Do you love to know about the galaxies? Do you have the curiosity to know about the solar system? Many people like to know about the solar system because they are curious about it. But you know, the galaxies are far away from the sun and you cannot see them easily.
But now this isa thrilling time to be a part of such an interesting and exciting phenomenon especially if you have celestial objects. This is interesting to know that many scientists have received Nobel Prize because of their novel discoveries in the fields of astronomy.
There are many interstellar objects which are used to visit the solar system. One of them is the telescope. Here, you’ll see how to make a telescope. The telescope is relatively expensive and not everyone can buy this. But if you find an inexpensive telescope, you can indulge yourself to see the amateur astronomy.
What is a telescope?
An optical instrument that uses the lens, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe distant objects or various devices. This is used to see the distant objects by their absorption, emission, reflection, and the other rays which use electromagnetic radiations to see the objects.
If you go back and see the first telescope was invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century, it uses reflecting methods and was work by a glass lens. They were used both for earthly and astronomy purposes.
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If you talk about the reflecting telescope, it uses mirrors because it needs to collect light and focus. It was invented within a few decades after the first refracting telescope. If you look back in the 20th century you’ll see many of the telescopes were discovered at that time.
The word telescope now refers to a wide range of instruments capable of detecting different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum and in some cases other types of detectors.
Functions of the Telescope:
There are two main functions that a telescope can perform.
- The first function that a telescope can perform is to collect the light which is faint from an astronomical source.
- The second function is to focus on that point or image that we are going to see.
If you see the overall object this will be faint mostly, which astronomers see. There are some points to consider, if you collect more light, you can better study the object. Moreover, the object will be clearer.
One of the interesting facts about the telescope is that it works with magnification. You make things dimmer when you magnify the objects. When you deal with bright objects, which have greater light, can be easily seen. But the objects which have dimmer light it is difficult to deal with them.
The dimmer or faint objects includes galaxies or nebulae, the create problem when you see them in the dimmer light because they are already dim therefore can’t be seen easily. Magnifying objects too much with a small telescope makes them too dim to see.
There is another interesting point to consider that mostly you collect visible light, but there are also many telescopes that can collect the other kind of radiation like electromagnetic radiation.
The aperture of the telescope:
The diameter of the telescope’s main object is known as its aperture. This is the area where the dim light falls in. if the telescope has a larger aperture, it has a larger capacity to collect light. The light after collection can be converted into useful magnification.
The light-gathering power of the telescope depends on its aperture. If a telescope has a 100mm of aperture, it will have 4x the light-gathering power of a 50mm aperture. So, the star of other distant objects will be 4x brighter and larger to see at the same magnification.
So, the first and primary measure is to analyze the aperture of the telescope. This is very important to measure the aperture. This is especially important to note if your purpose is to magnify the things. The greater the aperture, the brighter the view will be, and the more magnification can be employed.
Types of the Telescopes:
Look at the word telescope, it covers a wide range of instruments. They perform a different function, different telescope perform a different function. Most of them work to detect electromagnetic radiation. But, there are some others which perform other functionslike, about the methods that how astronomers will work to collect light with the help of different frequency bands.
Telescopes may be classified by the wavelengths of light they detect:
- X-ray telescopes, using shorter wavelengths than ultraviolet light
- Ultraviolet telescopes, using shorter wavelengths than visible light
- Optical telescopes, using visible light
- Infrared telescopes, using longer wavelengths than visible light
- Sub-millimeter telescopes, using microwave wavelengths that are longer than those of infrared light
- Radio telescopes that use even longer wavelengths
You can see, if the wavelength increases and become longer, it is easier to use antenna technology to interact with electromagnetic radiations. It can be possible if you want to make a tiny antenna. There are two infrared ranges.
- In the near-infrared, much light be collected like visible light.
- Far-infrared and sub-millimeter ranges telescopes operate more like a radio telescope.
