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Serious Home Observatories

Posted by timothy on from the not-just-for-tycho-brache dept.

peatbakke writes: "Here's an interesting article about the affordability of backyard observatories. Rich kids get all the fun at the moment, but it's getting better." Getting away from city lights may be the hardest part, though.

1 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. MAJOR Geek Project! by JoeMirando · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I'm a bit surprised that no one has mentioned this, but you can build your own telescope for less money than you can buy one!!

    This includes grinding the mirror yourself, by the way. With a bit of care and patience, you can grind and polish a mirror that is accurate to within 1/10th of a wavelength of light.... that's quite a bit better than what you usually end up with when buying one from a store. I'm in the process of polishing a 16" mirror at the moment.... my first! The 16" blank, along with an 8" blank for a smaller scope and all the grinding/polishing materials cost me around $300. That doesn't include the optical tube assembly or aluminizing the mirror, but the mirror itself is usually the most expensive part anyway.

    There are also those who add their own "go to" drives and such, but that seems like a bit much for me... at least with THIS scope.

    My guess is that you can find an astronomy club near by with several members who can help.

    More info for those interested can be found at The ATM Site (not my site).


    Clear Skies,
    Joe Mirando