of the lens is divided by the focus of the eyepiece).
-The length of the telescope (the sum of the focal points of the lens and eyepiece).
THAT'S THE COMPLEXITY!!!
Now a little more technology. Remember, probably, that telescopes are made folding, from two, three or more parts - elbows. These knees are made not only for convenience, but also for specific adjustment of the distance from the lens to the eyepiece. That's why maximum length telescope, slightly larger than the sum of the tricks, and the moving parts of the telescope allow you to adjust the distance between the lenses. Plus and minus to the theoretical pipe length.
The lens and eyepiece must be on the same (optical) axis. Therefore, there should be no looseness of the pipe elbows relative to each other.
The inner surface of the tubes must be painted matte (not shiny) black or can be pasted over inner surface pipes with black (painted) paper.
It is advisable that internal cavity The spyglass was sealed, then the pipe would not sweat inside.
And the last two tips:
-don’t get carried away with large magnifications.
-if you want to do it homemade telescope, then my explanations will probably not be enough for you, read specialized literature.
If you don’t understand what’s what in one book, take another, third, fourth, and in some book you will still get the answer to your question. If it happens that you don’t find the answer in books (or on the Internet), then Congratulations! You have reached a level where the answer is already expected from YOU.
I found a very interesting article on the Internet on the same topic:
http://herman12.narod.ru/Index.html
A good addition to my article is offered by the author from prozy.ru Kotovsky:
So that even such a small amount of work does not go to waste, we should not forget about the diameter of the lens, on which the exit pupil of the device depends, calculated as the diameter of the lens divided by the magnification of the tube.
For a telescope, the exit pupil can be about a millimeter. This means that from a lens with a diameter of 50 mm you can squeeze (by choosing a suitable eyepiece) 50x magnification. At higher magnification, the image will deteriorate due to diffraction and lose brightness.
For a “terrestrial” tube, the exit pupil must be at least 2.5 mm (preferably larger. The BI-8 army binoculars have 4 mm). Those. for “terrestrial” use, you should not squeeze more than 15-20x magnification from a 50 mm lens. Otherwise, the picture will darken and blur.
It follows from this that lenses with a diameter of less than 20 mm are not suitable for the lens. Perhaps 2-3x magnification is enough for you.
In general, a lens from spectacle lenses- non-comme il faut: meniscus distortions due to convex-concave. There must be a duplex lens, or even a triplex if it is short-focus. Good lens You just can’t find it among the trash. Perhaps there’s a “photo gun” lens lying around (super!), a ship’s collimator or an artillery rangefinder :)
About eyepieces. For a Galilean tube (an eyepiece with a diverging lens), you should use a diaphragm (a circle with a hole) with a diameter equal to the calculated size of the exit pupil. Otherwise, when the pupil moves away from the optical axis, there will be severe distortion. For a Kepler tube (converging eyepiece, the image is inverted), single-lens eyepieces produce large distortions. You need at least a two-lens Huygens or Ramsden eyepiece. Better prepared - from a microscope. IN as a last resort You can use a camera lens (don't forget to fully open the blade aperture!)
About the quality of lenses. Everything from the door peepholes goes into the trash! From the remaining ones, choose lenses with anti-reflective coating (characteristic purple reflection). The absence of clearing is allowed on surfaces facing outward (toward the eye and the object of observation). The best lenses- from optical instruments: film cameras, microscopes, binoculars, photo enlargers, overhead projectors - at worst. Don’t rush to disassemble finished eyepieces and objectives made from several lenses! It is better to use the whole thing - everything is selected in the best possible way.
And further. At high magnifications (>20) it is difficult to do without a tripod. The picture is dancing - you can’t make out anything.
You should not try to make the pipe shorter. The longer the focal length of the lens (more precisely, its ratio to the diameter), the lower the requirements for the quality of all optics. This is why in the old days telescopes were much longer than modern binoculars.

I made the best homemade trumpet this way: a long time ago in Salavat I bought a cheap children's toy - a plastic spyglass (Galileo). She had 5x magnification. But she had a duplex lens with a diameter of almost 50 mm! (Apparently, substandard from the defense industry).
Much later, I purchased an inexpensive, small Chinese 8x monocular with a 21mm lens. There is a powerful eyepiece and a compact wrapping system on prisms with a “roof”.
I "crossed" them! I removed the eyepiece from the toy and the lens from the monocular. Folded, stapled. The inside of the toy was previously covered with black velvet paper. Got a powerful 20x compact pipe of high quality.

It's safe to say that everyone has dreamed of taking a closer look at the stars. You can use binoculars or a spotting scope to admire the bright night sky, but you are unlikely to be able to see anything in detail through these devices. Here you will need more serious equipment - a telescope. To have such a miracle of optical technology at home, you need to lay out a large sum, which not all lovers of beauty can afford. But don't despair. You can make a telescope with your own hands, and for this, no matter how absurd it may sound, you don’t have to be a great astronomer and designer. If only there was a desire and an irresistible craving for the unknown.

Why should you try making a telescope?

We can definitely say that astronomy is a very complex science. And it requires a lot of effort from the person doing it. A situation may occur that you purchase an expensive telescope, and the science of the Universe will disappoint you, or you simply realize that this is not your thing at all.

