It is difficult to find a person in the whole world who is not at least a little interested in astronomy. This, of course, requires the presence of a certain tool that would allow a closer look at the mysteries of the starry sky. If you have a telescope or binoculars, then this is enough to admire the beauty of the starry sky. But if there is a strong interest, such devices cannot satisfy the request. Something more powerful is needed, that is, a telescope. But how to create it? Consideration of the question: “How to make a telescope with your own hands?” and this article is dedicated.
Introduction
Buying a factory-made telescope is quite expensive. Therefore, its purchase is appropriate in cases where there is a desire to engage in astronomy at least at an amateur level. But first, in order to gain basic knowledge and skills, and also to understand whether this science really seems to be what it is aboutmost think it would be useful to create a homemade homemade telescope with your own hands. In many children's encyclopedias and various popular science publications, one can find a description of the manufacturing process of a simple device that allows you to see craters on the Moon, the disk of Jupiter along with its four satellites, the rings and Saturn itself, the crescent of Venus, individual bright and large star clusters and nebulae. It should be noted that the weak point of such devices is the image quality, which cannot compete with factory-made devices.
A bit of theory
Before you start creating a telescope with your own hands at home, you should understand how this device works.
The two minimum required optical units are the lens and the eyepiece. The first is designed to collect light. Its diameter determines what maximum magnification the finished device will have, and how poorly visible objects can be observed. The eyepiece is needed to magnify the image that is formed by the lens and to transmit the image to the human eye.
Determining the type
Depending on the device, there are different telescopes. The two most common types are reflectors and refractors. In the first case, a mirror acts as a lens, in the second, a lens system. At home, creating everything in the required quality for a reflector is quite problematic, due to the difficulty and accuracy of the manufacturing process. Whereas refractor lenses are easybuy at an optical store. As you can see, the difference between them is purely in design.
First sample
The ratio of the focal length from the lens to the eyepiece is used to determine the magnification value. The scheme considered below will provide an improvement in visual properties by about 50 times.
Initially, you need to stock up on a blank lens for glasses, the strength of which is one diopter. This corresponds to a focal length of one meter. Usually their diameter is about 7 centimeters. This one is just what is needed for the lens. It should be noted here that if you are interested in how to make a telescope with your own hands from lenses for glasses, then it should be recognized that they are poorly suited for such non-targeted use. But you can use them if you wish. If there is a telephoto biconvex lens, then it is better to use it. Although a magnifying glass from a loupe with a diameter of 3 centimeters or a lens from a microscope is still suitable for the role of an eyepiece.
For the case, two pipes must be made of thick paper. The first (representing the main part) will be one meter long. For the eyepiece assembly, a twenty-centimeter tube is created. The short one is inserted into the long one. For the manufacture of the case, you can use a wide sheet of drawing paper or a roll of wallpaper, folding them into a pipe in several layers and gluing PVA. The number of layers is selected manually. It is necessary to achieve the effect of rigidity of the future device. In this case, the inner diameter of the main part should be equal tosize of selected lens.
But that's not all
If the only question is how to make a telescope with your own hands at home, then you can get by with the above only.
But for the best result, you can not do without some nuances.
So, the lens must be mounted in the first tube outwards with the convex side using the frame. For this, rings of a commensurate diameter with a thickness of a centimeter are suitable. Immediately after the lens, you need to install a disk - the diaphragm. Its specific difference is the presence in the center of a hole with a diameter of 2.5-3 centimeters. This must be done to reduce the image distortion produced by a single lens. True, this approach reduces the amount of light that the lens collects. To improve the result, the lens should be installed as close as possible to the edge of the pipe. Then comes the turn of the eyepiece. Where to place it? It is required to install it in the eyepiece assembly as close to the edge as possible. In this case, a cardboard mount would be ideal for the eyepiece. The device is best made in the form of a cylinder, the diameter of which is equal to the size of the selected lens. It is installed inside the pipe thanks to two fasteners (for example, discs). In this case, it is necessary to ensure that its diameter is commensurate with both the lens and the ocular assembly.