If there are photons which have shorter wavelengths and have a higher frequency, they glancing incident optics, rather than fully reflecting optics. There are telescopes like TRSCE and SOHO, they use different and special mirrors to reflect the extreme ultraviolet and high-resolution power production.
These are useful to create brighter images than the other functions. If the aperture of the telescope is larger, it does not mean that it can collect larger light with greater wavelength. It has another function. It enables a finer angular resolution.
1. Optical Telescopes:
This is a telescope that gathers and focuses light mainly from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. There are some of the types that can work in infrared and ultraviolet light. It increases the size of the distant object which is apparent. This also increases its brightness.
Telescope work by employing one or more curved optical elements, if you want to examine an object to observe it, photographed it, to study it, and want to send it to the computer. Moreover, these telescopes are made of glass and use glass lenses and mirrors, which gather light in the form of visible, infrared, and electromagnetic radiation.
If the aperture is large the collected light will be greater and the object will be brighter. Optical telescopes are used for astronomy and in many non-astronomical instruments, including theodolites including transits, spotting scopes, monocular, binoculars, camera lenses, and spyglasses.
2. Radio Telescopes:
Radio telescopes work to collect radio waves. They are a kind of directional radio antennas that usually work with the larger dish to collect radio waves. Sometimes the dishes are conducted of a conductive wire mesh. These have openings that are smaller than the wavelengths that you have observed for the object.
This is not like the optical telescope which usually produces images that have a patch of the sky and observed like a patchy image. The traditional radio telescope works with a different method. It contains a single receiver and records a single time-varying- signal characteristics from the observed design. A single dish contains an array of several receivers; this is known as a focal-plane array.
3. X-Ray Telescopes
If you talk about the X-rays, this is not easy to collect them. It this much harder to collect them other than electromagnetic radiation. X-rays mostly use X-rays optics which are composed of ring-shaped glancing mirrors. Like Wolter telescope also works with the X-ray optics and is composed of a ring-shaped glancing. These works with mirrors made of heavy metals that have the power to reflect the rays just a few degrees.
4. Gamma-Ray Telescopes:
The Gamma-rays and the higher energy X-ray which has higher energy and power than the usual. They usually use an encoded aperture mask which enables them to focus completely. The patterns of the shadow the mask creates can be reconstructed to form an image.
Gamma rays have short wavelengths and a higher wavelength with higher and lower frequencies. There are other Gamma rays called regular gamma rays, they require some further specialization. An example of this type of observatory is VERITAS.
How to Make a Telescope:
Telescopes make distant objects appear nearer, using a combination of lenses and mirrors. If you happen to have no telescopes or binoculars at home, and you can make one yourself, Take note that the images may appear upside down.
How to build a telescope at home?
If you look in the essence of the telescope it is an instrument that is used to help you to see the objects which cannot be seen with the naked eye. Especially those objects which are far away from you. This helps you to see the object very clear and help you to see the object closer.
There are some objects which are crucial to have if you want to make your telescope at the home. First of all, you need a primary lens which helps to see the object. The second one is the eyepiece lens which is used to focus the object. It also helps to magnify the image and brings it to your eye.
You will need the following items to make a simple telescope at home:
Required Items:
- You need two magnifying glass, which has almost 1-1.5 inches in diameter. If you want to work it best then you need to keep one part larger and the other part shorter.
- You need two cupboard tube, you can use paper roll or gift papers to roll them well. It will best if it will long.
- You must have the sheet of the printed paper, they may be of newspaper or magazine.
- Scissors
- Duct tape
- a ruler, yardstick, or tape measure
Process:
You need to follow the following steps to assemble your telescope:
- Get your sheet of a printed paper and two magnifying glasses.
- As you have two magnifying glasses, one is the bigger one and the other one is the shorter one. First, take the bigger magnifying glass and hold it between you and the paper. If you see the print on the paper it will look blurry.
- Now you need to place your second magnifying glass between your eye and the first magnifying glass.
- To get a sharp focus on the print you need to move the second glass forward or backward. This will increase the focus and make it sharp and clear. You will see that the object has the larger and the brighter object. Moreover, it will be upside and down.
