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Online Database Allows Scientists To Recreate Early Telescopes
sciencehabit writes "When Galileo Galilei shook up the scientific community with evidence of a heliocentric world, he had a little tube fitted with two pieces of glass to thank. But just how this gadget evolved in the nascent days of astronomy is poorly known. That uncertainty has inspired a group of researchers to compile the most extensive database of early refracting telescopes to date. Now, the scientists plan to use modern optics to recreate what Galileo — and the naysaying observers of his time — experienced when they first peered through these tubes at the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, and the phases of Venus."
Disappointed that there were no pictures of the type "this is what Galileo saw .. and this is what Newton saw ... and this is with a reasonably priced modern telescope ... and this is from an observatory".
That would have put things in perspective
You can buy a really cheap, and good quality "Galileo Scope" http://galileoscope.org/. It's a great starter / educational scope and the optics can be swapped out to see what Galileo saw and for more modern lenses.
I can build a crude telescope in my garage using the EXACT techniques he used. It's not hard.
http://galileo.rice.edu/lib/st...
And then just half ass the optics by only looking through them as you grind. dont use modern collimation techniques and you will get the nasty blurry full of chromatic nasty that he had to deal with.
The other problem is that pollution and light pollution is 9000% higher than what he had.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
... with light pollution.
I would find this interesting.
As someone who's just got into telescopes themselves after years of my brother casually using a telescope worth more than my car (he's an astrophysicist, though, so that's his game) I was bought a relatively cheap amateur one.
I was quite surprised, in modern times, to be able to see Jupiter's clouds and Saturn rings quite clearly within only a few hours of learning how to use the damn thing and picking targets by eye (none of this Go-To crap), in my backyard, in the crowded suburbs of London, with streetlights only a few meters away, on a pseudo-clear night. And I didn't have RA motors or even proper polar alignment, I was literally just chasing the brightest dots around the sky manually to look at them.
I know astronomy was "easier" for the ancients and for Galileo-era astronomers without such hurdles, but I had always assumed that they pretty much were cancelled out by the poor quality of the optics back then. But I was quite amazed to be able to clearly see, with a £100 scope and the default eyepieces, such detail wobbling in front of me because of the heat of the atmosphere near me.
And even photographing them was much easier than I was led to believe (though I really need to polar-align and get my brand-new RA motor set up so I can do longer exposures).
Honestly, I thought it would be so much harder, hearing for years from well-known astronomers like Sir Patrick Moore, etc. how much the cities destroyed the night sky. I'm sure they do. I'm sure that I *should* be able to see the Milky Way unaided. But, damn, a tiny £100 Newtonian with its supplied cheap mount and eyepieces can do wonders.
I'm not claiming some great feat of astronomy, I'm sure this hasn't really been a shock to anyone who was interested in amateur astronomy before me. But I'm also sure Galileo saw quite clearly a lot of things that were always visible and easy to record, just maybe not always surface detail and rings (which I'm sure he would have thought were there, even if it was just on the edge of his brain supplying that brief glimpse of the whole object through his imperfect lenses and low magnification scope against the shimmering atmosphere and movement of his equipment).
I have a page on my website (warning: long and boring) where I show my first-ever (and worst) images taken through my scope. Sure, it's a 70mm aperture, but I can't imagine that Galileo was seeing that much worse, but maybe distorted and more "lucky" good shots as it went into the smooth parts of his optics.
He might have had to spend years with craftsmen and glass-blowing skills, honing his devices, but I'm pretty sure he would have been able to see almost as much as anyone can - even modern city-dwellers - with just a cheap scope.