In order to figure out what’s what, it’s enough to make a telescope for an amateur. Observing the sky through such a device will allow you to see many times more than through binoculars, and you will also be able to figure out whether this activity is interesting to you. If you are passionate about studying the night sky, then, of course, you cannot do without a professional apparatus.

What can you see with a homemade telescope?

Descriptions of how to make a telescope can be found in many textbooks and books. Such a device will allow you to clearly see lunar craters. With it you can see Jupiter and even make out its four main satellites. The rings of Saturn, familiar to us from the pages of textbooks, can also be seen using a telescope made by ourselves. Besides this, there are many more celestial bodies you can see with your own eyes, for example, Venus, a large number of stars, clusters, nebulae.

A little about the telescope design

The main parts of our unit are its lens and eyepiece. With the help of the first part, the light emitted by celestial bodies is collected. How distant bodies can be seen, as well as the magnification of the device, depends on the diameter of the lens. The second member of the tandem, the eyepiece, is designed to enlarge the resulting image so that our eye can admire the beauty of the stars.

Now about the two most common types of optical devices - refractors and reflectors. The first type has a lens made of a lens system, and the second has a mirror lens. Lenses for a telescope, unlike a reflector mirror, can be found quite easily in specialized stores. Buying a mirror for a reflector will not be cheap, but self-production will be impossible for many. Therefore, as has already become clear, we will be assembling a refractor, and not a reflecting telescope. Let's finish the theoretical excursion with the concept of telescope magnification. It is equal to the ratio of the focal lengths of the lens and eyepiece.

How to make a telescope? We select materials

In order to start assembling the device, you need to stock up on a 1-diopter lens or its blank. By the way, such a lens will have a focal length of one meter. The diameter of the blanks will be about seventy millimeters. It should also be noted that it is better not to choose spectacle lenses for a telescope, since they generally have a concave-convex shape and are poorly suited for a telescope, although if you have them on hand, you can use them. It is recommended to use long-focal lenses with a biconvex shape.

As an eyepiece, you can take a regular magnifying glass with a thirty-millimeter diameter. If it is possible to get an eyepiece from the microscope, then it is certainly worth taking advantage of. It is also perfect for a telescope.

What should we make the housing for our future optical assistant from? Two pipes of different diameters made of cardboard or thick paper are perfect. One (the shorter one) will be inserted into the second, with a larger diameter and longer. A pipe with a smaller diameter should be made twenty centimeters long - this will ultimately be the eyepiece unit, and it is recommended to make the main one a meter long. If you don’t have the necessary blanks at hand, it doesn’t matter, the body can be made from an unnecessary roll of wallpaper. To do this, the wallpaper is wound in several layers to create the required thickness and rigidity and glued. How to make the diameter inner tube, depends on what lens we use.

Telescope stand

Very important point in creating your own telescope - preparing a special stand for it. Without it, it will be almost impossible to use it. There is an option to install the telescope on a camera tripod, which is equipped with a moving head, as well as fasteners that will allow you to fix different positions of the body.

Telescope assembly

The lens for the lens is fixed in a small tube with its convex outward. It is recommended to fasten it using a frame, which is a ring similar in diameter to the lens itself. Directly behind the lens, further along the pipe, it is necessary to equip a diaphragm in the form of a disk with a thirty-millimeter hole exactly in the middle. The purpose of the aperture is to eliminate image distortion caused by the use of a single lens. Also, installing it will affect the reduction of light that the lens receives. The telescope lens itself is mounted near the main tube.

Naturally, the eyepiece assembly cannot do without the eyepiece itself. First you need to prepare fastenings for it. They are made in the form of a cardboard cylinder and are similar in diameter to an eyepiece. The fastening is installed inside the pipe using two disks. They are the same diameter as the cylinder and have holes in the middle.

Setting up the device at home

The image must be focused using the distance from the lens to the eyepiece. To do this, the eyepiece assembly moves in the main tube. Since the pipes must be well pressed together, the required position will be securely fixed. It is convenient to perform the tuning process on large bright bodies, for example, the Moon; a neighboring house will also work. When assembling, it is very important to ensure that the lens and eyepiece are parallel and their centers are on the same straight line.

Another way to make a telescope with your own hands is to change the size of the aperture. By varying its diameter, you can achieve the optimal picture. Using optical lenses of 0.6 diopters, which have a focal length of approximately two meters, you can increase the aperture and make the zoom much closer on our telescope, but you should understand that the body will also increase.

Watch out - Sun!

By the standards of the Universe, our Sun is far from the most bright Star. However, for us it is a very important source of life. Naturally, having a telescope at their disposal, many will want to take a closer look at it. But you need to know that this is very dangerous. After all sunlight, passing through the optical systems we have built, can focus to such an extent that it will be able to burn through even thick paper. What can we say about the delicate retina of our eyes?

Therefore, you need to remember very important rule: you cannot look at the Sun through zooming devices, especially a home telescope, without special means protection. Such means are considered to be light filters and a method of projecting an image onto a screen.