- Now you need to measure the distance between the two magnifying glasses and write the distance down.
- Now cut the cardboard tube near the front opening about an inch which maybe 2.5 cm away. You don’t need to cut through the tube. Make a slot that should be able to hold the large magnifying glass.
- Now you need to cut the second slot in the tube with the same distance as you measure with the first slot. This will be your second place and you will place the magnifying glass.
- Now you have two slots and you will place the two magnifying glasses on the two slots, a big one is at the front and the little one is at the back. Now place them and tape them with the help of the duct tape.
- Don’t forget to leave about 0.5-1 inch of the tube behind the small magnifying glass and cut off any access tube if you see it remaining.
- Now, look at the printed side to see that if it works or not. You may have to play slightly to get the exact distances between the two glasses right so that the image comes to focus.
See, you have built your small telescope, which is a refracting telescope. Now you can use this to see the moon and some star clusters as well as terrestrial objects. Moreover, you can see the birds.
What is a Dobsonian Telescope?
A Dobsonian telescope is the one which is a kind of Newtonian telescope and it is designed very ago in the century. This has created a vast effect that increasing the size of the telescopes available to amateur astronomers.
At first, it works to observing faint, deep-sky object which works nebulae and galaxies. It was small and portable, ad cab is taken from one place to another. It was also of low-lost. This has a large diameter and relatively short focal length to make the object focus.
Now, it is simple but complex and expensive. It has simple has a simple set of optics that are placed like amount. Don’t mislead yourself with simplicity because this is not as simple as that.
Why are Dobsonian Telescopes a Favorite among Amateur Astronomers?
Dobsonian telescope is unbelievingly good. It has excellent features. It is especially important for the professional amateur and astronomers for its unique and excellent features. Moreover, it is economical than the other telescopes, this feature makes it is excellent.
It consists of multiple parabolic mirrors that combine and makes it unique and excellent to see and focus on the object. It has an exceptional optical arrangement which makes it inimitable. There has a benefit to that kind of optical organization. It enhances the light gathering capacity of the telescope. Whenever there is more light gathered, there is more power of the telescope to see the fainter objects.
Dobsonian/Newtonian telescopes have another function which makes it favorite among all the astronomers. It has an advantage in that it has powerful lenses that are made of mirror. The mirror is cheaper therefore, it can be affordable for others to have. The lenses are refractors and Cassegrain.
How to Build a Dobsonian Telescope:
There are many ways to build a Dobsonian telescope.
Parts required:
There are multiple items that you will need to make a Dobsonian telescope.
- Primary Mirror 12.5 inches
- Secondary 2.6 inches
- Spider/Secondary Holder
- Sonotube 14 inch diameter, 12 feet long
- Mirror Cell
- Focuser GSO 2 speed low profile Crayford
- Ebony star strips 2
- Ebony starring
- Telrad base
- Circle cutting jig
- Birch Veneer 4X8 piece
- Hardware, stain, other supplies
Process:
First of all, make a round tube with cardboard or sheet you are using to make a tube. Now to need to make a base for the tube. Use the circle cutting jig to cut the base for the tube. Make sure to cut it which completely synchronizes with the tube to fit it.
Now, you need to set mirrors within the tube. This is an important step because the placement of the mirrors should be corrected and must be equal. Use two mirrors one is small and the other is large. Use small one to see for the eye and the large one which will help you to see the distant object. This should be of higher resolution and magnifying power.
Assemble them and fix them on the tube to make them clear to see. Make sure to set the rocker with the bearings to fix it properly.
Conclusion:
There you have seen how to make a telescope. Telescopes are used to see distant objects. This is important to know about them. This helps you to see the stars and moon which is far away from you. You cannot easily see them with your naked eye. But the telescope helps you to see them thoroughly.
Dobsonian telescope is used extensively nowadays. This is relatively inexpensive than the other telescopes. But it helps you to see the object clearer than the causal and traditional one.