Telescope Making

Abstract

Telescope making is unfortunately not as popular as it once was. Yet there can be nothing to compare with seeing the universe through a telescope crafted with your own hands. The arrival onto the market of computer controlled commercial telescopes, appealing to today’s generation of IT literate amateur astronomers, has probably contributed to the myth that the amateur telescope maker can no longer compete. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only can today’s telescope maker compete, he (or she) can and is producing telescopes and control systems exceeding the quality of those from commercial manufacturers. Remember that a mass produced telescope is built to tight budget limits and when it comes to the time to add to it, ancillary equipment or secondary telescopes, those limits could well be a problem. Home made telescopes can be designed to our own exact specification and for our particular requirements. They can, and often now do, include the latest electronic wizardry, as you will see in this chapter. Bells and whistles are not the preserve of the commercial market!