Passion for natural sciences, including astronomy, has always been popular, but in order for this hobby to be full, you need a telescope. There is no problem to purchase this device now, however, it is quite expensive. Meanwhile, there is no need to despair - you can build a telescope yourself, while the costs will be minimal.
In order to make a telescope at home, we need 2 lenses. The first is for the lens, the second is for the eyepiece. You will also need 2 tubes, which you can glue yourself from thick paper or choose the right size.
- Choosing a lens for your objective. The larger the focal length of the lens, respectively, the smaller its optical magnification, which is used for the lens, the greater the magnification of the telescope. However, a longer pipe will be needed. So, for example, if you take a +1 diopter lens, the main tube should be a little less than a meter long. If you take a +0.5 diopter lens, then the tube should be a little less than 2 meters long. The magnification of the telescope in the second case will be 2 times greater. The best lenses for an objective lens are lenses designed for making glasses, which can be purchased from any optician. They are of high quality and precision in workmanship.
- Choosing an eyepiece lens. The shorter the focal length of the eyepiece, the greater the overall magnification of the telescope will be. However, it should be remembered here that too much magnification of the eyepiece can lead to defects in the resulting image. It would be best to use a magnifier with a focal length of 2-4 cm. For example, a magnifying glass used by watchmakers can be used as an eyepiece, moreover, it will be easier to fix it in the eyepiece tube.
- Assembling the telescope. Once the required lenses have been purchased, a telescope can be made. The lenses must be glued into two tubes that are tightly inserted into each other, but the tubes must be able to move easily in order to focus on the object of observation. The inside of the tube should be painted black.
- Telescope tripod. Since the optical magnification of even a simple telescope will be large, care must be taken to support the telescope, otherwise the image will shake a lot. A camcorder tripod works best for this, but you can think of another mounting option.
Thus, the telescope can be assembled in one evening. Its optical magnification can be estimated by dividing the focal length of the objective lens by the focal length of the eyepiece lens. So, for example, if the lens has a focal length of 1 meter, and the eyepiece is 4 cm (0.04 m), then the telescope will give an optical magnification of about 25 times. Such a telescope is also called a refractory telescope and the image that it will give will be "inverted", however, a homemade telescope will be able to satisfy the needs of a novice amateur astronomer.