Preparing the telescope for use
Focusing of the device is carried out by changing the distance between the lens and the eyepiece. This is achieved inin a mechanical sense, due to the movement of the eyepiece assembly located in the main tube. To fix the position, it is best to use friction force. It should be noted that it is more convenient to focus on large and bright objects, such as nearby buildings, the Moon, bright stars (but not the Sun).
When creating a telescope, keep in mind that the lens and the eyepiece must be parallel to each other, and their centers should be placed on the same line. At the preparation stage, you can experiment with the diameter of the aperture in order to find the optimal one. So for example, if you choose a lens at 0.6 diopter and set the focal length to 1.7 meters (1/0.6), then this will allow you to achieve greater magnification. True, in this case, you will have to work on the aperture hole. Namely, increase its size.
And after completing work on the first device, remember one simple truth: you can look at the Sun through a telescope only twice - first with the right eye, then with the left. Such a dangerous activity instantly damages the eyesight, so it is better not to engage in it.
Subtotal
It should be noted that the resulting construction will be imperfect. Namely, it will give an inverted image. To correct this, another converging lens must be used, with the same focal length as the eyepiece. It is installed in a pipe near it. It would seem that now there should be no questions about how to make a telescope with your own hands with magnification. But this is far from the only correct approach.
You can use othersschematic options, taking as a basis the lenses of glasses or telephoto lenses. This is a very broad area, in which there are both completely green beginners and professional astronomers. Therefore, if a certain question or misunderstanding of something arises, you should not be shy, calmly ask the question of interest. To do this, today there are thematic circles, sites, forums, etc. After all, one has only to plunge into the world of astronomy - and numerous treasures of the starry sky will be revealed to the gaze. In general, the considered practical information should be enough to create the simplest device. If you want to design and implement something more complex, then you cannot do without high-quality theoretical training.
Necessary knowledge
It should always be remembered that the main characteristic is the size of the lens, eyepiece and focal length. This is the alpha and omega, without which it is impossible to create a telescope. But at the same time, there are a large number of small moments that can significantly affect the final result. For example, the maximum useful magnification of a telescope. The value of this parameter is equal to twice the diameter of the lens (in millimeters). It makes no sense to make a device with a large increase, since, most likely, it will not work to see new details. But the overall brightness of the image will suffer. Therefore, for devices with fifty times magnification, it is not recommended to use lenses less than 2.5 centimeters. It should be noted that the above option hasindicators are 7 and 3 cm, which is well suited for a telescope with a quality of 50x. You can also take a 4-cm lens as a lens, but in this case, the resolution of the optical device will decrease. Therefore, it is better to use the recommended values.
Experimenting with designs
The option when a main pipe is created per meter, and an additional twenty centimeters is built into it, is far from all. It is possible to adjust the design in order to create other forms of telescopes. For example, a tube of 60–65 centimeters is used for the lens, and another tube enters it for 10–15 cm, for an eyepiece, the length of which is 50–55 cm.
Back to theory
The minimum useful magnification for a telescope depends on the diameter of the eyepiece. There is one very important nuance here! Its size should not exceed the diameter of the fully opened pupil of the observer. Otherwise, not all the light collected by the telescope will enter the eye: it will be lost, degrading the quality of the device. So, the maximum diameter of the pupil of the eye in an ordinary person does not exceed five to seven millimeters. Therefore, to find the minimum useful magnification, 10 times is taken (aperture times 0.15). This interesting word, aperture, means a hole similar to a diaphragm, only somewhat improved and advanced. This device is used in complex devices to obtain a high-quality result. But this is for those who want to make a telescope with their own hands inat home with serious characteristics for a more thorough study of the starry sky.
Conclusion
Well, that's the minimum that everyone needs to know in order to create their own device for studying the starry sky. It doesn’t matter what the first step is - assemble a reflecting telescope with your own hands or a refractor. The main thing, if it is of interest, then it is necessary to act in this direction - to study, master new knowledge, practice, discover something new for yourself or even for the whole world - do not stop, and luck accompanies the purposeful.
But be aware that when making devices with a higher magnification, diffraction phenomena will assert themselves more strongly. This will result in reduced visibility. And finally, the task: what are the main parameters of a telescope that provides 1,000x magnification?