What if you couldn’t assemble a telescope with your own hands, but you really want to look at the stars?

If for some reason it is impossible to assemble a homemade telescope, then do not despair. You can find a telescope in a store for a reasonable price. The question immediately arises: “Where are they sold?” Such equipment can be found in specialized astro-device stores. If there is nothing like this in your city, then you should visit a photographic equipment store or find another store that sells telescopes.

If you are lucky - there is a specialized store in your city, and even with professional consultants, then this is definitely the place for you. Before going, it is recommended to look at an overview of telescopes. First, you will understand the characteristics of optical devices. Secondly, it will be more difficult to deceive you and slip you a low-quality product. Then you will definitely not be disappointed in your purchase.

A few words about buying a telescope through the World Wide Web. This type of shopping is becoming very popular nowadays, and it is possible that you will use it. It’s very convenient: you look for the device you need, and then order it. However, you may come across the following nuisance: after a long selection, it may turn out that the product is no longer in stock. Much more unpleasant problem- This is the delivery of goods. It's no secret that a telescope is very fragile thing, so only fragments can be delivered to you.

It is possible to purchase a telescope by hand. This option will allow you to save a lot of money, but you should be well prepared so as not to buy a broken item. A good place to find a potential seller is astronomer forums.

Price per telescope

Let's look at some price categories:

About five thousand rubles. Such a device will correspond to the characteristics of a telescope made with your own hands at home.

Up to ten thousand rubles. This device will certainly be more suitable for high-quality observation of the night sky. The mechanical part of the body and equipment will be quite poor, and you may have to spend money on some spare parts: eyepieces, filters, etc.

From twenty to one hundred thousand rubles. This category includes professional and semi-professional telescopes. Surely a beginner will have no need for a mirror camera with an astronomical cost. This is simply, as they say, a waste of money.

Conclusion

As a result, we met important information about how to make a simple telescope with your own hands, and some nuances of buying a new device for observing the stars. In addition to the method that we have considered, there are others, but this is a topic for another article. Whether you've built a telescope at home or purchased a new one, astronomy will take you into the unknown and provide experiences you've never experienced before.

The magnification that your lens will give is equal to the ratio of the focal length of the lens to the focal length of the eyepiece. Two 0.5 diopter lenses give a focal length of one meter. If the focal length of the eyepiece is 4 centimeters, the telescope will give a magnification of 25 times. This is quite enough to observe the Moon, the satellites of Jupiter, the Pleiades, the Andromeda nebula and many others interesting objects night sky.

Helpful advice

Do not try to select lenses with a focal length of 1-2 centimeters for the eyepiece. The image produced by such a telescope will be greatly distorted.

Sources:

• Telescope made from spectacle glasses in 2019

Telescope allows you to explore the sky and see far beyond your capabilities human eye. He has certainly come a long way since Galileo first observed the craters of the Moon in 1609. Now anyone can purchase a telescope, but when making such a purchase it is important not to make a mistake and make right choice.

Instructions

Decide what size telescope you want to purchase. In most cases, the smaller and more compact the telescope, the easier it is to carry, and also significantly. However, small telescopes are usually not always equipped with such an additional pleasant “trifle” as a computer with which you can set coordinates.

Choose a telescope with a large aperture. A larger aperture allows you to gather more light, giving you the ability to see more and further.

Buy a telescope that has a low-power eyepiece with a wide magnification range. It is suitable for observing objects of various sizes, including diffuse objects. Attach an additional eyepiece that will allow you to see all the objects in the sky in detail. You can always purchase eyepieces later different strengths.

Newtonian telescope uses to collect light, which is then reflected into the focusing unit. A Newtonian telescope is also suitable for viewing planets.

A mirror-lens telescope uses a composite optical system in which light is collected by mirrors and lenses. The eyepiece is at the end. Reflex lens telescopes are well suited for astrophotography as the images can be viewed very clearly through them.

Always wear good map sky and atlas, so that from what place you can look at the sky. Also carry a flashlight with a red light, with which you can map and record in which you can exactly what, where and when you saw.

Video on the topic

Helpful advice

Buy telescopes only in specialized stores.

A telescope equipped with a camera and designed for photographing astronomical objects is called an astrograph. Thanks to the industrial production of these devices that began not so long ago, astrography has become accessible even to amateurs. Photographing distant terrestrial objects through a telescope is also of known interest.

A modern astrograph can be bought

Installing a camera on a telescope

Photography with ocular magnification

Mounting requirements

Some details you need to know

It is better to conduct observations from the ground or. This way you can securely fix the supports of your vehicle, reducing vibration. If telescope is on concrete or, try to fix the legs of the tripod. Some relatively soft substrate will do. Then any of your movements will not create vibration. Again, heat flows from concrete and asphalt. True, they are invisible to the eye, but they do not have the best effect on the quality.

Try to check the weather forecast the day before. Clear skies, calm atmosphere - ideal conditions for contemplating celestial objects. However, excellent viewing conditions also occur during periods of light cloudiness. Only in this case you will have to observe objects in the sky through gaps in the clouds.

When observing faint objects, it is better to use peripheral vision, as it is more sensitive to low-contrast images.

Video on the topic