Hi Friends,

Does anybody have any idea about making telescopes used to see moon,stars ,planets.Factory made telescopes are hell expensive.

I searched on google about them...but most of them are simple telescopes used to watch birds and nearby objects using 2 lenses.
I myself made a telescope with two magnifying glasses but it cannot be used to watch celestial bodies.
I also saw some topics for making lenses or mirrors of our own (process called grinding mirrors). what is that?

Sometimes i am really desperate at nights, when under open sky, watching moon and stars.I want a telescope badly.


thnks
SS

@ VC     sir since you own a telescope , so maybe you could tell us something about them.

If you're making one, you might as well make a reflecting one. It does take quite a lot of effort though.

I have a low end refracting telescope form Celestron. Nothing to write home about but gave me some good views. The craters on the Moon, the rings of Saturn, Jupiter and its moons, Neptune and the Orion Nebula.

http://www.souledout.org/rsl/telescope/choosingtelescope.html

Quote from: snehal50samarpit on April 12, 2012, 02:45:42 PM
Factory made telescopes are hell expensive.

Not always.. check this out ..made in India
http://www.tejraj.com/100mm-startracker80.html I have this telescope its now more than 15 years old but still my favourite telescope

ok i followed the link ...one question dat why so many eyepieces?

38mm Astro Eyepiece . . . . Rs 300
32 mm Astro Eyepiece . . . . Rs 300
20mm Astro Eyepiece . . . . Rs 300
9mm Astro Eyepiece . . . . Rs 300
6mm Astro Eyepiece . . . . Rs 660


Actually i was thinking if i could make my own telescope by buying only objective and eyepiece and if i could them locally.

the question is why to buy telescopes if you can make them with two pieces of lens.Just buy the lens and there you go!?

Quotewhy so many eyepieces

These are different focal length lenses. Smaller the focal length greater the magnification. You need not buy them. The startracker system comes as a complete telescope with different eyepieces.

I use a Motor Drive Konusmotor 90mm Refractor. It is a medium level scope.

http://www.uk-telescopes.co.uk/konusmotor_90.htm

I'd gone through some very detailed research on the subject before buying this. Overall, rather happy with the scope.

Telescopes are expensive, for that matter any quality optical instrument is. If sunlikestar is happy with the Startracker 80, I suggest you go with it.

One thing to remember, Reflector scopes need to be of much larger diameters as compared to Refractors, to provide the same quality of images.

I had once debated with the idea of grinding my own 200 mm blank for a reflector. However, even though everything was / is available in India, the sheer labour and precision required for the task was too daunting.

My advice would be to buy a readymade scope.

I double that, building your own astronomical can cost you more than double then a ready-made one if you buy finished optics.  If you still want to build one then for an easy and rewarding build I can suggest the following:
Objective:
D = 60mm / F = 700mm ACHROMATIC LENS (air space) . . . . Rs. 3,000.

Eye piece:
Astro Eyepiece 32mm efl 1.25"OD . . . . Rs. 510
Astro Eyepiece 16mm efl 1.25"OD . . . . Rs. 510

Results will be amazing but still nothing compared to the reflector i pointed to earlier. Also you'll have to make a tripod and other stuff by yourself.

Another thing you can do is get a nice big low power binocular like this (7 x 50). Binoculars are hell lot of fun for star gazing but once you have a look at the night sky with a good bino; a telescope purchase is almost inevitable