I've always been interested in astronomy, and often thought I'd like to get a telescope. Last year was the International Year of Astronomy, marking the 400th anniversary since Galileo first pointed a telescope at the heavens, and learned that there was so much more to discover there. There were a lot of astronomy related events going on, and it spurred me to delve into the subject again.
By fortunate happenstance, I managed to acquire a somewhat dirty and disused, but quite serviceable 10" newtonian telescope. Since then I've had great fun finding nebulae, examining planets, and gazing in awe at the detail that can be seen on the moon.
I've had some trouble finding things though. Using a finder scope (the small telescope mounted on the side of your larger one) is a big pain in the rear. At one of the monthly star parties hosted by our local astronomical society I saw that someone had a green laser mounted to the side of his telescope in place of a finder scope. It was amazing! He didn't have to mess around with anything, he just turned on the laser, pointed it where he wanted to look, and there it was!
I of course thought to myself, "I can make one of those!" So here I'll show you how you can as well, and save a few bucks off the cost of buying one of them new. This is a very simple and cheap fix that will definitely make amateur astronomy a lot more fun!
If you should decide to make one of these yourself, make sure to post a picture in the comments section below, and I'll send you a digital patch!
By fortunate happenstance, I managed to acquire a somewhat dirty and disused, but quite serviceable 10" newtonian telescope. Since then I've had great fun finding nebulae, examining planets, and gazing in awe at the detail that can be seen on the moon.
I've had some trouble finding things though. Using a finder scope (the small telescope mounted on the side of your larger one) is a big pain in the rear. At one of the monthly star parties hosted by our local astronomical society I saw that someone had a green laser mounted to the side of his telescope in place of a finder scope. It was amazing! He didn't have to mess around with anything, he just turned on the laser, pointed it where he wanted to look, and there it was!
I of course thought to myself, "I can make one of those!" So here I'll show you how you can as well, and save a few bucks off the cost of buying one of them new. This is a very simple and cheap fix that will definitely make amateur astronomy a lot more fun!
If you should decide to make one of these yourself, make sure to post a picture in the comments section below, and I'll send you a digital patch!
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Signing UpStep 1: Supplies
For this project you'll need:
For the "Something to mount it all on," you can use pretty much anything that is straight, relatively stiff, has two level sides, and is about 6-8 inches long. No innuendo intended. The idea is that if you place something along these lines on the side of a telescope, it will naturally center and straighten itself along the telescope tube. My original plan was to saw a piece of 1 1/4" PVC pipe in half, but I found this plastic case lid in my stuff drawers, and figured since it was already level and had a flat top it would probably work better. All I had to do was slice off the ends!
As to tools, you'll need:
Finally, you'll want to have some strong epoxy on hand, and some sugru to cover everything up.
- a cheap green laser (less than 10 bucks at dealextreme.com)
- some stiff speaker wire
- a 2xAA battery holder
- a flashlight type clicky switch (pack of five for less than 2 bucks at dealextreme)
- some sugru
- a strap or some electrical tape
- something to mount it all on.
For the "Something to mount it all on," you can use pretty much anything that is straight, relatively stiff, has two level sides, and is about 6-8 inches long. No innuendo intended. The idea is that if you place something along these lines on the side of a telescope, it will naturally center and straighten itself along the telescope tube. My original plan was to saw a piece of 1 1/4" PVC pipe in half, but I found this plastic case lid in my stuff drawers, and figured since it was already level and had a flat top it would probably work better. All I had to do was slice off the ends!
As to tools, you'll need:
- a dremel
- soldering iron
- a hot glue gun
- a pair of pliers
- a small flat head screwdriver
- a ruler
Finally, you'll want to have some strong epoxy on hand, and some sugru to cover everything up.
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It is true that the new assembly is less, as you say, neat and compact, but it has been reconfigured for a different purpose. There are several advantages to the new design:
- The new shape allows it to be conveniently strapped to the telescope
- The new shape also is aligned so that it will be immediately useful when attached to said telescope
- It now has a click on, click off switch (like a flashlight) rather than a momentary switch. This allows you to turn on the laser and then use both hands to point the telescope, rather than keeping on hand on the laser to keep it on
- It now uses AA batteries instead of AAA's. This allows for much longer battery life.
I hope that answers your questions. Also, what do you mean by it being more useful if I'd started from more basic components? I don't understand what you're saying there.Don't annoy the little green men too much.
Unfortunately, this little greenie laser probably doesn't keep going up to space, it's weak enough that the atmosphere would absorb it before it got that far. You should check out how observatories use yellow lasers in their work, they actually use them to create an "Artificial star" to help their telescopes compensate for air currents and temperature gradients.
I'll try not to annoy the LGM's, I don't want to get the dreaded anal probe!
If you've got a moment, I'd love a vote in the Sugru and Gorilla Glue contests!
By the way, I cast a vote your way for the calendar, it's a great project and a great write up! Don't forget to vote for yourself as well, I saw I was the first vote on it!
I just got featured! Had to tell someone who'd know what it means to me. My family and colleagues will just look at me blankly. I was almost hoping I wouldn't get featured, as it makes me think I'll have to do something even bigger and better next time to make the grade - maybe no bad thing.
Out of interest do you have access to a laser cutter? Do you know who I should recommend to people stateside?
I got lucky and found someone in the next village (Suffolk, UK) who has one and isn't too busy so I get a pretty good service - same day often.
The first proto of the tacticalendar I went through Ponoko UK which was a truckload of cash and they took more than three weeks! Can't speak for the other Ponoko making centres around the world though.
Congrats on the feature! I remember the first time I got featured and I told my girlfriend about it. Her reaction was, "Oh, that's nice."
Unfortunately I don't have access to a laser cutter. I'm kind of poor and haven't really looked into the options available in the US. Of course, I've not yet had a project where I felt like I really needed one, but if I had easy access I'm sure I'd come up with some sort of excuse!
I know a guy through work who runs a plant where they have a 4 kilowatt laser that cuts 3/4" plate steel. I got a tour once, which was awesome. As cool as the giant laser was, the super duper high pressure water jet cutter was actually more impressive. They cut a 2" diameter slug out of a solid steel gear 5" thick with that thing!